PETALING JAYA: IHH Healthcare Bhd
’s first-quarter (1Q26) performance demonstrates the benefits of a geographically diversified portfolio that includes operations in Malaysia, Singapore, India, China and Turkiye.
That allowed the healthcare group to use the robust growth it had in markets like Malaysia and Turkiye to offset localised weakness in its Singapore operations.
While IHH’s 1Q26 may have fallen short of expectations of some analysts, the consensus points to a resilient earnings profile with multiple growth engines.
Analysts covering the stock expect its Singapore unit to improve in the second half of 2026 as the business steps up collaborations with insurance payors to offer price competitive packages and targets new medical tourism markets like Cambodia and the Philippines
The Singapore unit’s revenue contracted by 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) in 1Q26 due to a structural shift of local patients moving toward public hospitals driven by new insurance policies increasing out-of-pocket costs.
It also experienced a decline in medical tourists from Indonesia due to high airfares and a weak rupiah
In Malaysia, the group performed well in 1Q26 and is aggressively implementing its daycare and ambulatory care centre strategy rather than spending heavy capital for greenfield projects.
“IHH is establishing high-speciality centres of excellence within its premier hospitals to attract advanced, high-revenue medical cases and serve as advanced care hubs that capture patient referrals from smaller localised clinics and community hospitals.
“To meet rising demand for outpatient care, the group is also aggressively building out its daycare networks,” MBSB Research stated in a report on the hospital operators.
By shifting lower-risk, short-stay cases to these facilities, IHH intends to free up primary inpatient beds for more complex, high-margin cases, thereby improving bed occupancy rates and operational efficiency
The research house noted IHH remains insulated from geopolitical tensions in West Asia, as Middle Eastern patients account for only 1% of its Turkiye operations.
IHH’s revenue increased by 4.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM6.6bil in 1Q26 while core earnings grew 4.6% y-o-y to RM545mil.
The company was a victim of the stronger ringgit in the period as the local unit strengthened against the Singapore dollar, Indonesian rupiah and the Turkyish lira.
Among analysts, MBSB Research remained the most bullish on IHH and upgraded it to a “buy” call with a target price (TP) of RM10.18 a share, citing core earnings that exceeded its expectations and the group’s ability to defend margins via digital transformation and cost discipline.
CGS International Research reiterated its “add” rating on the company with a TP of RM9.85 a share, due to IHH’s diversified operations and resilient earnings.
UOB Kay Hian Research meanwhile kept to its “hold” call on IHH but raised its TP to RM9.25 a share from RM8.25 previously.
It however, acknowledged limited immediate upside to IHH’s share price as being a defensive stock, IHH might underperform against aggressive “beta-oriented” peers if market sentiment turns highly risk-on.
