As I look back at September and early October in the Healthcare model, all I can say is that there was nowhere to hide for investors.
Certainly whenever one is involved in a specialized sector investment portfolio, as I have been with the Healthcare Model on Covestor, one is subject to the moves of that sector.
Painful Shift
As the Healthcare sector soared earlier in the year, outpacing the rest of the market, I looked rather brilliant, outperforming almost all of the other Covestor Models.
As the same sector has recently been slammed I don’t look quite as brilliant as say Warren Buffett, my favorite wise investor.
It probably started when Martin Shkreli raised the cost of an $18 pill Daraprim that treats AIDS or Cancer patients fighting parasitic infections a mere 4,000%.
Backlash
Or perhaps the first glimpse of a problem was when Gilead announced it was charging $1,000/pill for Sovaldi, a Hepatitis C treatment that could cost $84,000 for a full treatment.
Then again maybe it was Valeant (VRX) (a former holding of mine in the Sustained Momentum Model) that bought drugs and raised their prices.
Who could blame politicians and religious leaders for jumping all over this? I mean sometimes unfettered capitalism makes a mess of things.
Bruised Ego
As for me, I can’t afford any of these expensive drugs to treat the licking and bruising I have taken (and some of you along with me) the past few weeks.
I keep trying to get out of stocks that are declining, and try to identify stocks moving higher.
But sometimes you just have to move a little cash to the sidelines and save it for a healthier investment climate.
Photo Credit: e-Magine Art via Flickr Creative Commons
