Mr. Marti: Columbus Circle Investors is an institutional money manager founded in 1975. We manage a little over 12 billion in public equity investments for pension funds, endowments, etc. I am a partner and Managing Director of Columbus Circle Investors, have been with the firm for nine years and manage over 1 billion in public healthcare equity assets across several portfolios including both long and long/short.
TWST: What has it been like for the healthcare sector during this market
turmoil?
Mr. Marti: Over the past year health care has outperformed the market due to
less economic sensitivity. So far in 2009, healthcare stocks have witnessed
quite a bit of volatility. Over the first month or so, healthcare outperformed
as the economy showed continued weakness. Then, in the later half of February,
President Obama revealed his 2010 budget, which included a healthcare reform
proposal. Fear of potential government control spooked the market and led to a
precipitous decline in healthcare stocks. Finally, in March we began to see some
stabilization in several economic data points, a more detailed plan from the
Treasury to remove toxic assets from banks, and more Fed action to help the
credit markets and lower interest rates. This led to a rotation out of defensive
sectors such as health care into more cyclically oriented stocks (financials,
retail, technology). So I'd characterize the early part of 2009 as rather
volatile.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ALXN, THOR
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