Antipodes Partners recently released its Q1 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download below. The Antipodes Global Fund posted a return of -5.3% for the quarter, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI AC World Net Index which returned -9.7% in the same quarter. You should check out Antipodes Partners top 5 stock picks for investors to buy right now, which could be the biggest winners of the stock market crash. There weren’t a lot of funds who could deliver these kinds of returns without shorting the market or using aggressive put options.
In the said letter, Antipodes Partners spoke about Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stocks. Gilead Sciences and Merck are healthcare companies. Year-to-date, Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) stock gained 15.1% and on May 29th it had a closing price of $77.83. Year-to-date, Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stock lost 12.7% and on May 29th it had a closing price of $80.72. Here is what Antipodes Partners said:
“Healthcare cluster which behaved defensively. Gilead’s promising antiviral drug Remdesivir is undergoing trials to determine its effectiveness in treating COVID-19 patients and Roche’s diagnostics business will support the ramp up in COVID-19 testing, plus an existing drug has the potential to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients.
As infection curves are flattening, the arsenal fighting COVID-19 is also ramping up. Trials of the generic antimalarial drug Chloroquine (and Hydroxychloroquine) together with Azithromycin (an antibiotic) plus Gilead Sciences’ anti-viral Remdesivir suggest a reduction in disease severity/duration may be achieved based on early intervention. Given the virus causing COVID-19 has not shown significant signs of mutating, a vaccine is likely to be successful and human trials have begun even though broad availability is unlikely for some time. Long-term investors will appreciate our exposure to Merck (major player in vaccine development along with Sanofi) and Gilead prior to COVID19, and these positions have proven resilient over the quarter.”
In Q1 2020, the number of bullish hedge fund positions on Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) stock increased by about 13% from the previous quarter (see the chart here), so a number of other hedge fund managers seem to agree with GILD’s growth potential.
In Q1 2020, the number of bullish hedge fund positions on Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stock increased by about 1% from the previous quarter (see the chart here), so a number of other hedge fund managers seem to agree with MRK’s growth potential.
Our calculations showed that Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) aren’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
The top 10 stocks among hedge funds returned 185% since the end of 2014 and outperformed the S&P 500 Index ETFs by more than 109 percentage points. We know it sounds unbelievable. You have been dismissing our articles about top hedge fund stocks mostly because you were fed biased information by other media outlets about hedge funds’ poor performance. You could have doubled the size of your nest egg by investing in the top hedge fund stocks instead of dumb S&P 500 ETFs. Below you can watch our video about the top 5 hedge fund stocks right now. All of these stocks had positive returns in 2020.
Video: Top 5 Stocks Among Hedge Funds
At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, we believe electric vehicles and energy storage are set to become giant markets, and we want to take advantage of the declining lithium prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So we are checking out investment opportunities like this one. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter below to receive our stories in your inbox:
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
