Finny Kuruvilla has a master’s from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate and medical degree from Harvard University.

In his spare time, he taught himself how to invest. Turns out he’s pretty good at it.

The $1.7 billion Eventide Gilead Fund that Kuruvilla runs was the top-performing diversified U.S. stock fund over the past five years, according to Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. Kuruvilla pulled off that feat while working on the fund part- time. Until last year he had a full-time job as a venture capitalist.

Kuruvilla, 40, considers himself a disciple of Peter Lynch, the legendary stock picker at Fidelity Investments, who told investors they should put money into companies whose products they know and understand. Using that strategy, Kuruvilla bought biotech stocks including Pharmacyclics Inc. and NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., which were later acquired at prices dramatically higher than he paid.

“I use more of my medicine now than when I saw patients,” Kuruvilla said in an interview in Boston, where he is based. “My expertise has been a huge help.”

The fund returned 25 percent a year over the past five years, beating the broader stock market by an average of 7.8 percentage points. A second Eventide fund devoted to healthcare gained 71 percent over the past year and has $261 million in assets.

The Gilead fund had 25 percent of its money in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals as of Dec. 31, a regulatory filing shows.

‘Ten-Bagger’

In 2010, Kuruvilla read a paper about an experimental blood cancer drug being developed by Pharmacyclics, based in Sunnyvale, California.

“I thought the results they were showing were amazing,” said Kuruvilla, who specialized in blood disorders when he practiced medicine.

After confirming his impressions with a former colleague, he bought the stock in the first quarter of 2011, when Pharmacyclics shares sold for an average of $5.40, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In March, AbbVie Inc. paid $261.25 a share to buy Pharmacyclics to gain control of its blockbuster blood cancer therapy. Kuruvilla described the gain as more than a “ten-bagger,” a term Lynch used in his investment books for stocks that climbed 10-fold.

Investing Hobby

NPS, another holding, was acquired by Shire Plc in February for $46 a share. Eventide bought the stock in the third quarter of 2010 when the shares sold for an average of $6.50, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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