Billionaire Seth Klarman’s Top 3 Micro-Cap Stock Picks ~ Bellatrix Exploration Ltd (BXE), Kindred Biosciences Inc (KIN) and Alliance One International, Inc. (AOI)

Baupost Group’s second micro-cap pick is Kindred Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:KIN). For the quarter ending March 31, the fund didn’t made any changes in its stake in the company and holds slightly over 3.01 million shares, with the stake valued at $21.52 million. Kindred Biosciences has over 20 programs in development currently, though similar to Baupost Group’s top pick Bellatrix Exploration Ltd (NYSE:BXE), Kindred Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:KIN) is also down over 60% over the past year. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, the company reported a net loss of $0.34 per share, compared to the EPS loss of $0.38 that it reported in the same quarter of fiscal 2015. While releasing its first quarter results, President and CEO of Kindred Biosciences, Richard Chin, M.D., stated that he is pleased with the progress the company is making across all of its programs. Oleg Nodelman’s Ecor1 Capital is also a major investor in Kindred Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:KIN), holding over 1.29 million shares in the company as of March 31.

Baupost Group also didn’t made any changes in its stake in Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE:AOI) and as of March 31 still held over 6.38 million shares in the company valued at $7.02 million. Shares of the leaf tobacco merchant have tumbled by 48% since last year. For the quarter ending December 31, Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE:AOI) reported EPS of $0.16, compared to the EPS of $0.14 it reported in the same quarter one year prior. Even though the market cap of the company is relatively small, 73% of its shares are owned by institutional investors. Buckley Ratchford’s Wingspan Investment Management is another major investor in Alliance One International, Inc. (NYSE:AOI), which as of March 31 held over 1.19 million shares in the company.

The most significant change in Baupost Group’s micro-cap holdings during the first-quarter was in Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS), in which the fund held over 2.4 million shares as of the end of 2014. However in the first quarter of this year the fund liquidated its entire stake in Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS).

Disclosure: None