Healthcare stocks have improved performance in 2017 compared to the same period last year, reports USA Today.
Here are four things to know.
1. Standard & Poor's Dow Jones Indices said S&P 500's 61 healthcare stocks have increased 8.9 percent this year, according to the report. This is compared to a decrease of 7.1 percent for the same period of 2016.
2. The sector's significant improvement reflects a rebound from a bad 2016, money managers who run healthcare funds said in the report. According to USA Today, healthcare stocks became too expensive last year, which "made them vulnerable to political attacks during the presidential campaign."
3. Buyers went after healthcare stocks again by the end of last year, when the stocks became more affordable, Eddie Yoon, manager of Fidelity Select Health Care fund, said in the report. "Investors also determined that fears of drug price controls and a lack of clarity regarding the new health reform bill were overblown," the report states.
4. Mark Oelschlager, manager of Live Oak Health Sciences fund, expressed optimism for the future of healthcare stocks. "Whatever changes end up occurring [with ACA repeal and replace efforts], you are still going to have sufficient demand in place where these companies are going to prosper," he said in the report.
For more on this story, read Adam Shell's full report here.