Joel Greenblatt’s Magic Formula Worked During Q1 But Top Picks Undeperformed Mr. Market

Another stock that contributed to Gotham’s low performance is Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC), which dropped by 18.39%. The chicken producers have been lately identified as the most shorted stock on US market while Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC), being the second largest producer of chicken in the world, has been directly affected by the overseas buyers limiting imports of the US poultry as a consequence of recent infections of bird flu. Gotham owns 2.86 million shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC), the stake representing only 0.75% of its equity portfolio. Another large shareholder of the company is Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies, which raised its stake by 72% during the fourth quarter of 2014 to 2.94 million shares. Nevertheless, it should be taken into consideration that demand for chicken is on the rise as the Americans prefer it to any other type of meat, which could explain why investors might be bullish on the stock.

On the other hand, the stock of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) has appreciated by 4.11% in the first quarter of 2015 and Gotham increased his position by 52% in the last quarter of 2014 to 1.0 million shares, the $95.15 million stake being the second-largest in the fund’s equity portfolio. Even though the stock of the biotech company appreciated less significantly than other of its peers from the industry, it provides a safer bet due to its size and a track record of earnings growth. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is also one of the most popular healthcare stocks among the funds that we track, with 97 investors disclosing long positions in the latest round of 13F filings, with an aggregate value of over $5.0 billion. Cliff Asness, Samuel Isaly, Julian Robertson are among the shareholders with significant long positions in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD).

Disclosure: none