In this article, we discuss billionaire Jim Simons’ top 5 stock picks. For Simons’ investment philosophy and his comments on certain stocks please see Billionaire Jim Simons’ Top 10 Stock Picks.
5. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY)
Value: $1,146,353,000
Percent of Jim Simons’ 13F Portfolio: 1.24%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 131
New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb is one of the most famous biopharmaceutical companies in the world, offering treatments for various diseases, including viruses, HIV, cancer, heart and autoimmune diseases. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently started evaluating Bristol Myers Squibb’s and Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) blood-thinning treatment Eliquis for patients who experience blood clotting after contracting COVID-19.
With a dividend yield of over 3%, BMY is one of the 10 best healthcare dividend stocks.
The stock is up about 4% over the last 12 months.
With a $2.07 billion stake in BMY, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 2.4 million shares of the company as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. Our database shows that 131 hedge funds held stakes in BMY at the end of the fourth quarter, versus 124 funds at the end of the third quarter.
In their Q4 2020 Investor Letter, Wedgewood Partners highlighted a few stocks and Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) is one of them.
Here is what Wedgewood Partners said:
“Bristol-Myers Squibb recently reported accelerating sales as much of the medical services industry returned to work. The Company continues to expect double-digit earnings growth over the next few years, driven by existing drugs, in addition to a broad pipeline of new drugs and indications. While the market remains fixated on a couple of patent expirations that could occur over the next several years, we think this is well-known at this point, yet the market still undervalues a couple of key acquisitions the Company has made in the past few years, particularly Celgene, which was acquired for a song.”
4. VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN)
Value: $1,238,140,000
Percent of Jim Simons’ 13F Portfolio: 1.34%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47
Virginia-based VeriSign, Inc. provides domain registry services, DDoS protection and related services that are used to enhance internet security. In the fourth quarter, the company posted an EPS of $1.38, beating the consensus estimates by $0.9.
Legendary investor and billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is the biggest stakeholder in VeriSign out of the 887 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, as of the end of the fourth quarter. The Oracle of Omaha owns 12.82 million shares of the company, worth $2.7 billion.
3. Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD)
Value: $1,269,673,000
Percent of Jim Simons’ 13F Portfolio: 1.37%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 54
Pinduoduo is one of the largest ecommerce platforms in China, with over 700 million active buyers. The company went public in the U.S. in 2018, raising about $1.6 billion on its first day of trading. The company’s shares have gained a whopping 260% over the last 12 months.
Bernstein initiated a bullish coverage of Pinduoduo recently, citing a huge growth potential amid rising ecommerce sales in China.
There were 54 hedge funds in our database that held stakes in Pinduoduo at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 34 funds in the third quarter. Renaissance Technologies owns 7.1 million shares of PDD worth $1.3 billion.
In the Q4 2020 Investor Letter, Tao Value highlighted a few stocks and Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) is one of them.
Here is what Tao Value said:
“Pinduoduo (ticker: PDD) reported a very strong Q3 2020, beating key KPIs all-around (GMV, active buyers & Revenue). It even surprisingly recorded the first non-GAAP profit (RMB466 million). Yet, the more important development is Duoduo Maicai, a new fresh grocery initiative. It is a natural extension of Pinduoduo’s deep root in agriculture e-commerce, and I think the logistic expertise it accumulated over years should help them compete. It is also a very nascent market, which attracts other tech giants (including Meituan & Alibaba). I will watch very closely on the developments.”
2. Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU)
Value: $1,857,472,000
Percent of Jim Simons’ 13F Portfolio: 2.01%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
Chinese internet giant Baidu ranks 2nd on the list of billionaire Jim Simons’ top 10 stock picks. Baidu offers search engine, ads products, news platforms, games and various other internet and entertainment services. Earlier this year, Baidu announced its plans to foray in the lucrative EV market. The company will partner with auto company Geely to start making EVs. The company has tapped bike-sharing company Mobike’s cofounder Xia Yiping as CEO of its EV segment.
Horos Asset Management said in their Q4 2020 investor letter that they reduced their position in Baidu, Inc. (NASDSAQ: BIDU) amid rising competition.
Here is what Horos Asset Management has to say about Baidu, Inc. in their Q4 2020 investor letter:
“We also reduced our exposure to the other Chinese technology giant we hold in our portfolio: Baidu. As we have already highlighted in prior letters, the company has managed—after some very challenging quarters—to refocus its services and develop its own ecosystem around its super app Baidu App, to face the threats posed by WeChat (Tencent), Alipay (Alibaba) and other recently created apps, which have huge acceptance and growth in the country. Finally, Baidu’s share price has rewarded these efforts, with a share price rise of over 100% since the March lows.”
1. Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO)
Value: $1,874,856,000
Percent of Jim Simons’ 13F Portfolio: 2.03%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 23
Denmark-based Novo Nordisk tops the list of billionaire Jim Simons’ top 10 stock picks. The company is primarily involved in making treatments for diabetes. It also makes treatments for hemostasis management, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. The stock jumped recently after a study by the New England Journal of Medicine posted positive results for the company’s treatment to reduce obesity. The stock is up 12% over the last 12 months.
As of the end of the fourth quarter, 23 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database of 887 funds held stakes in NVO, compared to 22 funds in the third quarter. Renaissance Technologies is the company’s biggest stakeholder, with 26.8 million shares worth $1.9 billion.
You can also take a peek at Cathie Wood’s Top 10 Stock Picks and Billionaire Carl Icahn’s Top 10 Picks.
