3 Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies in the World

3. Novartis (NYSE:NVS)

Switzerland makes its entry now, as Novartis, one of the most recognized global names in pharma, has made its presence felt on a global level, with revenue of $47 billion and net income of $12.2 billion. Despite its profitability, hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey don’t believe Novartis is a great stock to buy. We track more than 800 hedge funds and only 21 of these hedge funds had a bullish position in Novartis at the end of June.

Hedge funds’ bullish Novartis positions stood at 30 at the end of March. This means at least 9 hedge funds sold their entire stake in Novartis during the second quarter. Billionaires Ken Fisher and Jim Simons‘ funds each had more than $700 million in NVS,

2. Roche (OTC:RHHBY)

Two Swiss companies appear in quick succession, as Roche is one of only two pharma companies in the world which actually has revenues exceeding $50 billion, while its net income is $13.6 billion. Since Roche shares aren’t listed in any of the major US exchanges, we have no idea about hedge fund interest in this pharmaceutical giant.

On the next page you can find the most profitable pharmaceutical company in the world.

1. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)

Topping the list of the 10 biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world in 2020 is Pfizer, an American company, which has amazing revenues of $51 billion, and net income nearing $16 billion. It provides employment to over 88,000 people across the globe.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) recently dropped this #1 pharma stock from its index and replaced it by the faster growing Amgen (AMGN). This doesn’t mean that AMGN is a better stock to invest in than Pfizer. Pfizer was in the portfolios of 66 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, whereas only 51 hedge funds liked AMGN enough to buy the stock. So, hedge fund managers think PFE is a better stock to buy than AMGN. We should note that PFE isn’t among the top 10 hedge fund stocks though. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 33% in 2020 through the end of August and still beat the market by 23.2 percentage points.

The three biggest hedge fund holders of Pfizer shares are quantitative hedge funds Two Sigma Advisors, AQR, and D E Shaw.

Disclosure: None.