Apex Capital Goes Big On Big Pharma, Yelp (YELP) During Q3

#3 Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE:KORS)

Shares Owned by Apex Capital (as of September 30): 1.26 million shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $53.14 million

Though Apex Capital reduced its stake in Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE:KORS) slightly, by 1% or 15,600 shares during the third quarter, the company continued to remain its third-largest equity holding at the end of September. Owing majorly to the continuous decline that the shares of the luxury lifestyle retailer saw during the first half of the year, the stock of Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE:KORS) currently trades down by 48.73% year-to-date. However, this significant decline has also contributed to the stock becoming lucrative from a valuation perspective, as it currently trades at 8.70-times its forward P/E ratio. The company is scheduled to report its third quarter earnings today and analysts expect it to report EPS of $0.89, $0.11 less than the EPS of $1.00 that it reported for the same quarter last year. Marc Majzner‘s Clearline Capital was one of the hedge funds that initiated a stake in the company during the second quarter; it held 582,220 shares of Michael Kors as of June 30.

#2 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA)

Shares Owned by Apex Capital (as of September 30): 975,000 shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $55.05 million

Moving on, Apex Capital increased its stake in Israel-based pharmaceutical major Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) by 34% or 250,000 shares during the third quarter. In the past ten months, shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) have witnessed high volatility and are currently trading relatively flat year-to-date, with gains of nearly 4%. On October 13, the company launched a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK)’s top-selling drug, Avodart. For the third quarter of fiscal 2015, the company declared better-than-expected results, reporting EPS of $1.35 on revenue of $4.80 billion, compared to analysts’ consensus estimate of EPS of $1.28 on revenue of $4.75 billion. Following the earnings release, on November 1, analysts at Canaccord Genuity reiterated their ‘Hold’ rating and $79 price target on the stock. Billionaire investor David E. Shaw‘s firm D.E. Shaw increased its stake in Teva Pharmaceutical by 90% to slightly above 3.24 million shares during the April-June period.

#1 Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN)

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $61.16 million

Shares Owned by Apex Capital (as of September 30): 225,000 shares

Finally, the additional 28% or 50,000 shares that Apex Capital purchased of Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) (formerly Actavis PLC) ensured that even after suffering a 10% decline during the third quarter, the company ended up becoming Apex Capital’s largest equity holding at the end of September. On October 29, Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) confirmed that it is in “preliminary friendly discussions” with pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) for a possible merger. If this merger does takes place, it would be the largest deal in the pharmaceutical industry’s history. Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) is scheduled to report its fiscal 2015 third quarter earnings on November 4 and analysts are expecting the company to report EPS of $4.46, slightly better than the EPS of $4.38 it reported for the second quarter. However, the revenue expectations from the company for the third quarter are same as in the second quarter, at $5.71 billion. Louis Navellier‘s Navellier & Associates sold 54,545 shares of Allergan PLC during the third quarter to bring its total holding in the company down to 91,886 shares as of September 30.

Disclosure: None