Health Sciences Fund
Data updated: 2025-04-28
C000104936 — Health Sciences Fund. United States Large Cap Blend / Core Health Care Equity · $94.53M AUM. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.
C000104936 Fund Overview
Health Sciences Fund is a US mutual fund managed by John Hancock Funds II, categorised as United States Large Cap Blend / Core Health Care Equity. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.
- Type: US mutual fund
- Manager: John Hancock Funds II
- Category: United States Large Cap Blend / Core Health Care Equity
- Assets under management: $94.53M
- 1-year return: -0.2%
- SEC CIK: 0001331971
- SEC series ID: S000034046
- Share class ID: C000104936
C000104936 Investment Objective and Strategy
Health Sciences Fund describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by John Hancock Funds II.
Investment objective
To seek long-term capital appreciation.
Principal investment strategy
"Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in common stocks of companies engaged, at the time of investment, in the research, development, production, or distribution of products or services related to health care, medicine, or the life sciences (collectively termed ""health sciences""). While the fund may invest in companies of any size, the majority of its assets are expected to be invested in large- and mid-capitalization companies. The manager's portfolio managers divide the health sciences sector into four main areas: pharmaceutical companies, health care services companies, medical products and devices providers, and biotechnology firms. Their allocation among these four areas will vary depending on the relative potential within each area and the outlook for the overall health sciences sector.
While most assets will be invested in U.S. common stocks, the fund may purchase other securities, including foreign securities, futures, and options in keeping with its investment objective. In addition, the fund writes call and put options primarily as a means of generating additional income. The fund reserves the right to use options to seek protection against a decline in the value of its securities or an increase in prices of securities that may be purchased. Normally, the fund will own the securities on which it writes these options. The premium income received by writing covered calls can help reduce but not eliminate portfolio volatility. The fund concentrates its investments (invests more than 25% of its total assets) in securities of companies in the health sciences sector, a comparatively narrow segment of the economy, and therefore may experience greater volatility than funds investing in a broader range of industries.
In managing the fund, the manager uses a fundamental, bottom-up analysis that seeks to identify high quality companies and the most compelling investment opportunities. In general, the fund will follow a growth investment strategy, seeking companies whose earnings are expected to grow faster than inflation and the economy in general. When stock valuations seem unusually high, however, a ""value"" approach, which gives preference to seemingly undervalued companies, may also be emphasized. The fund may invest up to 35% of its total assets in foreign securities (including emerging market securities) and may have exposure to foreign currencies through its investment in these securities, its direct holdings of foreign currencies or through its use of foreign currency exchange contracts for the purchase or sale of a fixed quantity of a foreign currency at a future date.
In pursuing its investment objective, the fund's management has the discretion to purchase some securities that do not meet its normal investment criteria, as described above, when it perceives an unusual opportunity for gain. These special situations might arise when the fund's management believes a security could increase in value for a variety of reasons including a change in management, an extraordinary corporate event, or a new product introduction or a favorable competitive development. The fund holds a certain portion of its assets in money market reserves which can consist of shares of the T. Rowe Price Government Reserve Fund (or any other internal T. Rowe Price money market fund) as well as U.S. dollar and foreign currency-denominated money market securities, including repurchase agreements, in the two highest rating categories, maturing in one year or less.
The fund may sell securities for a variety of reasons such as to secure gains, limit losses or redeploy assets into more promising opportunities. Use of Hedging and Other Strategic Transactions. The fund is authorized to use all of the various investment strategies referred to under ""Additional Information About the Funds' Principal Risks Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk"" including entering into option transactions."
C000104936 Holdings
Top 10 holdings of Health Sciences Fund by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| Eli Lilly and Company | 11.19% |
| Intuitive Surgical Inc. | 6.24% |
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 5.48% |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. | 4.71% |
| Stryker Corporation | 4.45% |
| argenx SE | 3.68% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 3.17% |
| Boston Scientific Corporation | 3.14% |
| Danaher Corporation | 2.87% |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2.44% |
C000104936 Portfolio Allocation
Asset-class allocation of Health Sciences Fund by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Asset class | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Equity | 99.7% |
| Fixed Income | 0.2% |
C000104936 Performance
Total returns for C000104936 (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.
| Period | Total return |
|---|---|
| 1 year | -0.2% |
| 3 years (annualised) | 3.7% |
| 5 years (annualised) | 8.0% |
C000104936 Risk Information
Risk metrics for C000104936, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.
- 1-year volatility (annualised): 15.1%
C000104936 Costs and Fees
C000104936 costs about $85 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.
- Net expense ratio: 0.85%
- Gross expense ratio: 0.86%
- Portfolio turnover: 49%
- Brokerage commissions: 2.71 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)
C000104936 Cashflows
Over the 12 months to 2025-02, Health Sciences Fund had net outflows of $135.40M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.
| Month | Net flow |
|---|---|
| 2025-02 | −$93.47M |
| 2025-01 | −$34.91M |
| 2024-12 | $46.34M |
| 2024-11 | $5.17M |
| 2024-10 | $405.62K |
| 2024-09 | −$1.04M |
C000104936 Debt Constituents
Largest debt holdings of Health Sciences Fund by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Debt holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| Immunocore Holdings plc | 0.24% |
C000104936 Prospectus and SEC Filings
Official Health Sciences Fund filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2024-12-20
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2023-12-21
- Prospectus supplement (497) — filed 2024-12-12
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2025-04-28
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2025-01-28
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2024-10-29
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2024-11-13
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2023-11-08
Related Funds
Other United States Large Cap Blend / Core Health Care Equity funds tracked on ABC INVEST:
Data Sources
ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.