Friday, January 7, 2022
Watch the replay of our discussion with Michael (Mike) Taylor, PM of PINK, below. Mike and Health Care Sector Head Tom Tobin covered a ton of ground, including how the PINK ETF is set up and works, where we are in the pandemic given Omicron's rapid spread, the recent underperformance of hedge funds and "bodies floating down the East River," the health care staffing crisis, and a bunch of long and short ideas! On the short side, we covered MRNA, EXAS, and TDOC (among others in Mike's COVID-comp basket). On the long side, we discussed AMN and Mike provided his rationale for being overweight UNH, as well as his current thinking on LIVN, UTHR, and VRAY.
Timestamps are below the video, and you may CLICK HERE to listen to the audio-only replay.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:36 - About PINK - low fee (50 bps), the complexities of trading a long/short fund vs. an actively managed ETF, initial performance
08:00 - Top Holdings, where we are today; overweight UnitedHealth Group (UNH)
10:22 - Omicron - the surprise... there's a huge group of mutations out there (100s of variants, "way more than we know about.") basically vaccinating the world
13:09 - Moderna (MRNA) and vaccine marketplace implications; the market opportunity, or lack thereof
19:10 - The difficulty modeling the current wave - when will it peak? Looking through the peak to the back half of 2022, which should be really strong
21:07 - LYV long vs. Zoom, TDOC, et al. short (why the trade is still on and detail on TDOC short)
26:00 - The staffing shortage - long AMN, impact on facilities
32:25 - Health Care is exciting - hedge fund performance may be the worst Mike has ever seen (dragging down some medtech and solid companies); cashing up for redemptions = mid-February inflection?
38:40 - Trading into the Macro cycle - Macro Quad 1 vs. "light Quad 4" - why Mike owns DE (Deere & Company); missing the short opportunity in SMID-cap biotech, etc.
44:10 - United Therapeutics (UTHR) long - two new products, the pig-to-human transplant opportunity
49:37 - ViewRay (VRAY) long - trial data showing fewer scans (MRI-guided radiation therapy) can = same results plus a reimbursement opportunity
52:37 - LivaNova (LIVN) long - de-risked vagal nerve stimulator for depression - a billion-dollar opportunity once there's reimbursement for it
55:00 - Managing/sticking with positions (UTHR, VRAY, LIVN expected to be multi-year trades) vs. trading around them/"chasing"
57:57 - Exact Sciences (EXAS) short - catalyst calendar right here, execution, GH data, comparable sensitivity for liquid biopsy = in-office visits and relegates Exact to a "not so fast follower"
1:03:20 - Regeneron (REGN) cautious - Mike loves CEO Schleifer but is "bothered" by the model and risk around competition for Eylea and COVID-comp (antibody business)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Taylor is the Portfolio Manager of the Simplify Health Care ETF (PINK), the first 100% pro bono ETF focused on the health care sector (net profits will be donated for the benefit of the Susan G. Komen foundation on an annual basis). He has over two decades of experience managing long/short health care equity portfolios at leading hedge funds, including PM and Managing Director of CriticalMass Partners LLC. Previously, Michael managed hedged and factor neutral-portfolios with a gross amount over $1billion at funds including Millennium, Citadel and Diamondback Capital; he is regarded to have built and run one of the best-performing Healthcare funds on Wall Street.
Michael began his investment career at OppenheimerFunds as the Head of Healthcare. He has overseen the day to day operations, portfolio selection/trades and research staff at multiple institutions, and prior to Portfolio Management, Michael worked as a Scientist during the 1990's developing predominantly Viral-vector based Gene Therapeutic Drugs for the Bio/Pharma industry. He holds advanced degrees in Science and Business from the Johns Hopkins University and the William E. Simon School of Business.
Feel free to send questions or feedback to .
Thomas Tobin
Managing Director
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