5 New Stocks for 2021: Qing Li’s Sciencast Management Portfolio

4. ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR)

Li’s Stake Value: $4,620,000

Percentage of Qing Li’s 13F Portfolio: 0.96%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39

ICON is an Irish company that specializes in the provision of outsourced development and commercialized services to various industries including pharmaceutical, biotechnological, and medical. Qing Li’s Sciencast Management holds 21,942 shares in ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: ICLR) worth $4.62 million and 0.96% of the 13F portfolio.

On September 27, investment advisory firm JPMorgan upgraded ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: ICLR) to Overweight from Neutral, predicting that ICON is likely to capitalize on its acquisition of PRA Health Sciences. For the second quarter of 2021, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: ICLR) recorded EPS of $2.21, beating analysts’ EPS estimate by $0.01.

ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: ICLR) was mentioned in Baron Funds’ Q2 2021 investor letter. Here’s what the asset management firm said:

“We added to our position in ICON Plc, a leading contract research organization (“CRO”) which provides outsourced drug and device development and commercialization services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and government and public health organizations. We continue to believe the merger with PRA Health Sciences, Inc. will be a good, accretive transaction for ICON. The CRO sector is experiencing healthy growth driven by record levels of biotechnology funding, solid biopharmaceutical R&D spend, and continued outsourcing of clinical development. Long term, management targets high single-digit revenue growth and mid-teens earnings growth. We continue to see significant upside in the stock price over a multi-year period.”

At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 39 hedge funds out of the 873 tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: ICLR), up from 29 in the preceding quarter. Moreover, Icon Plc. is one of the seven Irish companies in the UNICEF Vaccine Alliance; supporting their mission and urging the public to acknowledge the significance of UNICEF’s mission.