KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): IHH Healthcare Bhd (KL:IHH) outperformed on Tuesday as Macquarie flagged an improving earnings trajectory across the hospital operator’s portfolio.

At 12 times the consensus forward enterprise valuation, the stock was trading near the lower end of its regional peers and close to historical lows even as growth at IHH Healthcare, one of the largest by revenue in Asia, is accelerating across multiple markets, Macquarie said in a note on Tuesday.

Singapore is seeing sequential improvement while its operations in Malaysia and Turkey remain healthy, and India offers margin upside, the research house said.

The house retained IHH Healthcare on ‘outperform’ and raised its target price to RM11.10, one of the highest out of 26 analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

IHH Healthcare rose as much as 41 sen or over 5%, to RM8.62 in Tuesday trading, before closing at RM8.00, valuing the company at nearly RM71 billion. KPJ Healthcare Bhd (KL:KPJ) was about 4% higher at RM2.65 while Sunway Healthcare Holdings Bhd (KL:SUNMED) fell 5% to RM2.17.

Shares of IHH Healthcare have fallen nearly 11% since the start of 2026 up until Monday amid concerns over industry reforms that include government efforts to standardise hospital bills amid soaring medical inflation.

IHH Healthcare's medical tourism exposure also appears underappreciated, Macquarie said, noting that foreign patients contributed 14.5% of its Malaysia revenue in the first six months, ahead of Sunway Healthcare’s 13.6% and KPJ Healthcare's 6.5%.

There is further upside with IHH Healthcare on track for its double-digit return-on-equity target by 2028, the research house said. The company is also a beneficiary of ringgit weakness, with the company estimating a 1.2% earnings lift for every 1% of depreciation, Macquarie added.