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Bridger Management Doubles Stake in This DNA Sequencing Company

As revealed by a Schedule 13G filing, Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management LLC more than doubled its stake in Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) to 4.46 million shares, which make up 5.1% of the company’s outstanding common stock. This represents an increase from the stake of 2.16 million shares disclosed in Bridger’s 13F filing for the final quarter of 2015.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) designs, develops and manufactures sequencing systems to assist scientists resolve genetically complex problems and entered the market with its first commercial product, called the PacBio RS System, in the second quarter of 2011. In the September of 2015, the DNA sequencing company announced the launch of the Sequel System, which received 30 orders during the first quarter of 2016. The company’s total revenue in 2015 was $92.78 million, but the company said during its earnings call for the first quarter of this year that it anticipates total revenue of at least $93 million for 2016. Pacific Biosciences generates higher margins from the freshly-launched Sequel System, so the company is on track to reach profitability should the Sequel System experience strong demand. Pacific Biosciences also anticipates gross margin to be in the high 40%’s for 2016.

The shares of the DNA sequencing company are up 83% in the past 12 months, despite a 21% drop registered year-to-date. The number of money managers from our system with stakes in Pacific Biosciences increased to 18 from 11 during the December quarter. Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management owns 12,000 shares of Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) as of March 31.

Disclosure: None