Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS), Thailand’s largest private healthcare group, rose 3.35 per cent to 21.60 baht per share on Thursday, as investors endorsed its strategy to maximise medical tourism from borders reopening.
The transaction value amounted to 1.8 billion baht, placing it in the five most-traded stocks in the morning session.
Analysts at Krungsri Securities picked BDMS as a recommended stock of the day, saying the company was well placed to make the most of the reopening of borders to foreign visitors, as well as the government’s move to allow private hospitals to import Covid-19 vaccines. They set a target price of 26 baht per share.
“The stock has underperformed the Stock Exchange of Thailand by 6 per cent and peers by 6-10 per cent year-to-date, which implies the market has yet to price in the improving outlook and earnings recovery,” the analyst said.
BDMS said at a meeting with several analysts Wednesday that it aimed to raise the occupancy rate of their in-patient departments (IPD) to 60-65 per cent from 52 per cent in 2020 by improving hospital accessibility and expanding the patient base as they will be partnering with insurers to offer medical services.
“The border opening and BDMS’s strategy will unlock pent-up demand from both Thai and foreign clients,” the analyst said, saying an increase in IPD occupancy to 58 per cent was likely. She said the increase, coupled with high operational leverage, could boost earnings by 35 per cent to 8.1 billion baht in 2021.
Due to the Covid-19 impact, BDMS reported a 54 per cent year-on-year drop on its full-year earnings to 7.2 billion baht.
The company has focused more on the Thai affordable segment in response to the absence of foreigners. They sold more than 70,000 packages of their 990-baht health-check programmes in February.
Meanwhile, another healthcare provider Bangkok Chain Hospital rose slightly 0.69 per cent to 14.50 baht, while Bumrungrad (BH) fell 1.14 per cent to 130.50 baht.