The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: A Journey Into Jonathan Soros’ Top Small-Cap Picks

On to the bad: in Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc (NYSE:RH),  Soros didn’t change his stake, still holding 86,000 shares of the company, with a value of $8.53 million as of March 31. California-based Restoration Hardware, founded in 1979, hasn’t managed to create a return for shareholders this spring, with shares down by 0.8% year-to-date. On June 11, the company posted its earnings for its fiscal first quarter of 2015, ending on April 30, announcing $0.23 in earnings per share, $0.03 above analysts’ expectations. Analysts are now expecting Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc (NYSE:RH) to post earnings of $0.85 for the present quarter. The home furnishing company also presented its new product, the “RH Modern”, a minimalistic, aesthetic modern collection of furninshings, with comfort and quality as its cornerstones. The collection is supposed to be launched during the coming fall and, among other things, will feature a standalone RH Modern facility on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. This may please investors Edmond M. Safra of EMS Capital, who doubled his stake in Restoration Hardware (NYSE:RH) during the first quarter to a total of 300,000 shares.

Lastly, the good one was Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ:ARIA), in which Soros increased his stake by 46% to 635,000 shares with a value of $5.23 million. Shares of the Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm have enjoyed a strong year, returning 24.5% year-to-date. The earnings for the first quarter were posted on May 7, and while they failed the analysts’ earnings expectations by $0.01 per share, reporting a loss of $0.28, revenue increased 103.4% compared to the same quarter the year before, and revenue tends to be a greater driver of shares than earnings, as in this case. Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NYSE:ARIA), whose main product is Iclusing, has a treatment called Brigatinib in its pipeline in stage III of testing. The drug is intended to target unique genetic features of cancer cells. Besides Jonathan Soros, Alex Denner from Sarissa Capital Management also keeps a stake in Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARIA).

Disclosure: None