5 Stocks Hedge Funds Are Investing In

In this article we took a look at 10 stocks hedge funds were pitching in their 2023 Q3 investor letters. You can read the first part of this article here. Here are the remaining 5 stocks that hedge funds are investing in:

5. IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV)

Number of hedge fund holdings at the end of Q3: 60

2024 Return: 6.1%

IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) provides healthcare data, analytics, and technology solutions to various stakeholders. Its strong growth prospects, financial performance, and recurring revenue model make it a strong investment bet.  IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, with a market capitalization of $36.441 billion.

Oakmark Select Fund made the following comment about IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“The largest detractors in the third quarter were IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) and Capital One Financial and in the fiscal year were Meta Platforms and IQVIA Holdings. We initiated our position in IQVIA during the quarter amid the decline in the health care sector. We did not eliminate any positions.

IQVIA is a leading provider of clinical trials and related health care technology formed through the merger of Quintiles and IMS Health in 2016. We believe that IQVIA’s leading data and digital capabilities enable the company to gain share of addressable clinical trial-related spending as pharma and biotech companies outsource these services to contract research organizations (CROs). In addition, we think that IQVIA has growth opportunities from delivering real-world evidence to biopharma companies and other health care providers using data to meet regulatory and reimbursement mandates. CEO Ari Bousbib has a strong track record on both operations and capital allocation and significant skin in the game through his large equity holdings in the company. We were pleased to be able to add IQVIA to the portfolio near a trough multiple of roughly 15x our estimate of normal earnings despite the company’s prospects for sustainable above-average growth.”

IQV has been growing its topline by 4% annually over the last couple of years and trade at a forward PE of 22. It doesn’t strike us as a dirt-cheap stock. We first need to see signs of revenue growth to consider an investment in IQV.