The Eaton Vance Worldwide Health Sciences Fund (Trades, Portfolio), part of Boston-based Eaton Vance Corp. (EV, Financial), disclosed this week that its top four trades during its fiscal first quarter included a new position in Waters Corp. (WAT, Financial), a boost to its AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, Financial) holding and reductions in its holdings in Novartis AG (NVS, Financial) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE, Financial).
Managed by Jason Kritzer, the fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through investments in domestic and international companies principally engaged in the discovery, development, production or distribution of products and services related to scientific advances in biotechnology and other health care sectors. The fund selects stocks using a bottom-up, fundamental approach to investing.
As of February, the fund's $1.05 billion equity portfolio contains 58 stocks, with four new holdings and a turnover ratio of 7%.
Waters
The fund purchased 30,353 shares of Waters (WAT, Financial), giving the position 0.79% weight in the equity portfolio. Shares averaged $262.09 during the first quarter; the stock is modestly overvalued based on Thursday's price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.18.
The Milford, Massachusetts-based company sells liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis tools. GuruFocus ranks the company's profitability 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 7, a 4.5-star business predictability rank and an operating margin that outperforms over 88% of global competitors.
Gurus with large holdings in Waters include Al Gore (Trades, Portfolio)'s Generation Investment Management, Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)' Renaissance Technologies.
AstraZeneca
The fund added 158,541 shares of AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN, Financial), boosting the position 120.42% and the equity portfolio 1.47%. Shares averaged 75.16 pounds ($104.83) during the first quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Thursday's price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.96.
GuruFocus ranks the U.K.-based drug manufacturer's profitability 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 8 and an operating margin that outperforms more than 69% of global competitors despite declining over the past five years.
The Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio) also has a holding in AstraZeneca.
Novartis
The fund sold 223,518 shares of Novartis (NVS, Financial), stripping away 45.61% of the holding and 1.91% of the equity portfolio. Shares averaged $91.75 during the first quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on Thursday's price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.89.
GuruFocus ranks the Swiss drug manufacturer's profitability 7 out of 10 on the back of profit margins outperforming over 83% of global competitors despite three-year revenue and earnings growth rates underperforming more than 54% of global drug manufacturers.
Pfizer
The fund sold 239,900 shares of Pfizer (PFE, Financial), chopping 36.52% of the position and 0.87% of the equity portfolio. Shares averaged $36.87 during the first quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Thursday's price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.97.
GuruFocus ranks the New York-based drug manufacturer's profitability 7 out of 10: Profit margins are outperforming over 85% of global competitors despite three-year revenue and earnings growth rates underperforming more than 70% of global drug manufacturers.
See also
Morgan Stanley (MS, Financial) announced in March that the New York-based financial institution closed its merger with Eaton Vance.
Disclosure: Long Pfizer.
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