$21 Billion Hedge Fund Farallon Capital’s High Upside Potential Picks

Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX) was another of the fund’s picks with the 13F reporting a position of almost 2 million shares in the pharmacy benefit management services company. This was up considerably from the end of September. Express Scripts had been involved in a business dispute with Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) which has resulted in its trailing earnings being artificially low; the current pricing is in fact assuming very little growth in the business beyond its current run rate. Express Scripts was one of the most popular healthcare stocks among hedge funds in the fourth quarter of 2012 (see more healthcare stocks hedge funds loved).

Farallon more than doubled its holdings of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) to a total of 610,000 shares. The $6 billion market cap company is involved in engineering, fabrication, and construction activities for a set of customers which includes energy and chemicals companies. With those industries being tied to overall demand, Chicago Bridge & Iron in turn carries a beta of 1.9. The sell-side is expecting high earnings growth, and as a result the PEG ratio is 0.6 despite a sizable trailing P/E. Billionaire Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors was another major holder of the stock (check out Cohen’s stock picks).

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.