Let’s check out two stocks Druckenmiller does have faith in heading into 2015, both of which were added to Duquesne Capital’s portfolio during the fourth quarter: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE). Duquesne opened a position of 430,000 shares on the former, and a 355,400 share position on the latter, which were valued at $33.5 million and $32.6 million respectively. Despite shares becoming somewhat stagnant over the past six months, up just 4.4%, Facebook shows growth in its advertising revenue, though user base growth is beginning to slow. The company has several projects it’s working on, however, that could kickstart growth again and make Facebook the number one place for social interactions, particularly among the younger crowd, which has increasingly migrated to other social networks like Instagram as Facebook became increasingly mainstream (and all their parents were on it and could see their feeds).
Oculus Rift, which Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) purchased last year for $2 billion, could bring them back, allowing people to send and receive virtual reality messages created by the sender, that the person can experience as if it were real, through the device’s VR headset. It’s possible users could also hang out with each other virtually or undertake virtual activities together in real-time through the devices. While Oculus will have a good deal of competition in the VR gaming space from other similar headsets, it will be unrivaled in the social media space and could be the next great evolution for the company.
To say bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE) closed 2014 with a bang would be an understatement. Shares of the clinical-stage biotech company more than doubled in December following positive trial results for its beta thassalamia gene therapy treatment. In addition to its gene therapy treatments, bluebird is also in the process of researching gene editing treatments after acquiring Precision Genome Engineering last summer. Those treatments could be used to target and alter specific sequences in a target’s DNA, potentially allowing it to correct gene mutations and regulate gene expression.
While we don’t know whether Duquesne purchased its shares before or after the December spike, it appears to be a wise investment either way (though admittedly a VERY wise one if before); shares are up another 6.83% year-to-date, and analysts are extremely bullish on the stock, with Wedbush Morgan analyst David Nierengarten rating it “Outperform” with a target price of $146 near the end of February. The target price attaches a nearly 50% premium to the stock, which trades at $97.55 in morning trading on Tuesday.
Disclosure: None
