Thematic Investors Thematic Investors: Sio Capital on Balancing Success and Catalysts in Healthcare Investing
Investing in healthcare and biotech requires razor-sharp models, especially if you want to create more opportunities in this category through short selling. In today’s market, how can investors capitalize on short opportunities when AI, external Medicare Service pressure, policy regulation, and other factors are impacting healthcare investment targets and potentially derailing performance returns?
In our latest episode of the Thematic Investors podcast, we sit down with one of the great under-the-radar investors who has taken $3MM in AUM and has built it into a $1 BN firm. Join us in welcoming Dr. Michael Castor, CIO and Portfolio Manager, Sio Capital Management. Kieran and Michael discuss:
- What exactly turned him from an ENT resident into a career in finance.
- How the short-selling models at SIO Capital Management take a deep look at 4 critical aspects in the investment journey: Valuation, Catalysts, Sentiment, and Investment Narrative.
- Do Biotech investment targets simply go bankrupt, with investors holding the bag for returns that never materialize? Or is something else going on across the sector.
- With 17% of the U.S. GDP and 10% global GDP, where is healthcare headed, and what type of external forces are at play in driving efficiency?
- How will the U.S. administration balance drug prices, especially those that are significantly in the spotlight today like, Manjaro, Ozempic, and others?
- Has the bar on scientific assessment been lowered too far over the last few years, and can the drag on the healthcare system be reversed at this stage?
- The impact of AI and how new doctors will need to adjust their approaches in the next 5-10 years.
- and more.
Connect with Michael Castor:
Connect with Kieran Cavanna:
About Our Guest:
Michael founded Sio Capital Management in 2006 and has served as the portfolio manager since the Firm’s inception. Before starting Sio, Michael worked at Bernstein Investment Research and Management from October 2001 to February 2006 as Bernstein’s healthcare analyst. Michael was responsible for covering all sectors of healthcare globally. In addition to evaluating long investments, he identified healthcare short investments for several of Bernstein’s hedge funds. When Bernstein launched sector portfolios (an internal Bernstein product launched in 2003), Michael served as the healthcare sector leader.
Prior to Bernstein, Michael worked in the investment banking/equity capital markets division of JP Morgan, where he focused on biotechnology and healthcare equity offerings.
Before entering finance, Michael spent three years in clinical medicine. He completed his surgery internship at Indiana University Medical Center, followed by two years of surgery and otolaryngology residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Michael earned a MD from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, where he graduated summa cum laude. He earned his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Tulane University where he graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors.