OREANDA-NEWS. May 18, 2016. Edison issues research review on Worldwide Healthcare Trust

Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) has a track record of more than 20 years investing in the healthcare sector. A change to its mandate six years ago has seen it expand its remit from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to the whole healthcare sector. While the core of the portfolio is invested in US stocks, WWH is differentiated from the majority of peers by its c 15% weighting in emerging markets. The trust has substantially outperformed its benchmarks over three, five and 10 years and benefits from the stable management of manager Sam Isaly, a founding partner of specialist healthcare investment manager OrbiMed. The discount to NAV of c 7% is wider than long-term averages, suggesting potential to narrow from here.

At 16 May, WWH's shares were trading at a 7.3% discount to cum-income net asset value. This is a little wider than the target maximum discount of 6%, and also wider than the one-, three- and five-year averages (5.3%, 4.2% and 5.6% respectively). Given the historical support from share buybacks (c 457k shares bought back so far in 2016 at a cost of ?7.9m), it is reasonable to expect the discount will narrow towards the long-term average, although in the run-up to the US presidential election, appetite for healthcare investments may remain subdued.