Healthcare Stocks Poised To Explode? Billionaire Investors Are Betting On These

Over the past five years or so, the shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) has risen by more than 15 times, helping many wealthy investors become even wealthier in the process. Among the billionaires we track at Insider Monkey, 13 of them had positions in Valeant on March 31, half the total as were invested in Actavis, though an increase from 10 billionaire investors at the end of 2014. Nonetheless, the billionaires actually had more capital invested in Valeant, $11.70 billion in total, than they did in Actavis, which was also a huge increase from the $3.85 billion invested in the stock at the end of 2014. Two large positions by billionaires Bill Ackman (a new position) and Jeffrey Ubben contributed a large chunk of that investment, with each holding a position of nearly 20 million shares valued at nearly $4 billion.

Analysts aren’t quite as bullish on Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) as investors are, with Morningstar giving the stock a “BB” rating, while Deutsche Bank raised the stock’s price target to $207 from $200, which still left it well below the current share price of over $236. According to Valeant CEO Michael Pearson, Valeant is expected to surpass the $1 billion mark in revenue from the Asian market, with every unit expected to realize a growth of 10% annually. The company released guidance of $2.40-$2.50 in earnings per share for the second quarter of 2015, which falls within the Thompson Reuters consensus estimate of $2.43. As for the financial year 2015, the company released guidance of $10.90-$11.20 in earnings per share.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) has also experienced strong growth over the years, with its shares rising to $35 in 2015 from $11 in 2009. The company has made numerous acquisitions that have strengthened its returns, and it’s projected to perform even better in the second quarter of 2015. 13 billionaires also hold positions in Pfizer as of March 31, though their aggregate investment totals just $2.29 billion. Nonetheless, those figures are a solid increase from the 10 billionaires holding $1.56 billion worth of its stock at the end of 2014. The stock is expected to perform decently within the next twelve months, having an average price target of $37.46, showing an upside potential of about 10%. Some of the billionaire investors of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) include Ken Fisher and Israel Englander.

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