May
25, 2021
5 min read
This story originally appeared on ValueWalk
Pharma and healthcare are considered to be evergreen stocks, but they have been underperforming for the past four to five years. However, the sector again came into the limelight after the coronavirus outbreak last year. Now, this sector is expected to continue to outperform for the next couple of years at least, making it an attractive investment option. One easy way to invest in pharma and healthcare stocks is through mutual funds. If you are also thinking of investing in such companies, then to help you choose, detailed below are the top ten health mutual funds.
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Top Ten Health Mutual Funds
To come up with the top ten health mutual funds, we have used their past one year return data (from U.S. News). Following are the top ten health mutual funds:
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VALIC Company I Health Sciences Fund (VCHSX, 49%)
VCHSX invests in the common stocks of firms dealing with the research, development, production, or distribution of products or services connected to health sciences. This fund has given a return of 18.35% in the last three years and 16.90% in the last five years. VCHSX‘s total assets are $956.10 million, while it has a net expense ratio of 1.05. The top three holdings of the fund are UnitedHealth Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Eli Lilly and Co.
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T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund (PRHSX, 50%)
PRHSX invests in companies dealing with the research, development, distribution or production of health-related products or services. This fund has given a return of 18.72% in the last three years and 17.23% in the last five years. PRHSX‘s total assets are $17.69 billion, while it has a net expense ratio of 0.76. The top three holdings of the fund are UnitedHealth Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Intuitive Surgical.
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Lord Abbett Health Care Fund (LHCAX, 52%)
LHCAX invests in equity and equity-related securities of health care-related firms. This fund has given a return of 12% in the last six months. LHCAX’s total assets are $7.03 million, while it has a net expense ratio of 1.03. The top three holdings of the fund are Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Co and UnitedHealth Group.
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Fidelity® Select Biotechnology Portfolio (FBIOX, 55%)
FBIOX primarily invests in companies related to the research, manufacturing and distribution of biotech and related products. This fund has given a return of 15.93% in the last three years and 16.96% in the last five years. FBIOX’s total assets are $8.31 billion, while it has a net expense ratio of 0.72. The top three holdings of the fund are AbbVie, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Biogen.
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Fidelity® Select Medical Tech&Devcs Port (FSMEX, 56%)
FSMEX invests in firms dealing with the research, development, manufacturing, distribution and sale of medical equipment and related technologies. This fund has given a return of 24.12% in the last three years and 23.14% in the last five years. FSMEX’s total assets are $8.66 billion, while it has a net expense ratio of 0.71. The top three holdings of the fund are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Danaher and Boston Scientific.
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PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund (PHLAX, 57%)
PHLAX invests in equity and equity-related securities of firms operating within the health sciences sector. This fund has given a return of 15.36% in the last three years and 16.30% in the last five years. PHLAX’s total assets are $2.26 billion, while it has a net expense ratio of 1.14. The top three holdings of the fund are UnitedHealth, Eli Lilly and Co and Natera.
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Baron Health Care Fund (BHCHX, 64%)
BHCHX invests in the common stock of firms engaged in the research, development, production, sale, delivery or distribution of products and services connected to the health sector. This fund has given a return of 18% in the last six months. BHCHX’s total assets are $126.9 million, while it has a net expense ratio of 0.85. The top three holdings of the fund are UnitedHealth, Icon and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
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Eventide Healthcare & Life Sciences Fund (ETAHX, 65%)
ETAHX, during normal times, invests in equity and equity-related securities of firms operating in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. This fund has given a return of 28.39% in the last three years and 26.06% in the last five years. ETAHX’s total assets are $2.16 billion, while it has a net expense ratio of 1.55. The top three holdings of the fund are First American Government Obligs U, Biohaven Pharmaceutical and Ascendis Pharma.
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AlphaCentric LifeSci Healthcare Fund (LYFAX, 67%)
LYFAX invests in equity securities of companies in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. This fund has given a return of 30% in the last six months. LYFAX’s total assets are $28.22 million, while it has a net expense ratio of 1.65. The top three holdings of the fund are Viracta Therapeutics, Gilead Sciences and Athira Pharma.
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Perkins Discovery Fund (PDFDX, 169%)
PDFDX usually invests in equity securities of domestic companies having a market cap of less than $1 billion. This fund has given a return of 37.76% in the last three years and 31.08% in the last five years. PDFDX’s total assets are $25.13 million, while it has a net expense ratio of 2.61. The top three holdings of the fund are Magnite, Vericel and Natera.