PHSBX
Putnam Global Health Care Fund
Putnam Global Health Care Fund
Expense ratio1
1.82%
Net assets2
$1.59B
Holdings2
43
Category
US Equity
2023 return3
7.49%

Investment objective & strategy

As of Dec. 23, 2025 · prospectus

Objective. The fund seeks capital appreciation.

Strategy. As a non-diversified fund concentrating in the health care industries, the fund invests mainly in common stocks (growth or value stocks or both) of large and midsize companies worldwide that the Investment Manager, as defined below, believes have favorable investment potential. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of companies in the health care industries. This policy may be changed only after 60 days notice to shareholders. Potential investments include companies that manufacture health care supplies or provide health care-related services, and companies in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products. The fund may purchase stocks of companies with stock prices that reflect a value lower than that … As a non-diversified fund concentrating in the health care industries, the fund invests mainly in common stocks (growth or value stocks or both) of large and midsize companies worldwide that the Investment Manager, as defined below, believes have favorable investment potential. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of companies in the health care industries. This policy may be changed only after 60 days notice to shareholders. Potential investments include companies that manufacture health care supplies or provide health care-related services, and companies in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products. The fund may purchase stocks of companies with stock prices that reflect a value lower than that which that Investment Manager places on the company. The Investment Manager may consider, among other factors, a companys valuation, financial strength, growth potential, competitive position in its industry, projected future earnings, cash flows and dividends when deciding whether to buy or sell investments. The Investment Manager may also consider other factors that it believes will cause the stock price to rise. The fund may also use derivatives, such as certain foreign currency transactions, futures, options, warrants and swap contracts, for both hedging and non-hedging purposes, and may engage in short sales of securities. For example, the fund typically uses foreign currency forward contracts in connection with the funds investments in foreign securities in order to hedge the funds currency exposure relative to the funds benchmark index. The use of the term global in the funds name is meant to emphasize that the Investment Manager looks for investment opportunities on a worldwide basis and that the funds investment strategies are not constrained by the countries or regions in which companies are located. Under normal market conditions, the fund intends to invest in at least five different countries and at least 40% of its net assets in securities of foreign companies (or, if less, at least the percentage of net assets that is ten percentage points less than the percentage of the funds benchmark represented by foreign companies, as determined by the providers of the benchmark).

Top holdings

As of Feb. 28, 2026 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
LILLY ELI and CO $180.25M 11.34%
JOHNSON&JOHNSON $141.59M 8.91%
ABBVIE INC $94.43M 5.94%
Novartis AG (Registered) NVSEF $87.92M 5.53%
MERCK & CO $84.78M 5.33%
ASTRAZENECA PLC $80.21M 5.04%
UNITEDHEALTH GRP $78.29M 4.92%
INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC $61.94M 3.90%
THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC $58.84M 3.70%
ROCHE HOLDINGS AG (GENUSSCHEINE) $46.24M 2.91%
View all holdings →

Allocation by sector

As of February 28, 2026 · N-PORT
View portfolio breakdown →

Portfolio moves

Nov 30, 2025 → Feb 28, 2026
Opened
10
Exited
11
Increased
8
Decreased
17
Unchanged
9

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

View portfolio moves →

Similar funds

Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight

Advisers

As of August 31, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
Franklin Advisers, Inc. Sub-adviser
Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited Sub-adviser
Putnam Investment Management, LLC Adviser
The Putnam Advisory Company, LLC Sub-adviser

Footnotes

  1. Expense ratio as of December 28, 2023, from the fund's prospectus.
  2. Net assets and holdings count as of February 28, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
  3. Total return for calendar year 2023, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2023 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).

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