(Reuters) U.S. healthcare companies are winning higher profit forecasts, bucking a wider trend on Wall Street, as pricey new biotech drugs hit the market and insurance enrollment rises under the Affordable Care Act.
Analysts' profit expectations for the group have risen sharply since the start of the year, while estimates for most of the other nine Standard & Poor's 500 macro sectors have fallen, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The jump in forecasts has come in the past two months, thanks largely to rising estimates for biotechnology companies such as Gilead, and for insurers, including Aetna.