Jim Simons Stock Portfolio: 5 Biggest Healthcare Stocks

1. Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Value of Renaissance Technologies’ 13F Position: $1.53 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 40

Topping the list of Jim Simons’ biggest healthcare stocks is Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO), which also ranks as his top overall stock pick by a considerable margin, with the position being $635 million bigger than his second-largest holding, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). That despite Simons trimming his fund’s stake in NVO by 13% during Q3 to 15.3 million shares. Novo Nordisk rose to an all-time high in hedge fund ownership during Q3, with the number of funds long NVO having risen by 67% since the middle of 2021.

Renaissance has invested heavily in several companies with prominent exposure to diabetes, so it’s not surprising that it also has the market leader Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) as its top stock pick. The company controls about 32% of the diabetes market, headlined by Ozempic, which grew revenue by 86% year-over-year during the first nine months of 2022 and which accounted for about one-third of the company’s overall revenue. It’s also developing an Alzheimer’s treatment, which appears to be another key market that many of RenTech’s top healthcare stock picks are targeting.

ClearBridge Investments also discussed Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in its Q3 2022 investor letter, noting the company’s strong balance sheet and pricing power:

“The proceeds from our repositioning sales continue to be put to work across the Strategy’s secular and structural growth buckets. In particular, we have been adding more to secular, quality compounders such as Danish biotech company Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) and Japanese medical equipment supplier Olympus (OTCPK:OCPNF). These companies have strong balance sheets, good cash flow generation and significant pricing power, characteristics that should enable them to get stronger through the storm impacting international equities.”

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