The healthcare services provider said consolidated profit rose to 2.40 billion rupees ($29 million) for the quarter ended June 30 from 1.73 billion rupees a year earlier.

Max Healthcare's bed occupancy stood at 74% during the quarter, while occupied bed days grew by 3% year-on-year.

Revenue from operations for the quarter rose over 20% to 12.85 billion rupees.

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KEY CONTEXT

Demand for private healthcare in India has risen as government hospitals become increasingly overburdened, analysts said. A post-pandemic boom in demand for private healthcare in India has also led to global investors seeking entry into healthcare chains in the country.

Max Healthcare's profit has risen sequentially for the last three quarters on higher bed occupancy and lower input costs.

Peer Fortis Healthcare on Friday posted a ~9% rise in its first-quarter profit.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

12 months) months)

RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div

growth growth rating* analysts price yield

target** (%)

Max Healthcare MAXE. 39.67 26.50 31.98 12.67 Buy 12 0.95 NULL

Institute Ltd NS

Apollo Hospitals APLH. 53.45 25.92 17.71 39.29 Buy 20 0.94 0.30

Enterprise Ltd NS

Fortis Healthcare FOHE. 36.50 19.39 10.94 23.62 Buy 10 0.94 0.30

Ltd NS

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from Refinitiv

-- $1 = 82.7290 Indian rupees

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)