In my opinion, one of the best areas to make a long-term buy and hold investment is the healthcare sector.
Due to ageing populations and increased chronic disease burden, I believe the sector has the potential to grow at an above-average rate for at least the next two decades.
With that in mind I thought I would look for some long-term opportunities in the sector through small-cap shares.
Two which ticked a lot of boxes for me are listed below:
Nanosonics Ltd. (ASX: NAN)
With a market cap of $800 million, I don't think it will be long before this infection control specialist breaks out of small-cap territory. Especially considering the way its trophon EPR product is growing in popularity.
In FY 2017 the company grew the product's installed base to 12,400 units in North America, bringing its global installed base to 14,100 units. Management believes there is an addressable market of 120,000 units globally, with 40,000 of these in North America.
Zenitas Healthcare Ltd (ASX: ZNT)
Due to the National Healthcare Reform pushing the burden of healthcare services from hospitals into primary care, I believe Zenitas is in a strong position to deliver solid organic earnings growth over the next few years.
Although the home care and health services company currently has a relatively small footprint of 54 locations throughout Australia, I believe that the highly fragmented nature of the industry will allow the company to grow significantly through acquisitions in the future.
