Europe is home to some of the world’s top healthcare firms. Though all European countries have national healthcare systems, healthcare is still a big business worth billions of Euros. Drug firms for instance sell their products at a significant margin to health agencies. In addition, many European drug firms have substantial presence in emerging and frontier markets which offer another source of revenue. Denmark’s Novo-Nordisk (NVO) is expanding its diabetes drug sales to China as diabetes is affecting more Chinese due to food and lifestyle changes. Germany’s Fresenius Medical (FMS) has a huge market in the kidney dialysis field in the U.S.

The STOXX® Europe 600 Health Care Index can be considered as a  proxy for the European healthcare sector. The index has shot up an astonishing 98% in the past five years as shown in the chart below:

Click to enlarge

Note: Data is based on Euro price returns

The long-term return chart is also excellent.

Source: STOXX

The STOXX® Europe 600 Health Care Index is comprised of 40 components. Some of them trading on the US markets are listed below with their current dividend yields:

1.Company: Novartis AG (NVS)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.15%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: Switzerland

2.Company: Roche Holding AG (RHHBY)
Current Dividend Yield: 2.98%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: Switzerland

3.Company: Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.37%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: Denmark

4.Company: Sanofi (SNY)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.85%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: France

5.Company: AstraZeneca PLC (AZN)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.21%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: UK

6.Company:GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Current Dividend Yield: 6.21%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: UK

7.Company: Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co (FMS)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.05%
Sector: Health Care Providers & Services
Country: Germany

8.Company: Novozymes A/S (NVZMY)
Current Dividend Yield: 0.96%
Sector: Health Care Providers & Services
Country: Denmark

9.Company: Smith & Nephew plc (SNN)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.86%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: UK

10.Company: Indivior PLC (INVVY)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.07%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Country: UK

Note: Dividend yields noted above are as of Dec 11, 2015. Data is known to be accurate from sources used.Please use your own due diligence before making any investment decisions.

Disclosure: Long INVVY

Investors looking to add healthcare stocks can use these stocks are the starting point for further research.