$21 Billion Farallon Capital’s Most Promising Stock Picks

VCA Antech, Inc. (NASDAQ:WOOF), an animal healthcare and hospital company, was another small cap stock which Farallon owned. VCA Antech was one of P2 Capital Partners’ top stock picks at the end of the third quarter of 2012; the fund is managed by Claus Molle (research more of P2’s favorite stocks). Revenue and earnings were up at double-digit rates in Q3 2012 versus a year earlier, though again the trailing P/E of 19 may have captured much of the company’s upside already.

Farallon initiated a position in Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK), which is an oil and gas exploration and production company. The company is currently struggling with profitability though Wall Street analysts expect the bottom line to improve substantially in 2013, yielding a forward P/E of 15. Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was buying Halcon in the last couple months; in early December, the fund had owned over 11 million shares (read more about Citadel’s investment in Halcon). Production, and therefore revenue, have been up though underperformance has led the stock down 22% in the last year.