Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Top Picks For A Fourth Quarter Recovery

#3 Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 3.67 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $997.27 million

 – Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 9.41%

Third Point raised its stake in Allergan by 11% during the July-September quarter. In late October, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Allergan announced that they were engaged in discussions about a possible merger between the two companies, which would be the largest merger this year. However, the U.S. Treasury could try to block the deal, since the new company would be domiciled in Ireland, Allergan’s base, which would mean a loss of tax revenue for the U.S government. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global owned about 7.20 million shares of  Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) at the end of September.

#2 Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 9.85 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $1.36 billion

 – Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 12.94%

A total of 850,000 shares of Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) were acquired by Third Point during the third trimester. The $119.07 billion biotechnology company’s stock is trading nearly sideways since the start of this year. In its financial results for the September quarter, Amgen delivered EPS of $2.72, which was $0.34 ahead of estimates, and revenues of $5.72 billion, which were also $400 million ahead of expectations. During fiscal year 2016 the company plans to buy back between $2 billion and $3 billion worth of shares, and is also increasing its dividend yield from about 2% to 2.5%, beginning in the first quarter of the fiscal year. Samuel Isaly’s healthcare-focused fund Orbimed Advisors held 3.01 million shares of Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) at the end of September.

#1 Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 53.85 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $1.77 billion

 – Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 16.69%

During the third trimester, Third Point massively increased its stake in Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) by acquiring some 49 million shares. The fund’s activist campaign on Baxter reached a new milestone when the company appointed Munib Islam, a Partner at Third Point to its Board in late September. Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners initiated a stake in Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) during the third quarter of some 12.58 million shares.

Disclosure: None