Billionaire Fund Managers Are Bullish On These Biotech Stocks

Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) are the joint leaders of this top. At the end of September 2017, both companies could be found in the equity portfolios of 10 billionaire fund managers followed by Insider Monkey. Steve Cohen’s family office Point72 Asset Management has reduced its exposure to Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) by 44% during the third quarter and reported ownership of 507,922 shares in its latest 13F filing, while David E Shaw’s D E Shaw, dumped more than half of its position and was left holding 609,933 shares at the end of the third quarter.

Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) has recently announced the acquisition of an experimental brain disorder drug in a deal worth up to $217 million, but analysts believe the company could be in for other deals as well, given recent acquisitions by competitors Celgene and Sanofi. “Biogen most definitely needs to do another deal, optimally a large one,” commented Geoffrey Porges, a senior biotech analyst at Leerink Partners, adding that he sees potential candidates in the range of $3 billion to $15 billion.

Among the billionaire fund managers we follow, David E Shaw’s D E Shaw held the largest stake in Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) at the end of the third quarter, having indicated ownership of 1.66 million shares in its latest quarterly filing. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies also held a sizable position, although the fund had its position reduced by 65% to 410,238 shares. Having given up on “mongersen”, an anti-inflammation candidate designed for the treatment of Crohn’s disease, Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) is now betting on Ozanimod, another anti-inflammation candidate for which the company paid $7.2 billion. Investors should be wary though, as Ozanimod faces competition from Novartis’ Gilenya.

Disclosure: none.