Kevin Baker
The Dow sank 281 points on Friday, Aug. 3, gained it all back and more the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then plunged again to finish the week. What a wild ride.
As we head into the weekend, I'm reminded of the advice Count Rugen gave Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride: "Get some rest -- if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything." Not every fund was sucked down by the credit crunch-induced selloff. This week a group of highly concentrated, narrow-focus exchange-traded funds stand out as best in class. All of the ETFs on the best-performing list, excluding the SPDR S&P Biotech(XBI Quote - Cramer on XBI - Stock Picks), are too new to be rated. If you want to know more about these funds, please see my article from March, when the funds were launched. For the five trading days ending Thursday, Aug. 9, the HealthShares Autoimmune-Inflammation(HHA Quote - Cramer on HHA - Stock Picks) rose 7.7%. The fund's holding of Enzo Biochem(ENZ Quote - Cramer on ENZ - Stock Picks) jumped 38.5% with a favorable ruling on a motion in its patent-infringement lawsuit against Applera(ABI Quote - Cramer on ABI - Stock Picks). Another holding, Nektar Therapeutics(NKTR Quote - Cramer on NKTR - Stock Picks) popped 21.6% on news of a drug development partnership with Bayer(BAY Quote - Cramer on BAY - Stock Picks). The second-best health and biotech fund this week is the HealthShares Metabolic-Endocrine Disorders(HHM Quote - Cramer on HHM - Stock Picks). This exchange-traded fund that invests in stocks treating diabetes, growth deficiency and obesity had an impressive return of 7.1%. The best stock in this fund's portfolio was Tercica(TRCA Quote - Cramer on TRCA - Stock Picks), up 35.3% on announcing the European Commission's marketing authorization for Increlex. The "orphan" designation the drug won gives the company 10 years of exclusive marketing and a $20 million milestone payment under a licensing agreement with Ipsen.| Best-Performing Health & Biotech Funds Ranked by returns for the week ending Aug. 9 |
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| Fund | Ticker | Rating | Fund Type | 1 Week Total Return | ||
| HealthShares Autoimmune-Inflammation ETF | HHA | U | ETF | 7.72% | ||
| HealthShares Metabolic-Endocrine Disorders ETF | HHM | U | ETF | 7.10% | ||
| SPDR S&P Biotech ETF | XBI | C- | ETF | 5.69% | ||
| Healthshares Cardiology Devices ETF | HHE | U | ETF | 5.11% | ||
| HealthShares Respiratory/Pulmonary ETF | HHR | U | ETF | 5.06% | ||
| HealthShares Enabling Technologies ETF | HHV | U | ETF | 5.04% | ||
| HealthShares Emerging Cancer ETF | HHJ | U | ETF | 4.96% | ||
| HealthShares Cancer ETF | HHK | U | ETF | 4.35% | ||
| Manning & Napier - Life Sciences Series Fund | EXLSX | U | Open-End | 4.24% | ||
| H&Q Healthcare Investors | HQH | U | Closed-End | 3.21% | ||
| Source: Bloomberg | ||||||
| Worst-Performing Health & Biotech Funds Ranked by returns for the week ending Aug. 9 |
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| Fund | Ticker | Rating | Fund Type | 1 Week Total Return | ||
| Gabelli Global Healthcare & WellnessRx Trust | GRX | U | Closed-End | -7.18% | ||
| PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Services Portfolio | PTJ | U | ETF | -4.24% | ||
| PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector Portfolio | PTH | U | ETF | -3.37% | ||
| iShares DJ US Health Care Providers Index Fund | IHF | B | ETF | -3.19% | ||
| Schwab Health Care Fund | SWHFX | B- | Open-End | -2.96% | ||
| ICON Healthcare Fund | ICHCX | E+ | Open-End | -2.58% | ||
| Blackrock Health Sciences Trust | BME | C | Closed-End | -2.21% | ||
| Fidelity Select Medical Delivery Portfolio | FSHCX | B- | Open-End | -2.08% | ||
| Powershares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals Portfolio | PJP | B- | ETF | -1.80% | ||
| SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF | XPH | C | ETF | -1.78% | ||
| Source: Bloomberg | ||||||
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