AI Analysis · Q2 2026

Perkins Capital Management's $107M Q1 2026 filing is one of the most concentrated healthcare portfolios in the dataset — 72% of AUM sits in healthcare names, with Natera ($8.9M, 8.3%) and Eli Lilly ($8.1M, 7.6%) as the top two positions and a roster of mid-cap diagnostics, life-sciences tools, and biopharmaceutical names filling out the rest. The Q1 changes reflect a deliberate compression within healthcare: Natera was trimmed by 250 shares (-$1.3M) despite remaining the largest position, Lilly was reduced by 135 shares (-$1.5M), and Axogen (-$1.9M, -26%), Skywater Technology (-$1.7M, -80%), and Microsoft (-$1.7M, -7%) all gave back meaningful value. The offset was sector-consistent: Idexx Laboratories was increased to $5.5M, Ciena ($3.4M) and AMD ($3.2M) opened as the only non-healthcare new positions, and Butterfly Network, Veracyte, Abbott, and Lemaitre Vascular all held or were adjusted modestly. The portfolio's sector footprint — healthcare 72%, technology 16%, unknown 27%, financial services 0.6%, energy 0.6% — makes clear that Perkins is not running a diversified equity fund but a concentrated healthcare-and-diagnostics mandate with small tactical exposures to semiconductors (AMD, CIENA) and a legacy Microsoft position that is being wound down. The Q1 reductions in Natera and Lilly are especially notable because both names had been top-3 positions for multiple consecutive quarters; the reductions suggest the manager believes the near-term upside in these names has been captured and is trimming into strength rather than adding to losers.

The healthcare core accounts for roughly 72% of the book and is built around three overlapping theses: diagnostics and molecular testing, medtech and surgical devices, and obesity/diabetes pharmaceuticals. Natera (NTRA, $8.9M, 8.3%) is the portfolio's anchor and its highest-conviction bet — a genetic-testing and reproductive-health company whose share count was only marginally reduced in Q1 (down 250 shares, -$1.3M in value) despite the position's prominence. That small trim into a flat-to-higher stock price is classic 'taking profits on the winner' behavior rather than a thesis exit, and it keeps NTRA as the largest position by a wide margin. Eli Lilly (LLY, $8.1M, 7.6%) is the second-largest and the pharmaceutical core of the book — the manager reduced it by 135 shares (-$1.5M) in Q1, which given Lilly's obesity-drug (Zepbound/tirzepatide) momentum through early 2026 reads as a modest profit-taking move rather than a loss of conviction. Together these two names represent 16% of AUM in a pair of healthcare stocks with unrelated drivers: NTRA is a diagnostic-testing story, LLY is a pharmaceutical platform story. The manager is not doubling down on a single healthcare sub-sector but spreading its highest-conviction bets across two distinct growth vectors within the broader healthcare mandate.

The diagnostic-and-life-sciences sleeve is where the portfolio's real diversification lives. Axogen (AXGN, $5.6M, 5.2%) is a peripheral-nerve-repair company whose position was reduced by $1.9M in Q1 (-26% shares) — the largest single cut in the filing. The reduction is interesting because it came alongside increases in Idexx Laboratories (IDXX, $5.5M, up from $5.0M) and Lemaitre Vascular (LMAT, $2.8M, up slightly), both of which operate in the broader surgical-and-diagnostics space. The pattern suggests the manager is rotating within the healthcare sleeve — reducing exposure to pure-play peripheral nerve repair while maintaining or increasing exposure to broader diagnostics platforms. That distinction matters: AXGN is a narrow, high-risk surgical-device bet, while IDXX is a diversified veterinary-and-animal-health diagnostics franchise with recurring revenue characteristics. The manager appears to be favoring the latter's risk profile at a moment when the broader diagnostics market is facing reimbursement-pressure headwinds.

Quarter at a glance — Q2 2026

Top 10 holdings

Filing history