Coronavirus unlikely to hurt investors in the long term, says Marcellus’ Pramod Gubbi

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is unlikely to affect investors in the long term, says Pramod Gubbi, co-founder of Marcellus Investment Managers. However, it’s difficult to quantify its actual impact now, he added.

Gubbi says he is looking at the pharma space from bottom-up perspective. "We do recognise there is value here but there are different cases, some with significantly larger exposure to the US where it’s not clear if pricing is going to come back ever in a meaningful way, some have regulatory issues. So you will have to comb through all these factors and see which ones stack up particularly given where prices are,” he observed.

Speaking about specific sectors, he said, “We do hold Axis Bank in some of our portfolios and we continue to be positive on it. We believe in the consolidation of the banking sector; Three or four large private sector banks which have strong access to capital and CASA franchises will lead that consolidation unless and until we see a complete reversal in terms of PSU bank performance.”