JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES
APRIL 2018 FORBES ASIA | 67Perceptive Advisors’ Joseph
Edelman: using psychology
to stay one step ahead of
Mr. Market’s ticks.still didn’t raise estimates enough for the remainder of 2017. Edel-
man observes that when analysts—bull or bear—are too low in their
expectations, they tend to stay somewhat conservative. Bears tend to
not raise projections very far unless they are willing to do a 180 and
turn bullish. In 2017 Neurocrine kept beating expectations.
Edelman doesn’t believe in buying low and selling high either.
“Only buy if the analysis indicates the stock is worth more and sell
if it’s worth less,” he says. “his may involve buying something back
at a higher price than where you sold it if new analysis or informa-tion says it should go higher.” In the case of Neurocrine, Edelman
bought in at $5 and continued to buy it as high as $80. he stock
recently traded for $84.
“We are really focused on only looking forward,” Edelman says.
“You have to take your history with the stock out of the way.”
Another unique aspect of Edelman’s approach is the sheer num-
ber of positions in his portfolio—some 200 —which makes his fund
more diverse than rival index ETFs like iShares Nasdaq Biotech-
nology fund. But there is a method to Edelman’s madness. “I don’t