U.S. healthcare profit outlook brightens on Obamacare, drug prices

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 (GILD.O), and for insurers, including Aetna (AET.N). It provides some early evidence that President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul could be a long-term source of profit growth for managed care providers.

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