This article presents an overview of the 5 Stocks Insiders and Billionaires Are Crazy About. For a detailed overview of such stocks, read our article, 11 Stocks Insiders and Billionaires Are Crazy About.
5. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ:KDP)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 13
Timothy Cofer, the Chief Operating Officer of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ:KDP), in November acquired 100,000 shares of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ:KDP) at $31.17 per share.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 13 billionaires in Insider Monkey’s database were long Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ:KDP). Some famous billionaires with stakes in Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NASDAQ:KDP) are Ken Griffin, Israel Englander, Steve Cohen and Cliff Asness.
4. Air Products and Chemicals Inc (NYSE:APD)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 13
Air Products and Chemicals Inc (NYSE:APD) shares have lost about 13% year to date through December 17. Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products and Chemicals Inc’s (NYSE:APD) CEO, bought about 11,000 shares of Air Products and Chemicals Inc (NYSE:APD) at $264.42 per share in November.
Insider Monkey’s proprietary database of billionaires and their favorite stocks shows that 13 billionaires had stakes in Air Products and Chemicals Inc (NYSE:APD) as of the end of September.
3. Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 15
Richard J. Barry, a director at Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), acquired 50,000 shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) at $78.81 per share in November. The total value of the transaction was $3.9 million.
A total of 15 billionaires in Insider Monkey’s database had stakes in Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT). Some famous billionaire stakeholders of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) are Ken Griffin, Israel Englander and Steve Cohen.
Bronte Capital Amalthea Fund made the following comment about Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:
“The FDA is widely considered to be the world’s foremost regulator of drug products, with a stringent and rigorous process for evaluating new marketing applications. Disagreements between the FDA and regulators in other developed markets (such as the European Medicines Agency or the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)) are rare, and when they do occur, it is usually because the FDA has taken a more critical view of the applicant’s evidence.
For a drug to be approved in the US, it must meet the statutory requirement of “substantial evidence of effectiveness” under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. There are essentially three ways to meet this requirement. Normally, the FDA expects the sponsor to succeed in two “adequate and well-controlled studies”. Alternatively, the sponsor can rely on success from a single study if the results from that study are “very persuasive”, or if they are combined with some sort of independent confirmatory evidence. For the most part lobbying from the cohort of patients, the “patient voice”, has played a relatively minor role in the FDA’s decision-making process and the agency has been prepared to make tough but rational decisions when the “substantial evidence” standard is clearly not met.
However, this was not the case in 2016 when the FDA famously overruled its own review team and external advisory committee to approve Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SRPT) controversial drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Exondys 51). At the time, Sarepta had completed a single phase 2 trial in just 12 patients which, per the FDA Commissioner (Robert Califf) himself, had “major flaws” in both its design and conduct. Ellis Unger, director of the Office of Drug Evaluation at the FDA, declared that the drug was a “scientifically elegant placebo”, and that patients and their families were taking on unknown risks for likely non-existent benefits…” (Click here to read the full text)
2. Block Inc (NYSE:SQ)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 17
Payments giant Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) ranks 2nd in our list of the stocks insiders and billionaires are crazy about. In November this year, Roelof Botha, a director at Block Inc (NYSE:SQ), loaded up on 540,000 shares of Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) at $50.89 apiece.
A total of 17 billionaires in Insider Monkey’s database had stakes in Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) as of the end of the third quarter.
Here is what Baron FinTech Fund has to say about Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:
“Block, Inc. provides point-of-sale technology to small businesses and operates the Cash App ecosystem of financial services for individuals. Shares fell due to a confluence of factors, including slowing growth, a brief system outage, and the departure of a key executive who ran the Square business segment. Ongoing investor concerns over consumer spending and a recession did not help sentiment. Nevertheless, Block reported strong quarterly results with 27% gross profit growth and adjusted EBITDA more than doubling. We believe Block’s businesses are resilient, and greater management focus on cost discipline should drive further margin expansion. We continue to own the stock due to Block’s long runway for growth, durable competitive advantages, and track record of innovation.”
1. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM)
Number of Billionaire Investors: 17
In November, activist investor Jeffrey W. Ubben, who has a director seat at Exxon Mobil Corp’s (NYSE:XOM) board, bought 250,000 shares of the energy giant at $105.97 per share. The total value of this transaction was $26.5 million.
A total of 17 billionaires had stakes in Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) as of the end of the third quarter of 2023.
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