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Will Health Care funds (equities) float above the next correction?

beebee
edited November 2013 in Fund Discussions
Health care is always a good raft to hold onto when the seas get rough.

Ted's reporting on a "sea of red" today had a little floating "Green Kelp".

Two I own:
image

Comments

  • My two were up .72% and .77%, they seemed to do less damage in down markets and go up nicely in good ones, keepers in my book !
  • Same here. They are solid funds.
  • don't you think at some point even they will correct hard? with so many people seeing them as a great defensive play with terrific upside potential as well, it just stands to reason that this free lunch won't last forever. i mean, don't get me wrong, i'm still eating it, wiping my chin and eating some more, but i'll admit to feeling a little guilty and like my comeuppance is due.
  • Reply to @linter: Healthcare funds have been a good raft to hold on to for the last fifteen years.
    Example: My PRHSX:
    YTD 44.06%
    1Year 47.66%
    3Years 30.85%
    5Years 31.76%
    10Years 15.63%
    15 Years 13.43%
  • edited November 2013
    I understand that, Ted, but I wasn't thinking about the past, I was thinking about the future. IOW, can you at all envision a future YTD, 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs, 10 yrs, 15 yrs, in which health does not play out, more or less, the way it has during all equivalent time periods gone by? What would cause such a cosmic shift? Is it even possible? What would you look for to suggest that was in the wings? Do you have an exit strategy for PRHSX -- some price loss or underperformance that would cause you to trim way down or even bail -- or are you going to hang on willy nilly, come what may?
    One reason I ask is, although I already own a good bit of PRHSX, I am looking for a fund to dollar cost average into using 5% - 10% of my monthly salary and, for the life of me, I keep coming back to Health ... so I'm actually looking for devil's-advocate reasons why that might not be the best sector to put my monthly money into.
  • Reply to @linter: Global spending on pharmaceuticals is expected to surpass $1 trillion for the first time next year. PRHSX is a fund you hold forever, and buy more on dips.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • From M*:

    T. Rowe Price Health Sciences is working to recover from the departure of a veteran manager.

    In February 2013, this fund's longtime leader, Kris Jenner, left the firm along with two of the fund's analysts. Combined, the trio covered stocks amounting to roughly 40% of the portfolio. Jenner was a skilled investor with a proven track record of picking winners among smaller health-care stocks, especially within the biotechnology industry. His departure struck a blow to the fund.

    The remaining team has stabilized and has begun to fill out its ranks. Taymour Tamaddon, an analyst who had worked alongside Jenner on this fund since 2004, took the reins as lead manager in February.
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