Tipp Hill Cashes Out of Gold Stocks, Puts It Into Healthcare

Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH)

 – Shares Owned by Tipp Hill (as of March 31): 275,000

 – Value of Holding (as of March 31): $5.09 Million

The new holding of 275,000 shares of Community Health Systems amassed about 5.03% of Tipp Hill’s equity portfolio as of March 31. Shares of the operator of acute care hospitals have dropped by more than 28% this year, with a major dip coming in mid-February after the company announced its fourth quarter financial results, which saw a 1.5% decline in adjusted admissions. However, the stock is up by 18% since then, as Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH)’s spin-off Quorum Health Corporation (NYSE:QHC) recently reported a 1.1% increase in adjusted admissions, raising hopes for better results from Community Health Systems itself. Ray Carroll‘s Breton Hill Capital was also bullish on Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) during the first quarter, as it raised its stake by 42% to over 48,500 shares. Moreover, Conan Laughlin’s North Tide Capital reported a more than 100% hike to its Community Health Systems stake in late March, adding further to the bullish momentum.

AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV)

 – Shares Owned by Tipp Hill (as of March 31): 138,000

 – Value of Holding (as of March 31): $7.88 Million

Tipp Hill’s new stake in AbbVie represented about 7.8% of the fund’s equity portfolio on March 31. As far as AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV)’s upcoming drugs are concerned, the FDA recently approved the research-based biopharmaceutical company’s New Drug Application for VIEKIRA PAK without Ribavirin, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b infection and compensated cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A). Although highly profitable, the competition in the hepatitis C space is stiff, with ‘ Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)’s Sovaldi and Harvoni treatments being the market leaders. AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV)’s shares are down by 7.8% in the past 12 months, but are up by 2.8% so far this year. Woodford Investment Management, which is led by Neil Woodford, upped its stake in AbbVie during the first quarter by 26% to 11.06 million shares.

Tenet Healthcare Corp (NYSE:THC)

 – Shares Owned by Tipp Hill (as of March 31): 293,000

 – Value of Holding (as of March 31): $8.48 Million

Lastly in Tenet Healthcare, in which Tipp Hill initiated a 293,000-share position during the first quarter, representing an 8.37% slice of its equity portfolio on March 31. In late March, Tenet announced the completion of its sale of assets from five Atlanta-area hospitals to Wellstar Health System for $575 million in cash. The company was also excluded from the S&P 500 index recently, as Standard & Poor’s believes that it is more representative of the mid-cap space, with the company currently having a market cap of $3.23 billion. Susquehanna recently upgraded Tenet Healthcare Corp (NYSE:THC) to ‘Positive’ from ‘Neutral’. Billionaire Larry Robbins‘ Glenview Capital is another believer in Tenet Healthcare Corp (NYSE:THC)’s operations, as the fund held about 17% of the healthcare services company’s outstanding stock by the end of last year.

Disclosure: None