The US biotech is a hot pick for Goldman Sachs, which said the sector offers investors some “very attractive” entry points. Luke Bares, EMEA’s head of fundamental equities at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told CNBC that a “transformative change” is taking place in healthcare, particularly in genomic technology, a developing area of medicine that can personalize the treatment of patients. Is. Bars flagged that the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) was “underperforming against the broader market.” XBI is down more than 40% this year, and has slipped nearly 53% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500, by comparison, is down 21% year-over-year and 11.7% on the 12-month time frame. According to Bars, some companies in the sector have “urgent challenges,” such as developing regulatory-approved drugs, which are costly. However, he added: “A third of that universe is trading below cash on the balance sheet, so you’re looking at companies in negative enterprise value positions. buy into the long-term growth story.” Bars said such companies are ready for acquisition. “If you think about the exit strategy for some of these businesses, there’s obviously opportunity for M&A in this area — where big pharma companies can step in and use some of these unique and new technologies. Can acquire – very attractive.” Bares said the 12 largest pharmaceutical firms currently have about $600 billion in cash on their balance sheets. “If you commit to some of those new and unique technologies, the big pharma industry can easily come in and pull out those new unique technologies, giving you a very interesting upside exit point.” Other banks noted opportunities in biotech firms earlier this month. Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond points to Cogent Biosciences as his favorite “under-the-radar” small cap pick, with an overweight rating, while Morgan Stanley’s Matthew Harrison likes BioMarin Pharmaceutical. — CNBC’s Christina Cheddar Burke contributed to this report.