Top Health Equity Funds – Mutual Fund Commentary | Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks

Top Health Equity Funds – Mutual Fund Commentary

Source: http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/19075/Top+Health+Equity+Funds++-+Mutual+Fund+Commentary
Posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | In Market Commentary, Stocks to Watch

Contributed by: Zacks Market Commentaries (http://www.zacks.com/) -

Today we are featuring top-performing “health” equity mutual funds that primarily invest in common stocks of health care and related companies.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Health Equity Funds list.

3 Healthy Picks

Alger Health Sciences A (AHSAX) seeks long-term capital appreciation. It primarily invests in equity securities of companies of any market capitalization that are engaged in the health sciences sector. It can leverage, that is, borrow money to buy additional securities.

The value of the portfolio’s shares is more volatile than other mutual funds that do not concentrate their investments in one sector. AHSAX offers dividends and capital gains annually. Unit holders have to make a minimum initial investment of $1000 to enter this Zacks#1 Rank (”Strong Buy”) fund.

Its top holdings include Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OPTR), Wyeth (WYE) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

Delaware Healthcare A (DLHAX) seeks maximum long-term capital growth capital appreciation. It invests in U.S. and non-U.S. companies across all market capitalizations. The fund may also invest in companies located in emerging markets.

Liu-Er Chen has been the lead manager at this non-diversified fund since September 2007. The fund has topped its benchmark index by 7.91% in terms of totals returns in the last 1 year.

Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) and Amgen Inc. (AMGN) are among the fund’s top holdings.

Touchstone Healthcare & Biotechnology A (THBCX) seeks long-term capital appreciation by primarily investing in stocks of companies that are involved in the healthcare and biotechnology industries.

THBCX focuses on companies with improving fundamentals, superior earnings prospects, reasonable valuations and favorable trading volume and price patterns. It typically invests in the common stocks of medium to large capitalization companies, but may also invest in companies of any size.

The fund may engage in frequent and active trading of securities. It is non-diversified. THBCX offers dividends and capital gains, if any, at least annually.

Discover Many More Funds

Learn more about the new Zacks Mutual Fund Rank and discover some of the best market-beating mutual funds by browsing our new mutual funds section. This part of Zacks.com offers a variety of tools, including mutual fund research, a new mutual fund screener, helpful answers to frequently asked questions and quick access to prospectuses and other information.

By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward.

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