5 Best Pharmaceutical Stocks to Buy According to Cathie Wood

2. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX)

Wood’s Stake Value: $369,406,000
Percentage of Cathie Wood’s 13F Portfolio: 0.73%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 68

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) develops and commercializes therapies to treat cystic fibrosis. It is ranked second on our list of 10 best pharmaceutical stocks to buy, according to Cathie Wood.

Vertex has purchased development and commercialization rights to VX-561 from Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNCE) for an amount of $32 million. Vertex also announced results for Q1 2021, where its product revenue increased 14% YoY, while net product revenue jumped 6% YoY to $1.25 billion in the US and 43% YoY to $470 million outside the US.

ARK Investment owns more than 1.7 million shares in the company worth over $369.40 million, representing 0.16% of their portfolio. Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies is a leading shareholder in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX), with 2.40 million shares worth more than $515 million.

In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Alger, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks, and Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Vertex Pharmaceuticals has become the world’s leading cystic fibrosis company by introducing the first drugs that treat the underlying disease rather than just the symptoms. Cystic fibrosis is caused by genetic abnormalities. Vertex has been able to target the proteins made by defective genes and allow them to function more normally. The shares detracted from portfolio performance when Vertex announced a disappointment in its drug discovery efforts for VX-814, one of two treatments the company is developing for Alpha-1Antitrypsin Deficiency (AATD), a genetic disorder that causes lung and liver disorders. The very surprising results were released three months earlier than expected and are delaying the development of the AATD drug.”