Health Care ETFs On the Road To Recovery

Health care stocks and ETFs paled last year, but the prognosis for this year is healthy, based on a steady recovery. The sector is expected to report steady growth and have the highest median earnings growth rate of 15.8% for 2007, reports Trang Ho of Investor's Business Daily.

In the first quarter, health care year-over-year earnings grew 13.6%. Americans are willing to spend when it comes to health care and it is not an economically sensitive industry, so it can be good for a slow growth environment. Worldwide drug sales are projected to double by 2020, as the newly rich countries could account for 20% of the global drug sales.

ETF provider, XShares, offers investors a family of ETFs, called HealthShares, which focus on specific areas of treatment. There are numerous other ways to invest in health care through ETFs, including (but not limited to):

SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI)

PowerShares Dynamic Health Care Services (TJ)

Rydex S&P Equal Weight Health Care (RYH)

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Health Care (IHF)

iShares S&P Global Health Care (IXJ)

Pharmaceutical HOLDRs (PPH)