Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX: RHC) shares have climbed higher into the green on Thursday morning.

At the time of writing, the ASX healthcare shares are up around 1% and changing hands at $41.62 a piece.

Today’s increase comes off the back of a 3.5% price hike yesterday.

The latest share price increase means Ramsay Health Care shares have now recovered around 15% from a dip in early June, and are around 20% higher for the year to date. Over the past year, the shares have risen 17%.

What happened to Ramsay Health Care shares?

Ramsay Health Care is one of the largest private healthcare providers in the world, with around 500 facilities across 11 countries. Its operations cover Australia, Europe, the UK, and Asia. 

The company faced several headwinds in 2025, including depressed earnings, market volatility, and ongoing cost pressures.

The ASX healthcare sector overall was under immense pressure throughout late 2025 and into early 2026 as macroeconomic pressures, rising inflation, higher cost of living, and regulatory uncertainty have driven a sector-wide share price downturn.

Why are the ASX healthcare shares now rebounding?

There hasn’t been any price sensitive news out of Ramsay Health Care shares to explain the share price turnaround in June.

It’s likely the result of an overall ASX healthcare sector recovery as investors rotated back into heavily-discounted healthcare names, and improved sentiment following the company’s latest earnings results.

The recovery has also been supported by a turnaround in the company’s finances. Ramsay Health Care posted its first-half FY26 results in February, where it confirmed underlying EBIT had grown 7.3%, underlying NPAT was up 8.1%, and its Australian hospital revenue was 8.2% higher. The company’s shares spiked over 10% on the day of the result.

The stronger half-year result seems to have helped investor sentiment shift from concerns about cost pressures and volatility towards a recovery story.

To me it looks like investors are still snapping up the shares while they’re trading for cheap.

Can Ramsay Health Care shares keep climbing higher? Here’s what the experts think

Analysts and brokers are divided about the outlook for Ramsay Health Care shares over the next 12 months.

Market Index data shows brokers are split between a buy and a sell rating. The average $40.60 target price, however, implies a potential 3% downside at the time of writing.

On TradingView data, sentiment is also split. Out of 12 analysts, seven have a hold rating on the healthcare stock. Another four rate the shares as a buy or strong buy and one has a strong sell stance.

The average $41.30 target price implies a downside of around 1% at the time of writing. But some expect the shares to jump 13% higher to $47.17, and others tip the stock to crash 20% back down to $32.90 a piece.

The post Ramsay Health Care shares rebound 15% in June: Can they keep going? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Samantha Menzies has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Judo Capital Holdings Ltd (ASX: JDO) shares are on the slide on Thursday.

In morning trade, the ASX 200 bank stock is down a massive 46% to 82 cents.

Why is this ASX 200 bank stock crashing?

Investors have been selling the small business lender’s shares after it released an update on expectations in FY 2026.

One item which appears to have caught the eye of investors is its FY 2026 cost of risk, which is now expected to be in the range of $116 million to $122 million.

Management advised that this reflects an increase in specific provisions primarily driven by three exposures across different sectors that have recently emerged, as a result of customer-specific developments.

Judo Capital now expects 90-days-past-due (90DPD+) and impaired loans to be approximately 3% of gross loans and advances (GLA) at 30 June.

One positive is that collective provision coverage at 30 June is expected to remain broadly in line with its third-quarter trading update, which was 94bps of GLA or 1.09% of standardised credit risk weighted assets.

It notes that provisioning levels include a management overlay for sectors impacted by the uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Profit guidance

In light of the above, the ASX 200 bank stock revealed that its profit before tax in FY 2026 is now expected to be between $163 million and $169 million or approximately 30% growth on FY 2025.

This is down meaningfully on its previous guidance of between $180 million and $190 million.

Looking to FY 2027, management has provided profit before tax guidance of between $210 million and $220 million. This represents growth of 30% again and takes into account the uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.

Commenting on the news, the ASX 200 bank stock’s CEO, Chris Bayliss, said:

We continue to see strong underlying momentum in the business. Recent credit outcomes have been driven by a small number of customers, who we are actively working with. These exposures have deteriorated subsequent to the customer-by-customer review undertaken in the third quarter and reflect recent, borrower-specific developments.

While today’s update is partly a result of the macro environment, it is nevertheless disappointing. Regardless, we remain confident in the strength of our underlying business and the quality of the portfolio. We have a proven customer value proposition, are profitable and well capitalised, and have a clear path to achieving a return on equity in the low-to-mid teens.

The post Which ASX 200 bank stock is crashing 46% on profit guidance downgrade? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Ventia Services Group Ltd (ASX: VNT) shares are climbing on Thursday after the company announced a leadership change at the top.

At the time of writing, the Ventia share price is up 0.89% to $6.75.

The stock is now trading close to record highs, with Ventia shares up around 13% since the start of 2026 and 34% higher than this time last year.

Here’s what the company told the market today.

Ventia names its next CEO

According to the release, Ventia has appointed Mark Ralston as its next Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer.

Ralston will replace current Managing Director and Group CEO Dean Banks, with the change to take effect on 1 September 2026.

The company said the appointment follows a detailed internal and external succession process.

Ralston is already well known inside the business, having spent 12 years at Ventia. Over that time, he has held senior roles across enterprise strategy, mergers and acquisitions, telecommunications, and more recently defence and social infrastructure.

Ventia said Ralston will work closely with Banks over the coming months to support a smooth handover.

Chairman David Moffatt said Ralston has a deep understanding of Ventia’s business, customers and markets, and has made a strong contribution to the company’s performance and strategy.

Ralston said he was honoured to lead Ventia and pointed to the company’s “strong business, clear strategy and talented team”.

What does Ventia actually do?

Ventia provides infrastructure services across Australia and New Zealand.

Its work covers areas such as defence, water, power, gas, transport, telecommunications, resources and social infrastructure.

That includes maintaining defence bases, looking after roads and transport networks, supporting utilities, managing facilities, and providing services for government and large corporate customers.

Importantly, this gives Ventia a broad contract base across parts of the economy where maintenance and service work doesn’t just disappear when market conditions get tougher.

The business also has plenty of scale, with more than 35,000 employees and subcontractors working across more than 400 sites.

Keeping things steady

Leadership changes can sometimes make investors nervous, especially when a long-serving CEO is moving on.

But today’s share price reaction suggests the market is comfortable with the choice.

That is likely because Ralston is already well known inside the business. He has been involved with Ventia for more than a decade and has held roles across several parts of the group.

And the company’s recent share price performance also helps. Ventia has had a strong year, and the market appears comfortable with the stock moving into its next leadership phase.

The post Near record highs: Why this ASX 300 stock is rising today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.