Biotech " Plunge "

stringer_bell

I see biotech stocks are taking a royal hammering, I have a few holdings. whats everyones thoughts? a few people are screaming " bubble " however, it has served me well and no rush to sell

meanbean

They have been hammered over the past few days but they had a rapid rise last week, so possibly just correcting quickly. I noticed whilst they were hammered this morning, the extent of this eased off this afternoon. I hold some Bio funds, have contemplated selling today and yesterday to preserve profits but have decided to hold. Some like Biotech Trust have fallen 10% in 3 sessions, so I don't see it continuing. I am no expert though.

bowlhead99

stringer_bell wrote: »

I see biotech stocks are taking a royal hammering, I have a few holdings. whats everyones thoughts? a few people are screaming " bubble " however, it has served me well and no rush to sell

As an example, Biogen, a major nasdaq holding of some of the good biotech funds, is down to $428 right now, which is a fall of 1% from yesterday and a fall of 10% from when it was trading at $475 last Friday afternoon, right?

However, you could have bought it two weeks ago on 12 March for 407p, or you could have bought it on 12 Feb for 392p or on 12 Jan for 348p.

If a share is up 5% in a fortnight or 9% in six weeks or 23% in ten weeks, it is not exactly "taking a hammering".

However, one would assume it will not keep going up 23% every ten weeks.

Given the volatility, if the companies or funds have "served you well" and are therefore a larger part of your portfolio than they once were, you might find it sensible to scale back so that they are still a sensible proportion of your portfolio rather than a high weighting. That is not a "fear of the bubble" talking, just simple common sense.

dunstonh

Its an extremely volatile sector and high risk. Typically, you would not expect your holdings to be above 10% overall. You would typically be taking many of those gains into account with your rebalancing.

Kendall80

My biotech plunged today and yesterday but nowhere near my other funds. Even the more defensive styled Woodford equity income fund dropped 1.7% today (although he does hold pharma).


Everything has been down for me the last 2 days except Russia.

EdGasket

stringer_bell wrote: »

I see biotech stocks are taking a royal hammering, I have a few holdings. whats everyones thoughts? a few people are screaming " bubble " however, it has served me well and no rush to sell

The price represents everyone's thoughts as that is where the balance is between buyers and sellers. No-one can tell you where Bio's are headed, they can only guess.

Paulrm71

Personally I think its just profit taking as my Biotech fund jumped another 7% in a week, which for me represented a 75% profit in the thirteen odd months that I have held the fund. I sold out some of the profit and I expect lots of others did too. Long term, whilst very volatile I see a good, profitable future for biotech. I am in!

Jsscmm

After a series of "down" days... Axa biotech has had a very slight up.

I suspect next week the volatility will continue... Not that people should be investing on a weekly or daily basis of course !

ColdIron

If you want exposure to biotech but would like some diversity and the protection of giants like Johnson & Johnson and GSK you could do worse than having a look at something like L&G Global Healthcare & Pharmaceutical

atush

Personally, I feel drops like this on quality shares/funds are buying opportunities in general.

BrockStoker

Looks like it's heading up again. I took a chance and topped up but my timing was not perfect - I missed out on the last big single day fall. Even so, glad to find a semi-decent "entry point".