The hedge fund industry as a whole did not perform particularly well in 2015, but there were a few investment vehicles that managed to greatly outperform the broader market. Steven Cohen’s family office Point72 Asset Management was one of those, as it gained almost 16% last year, while the S&P 500 Index closed the year in negative territory. Even though most hedge funds’ performance was not as fruitful as one might have anticipated during the less bullish market, it still pays off to track their moves and newest bets. For that reason, the following article will discuss three new 13G filings submitted with the SEC by billionaires Roberto Mignone and Steven Cohen. Two of the three 13Gs are filed by Cohen’s Point72, and may disclose two potential winners for 2016.
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According to a Schedule 13G filing, Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management LLC currently owns 2.97 million shares of Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX), which account for 6.4% of the company’s outstanding common stock. The position represents a large increase from the 307,782-share position revealed through the fund’s 13F filing for the third quarter. At the end of December, the biopharmaceutical company announced that its Phase 3 SUPPRESS trial of brincidofovir failed to meet its primary endpoint for the prevention of clinically significant cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX)’s shares are down by nearly 75% since the announcement and some analysts believe that the stock represents a “post-blow-up opportunity”. In spite of the recent failure, the company intends to continue the separate trials testing brincidofovir in serious adenovirus infections and smallpox. Just recently, Piper Jaffray reiterated its ‘Overweight’ rating on the stock and lifted its price target to $18 from $11, citing increased confidence in brincidofovir’s trials in adenovirus, smallpox, and other infections. It is also important to note that Chimerix’s current share price assigns the company a value that is below its current cash balance. The strong insider buying registered at the company recently also suggests confidence in brincidofovir’s future potential among the firm’s top executives.
The number of hedge funds from our system with positions in Chimerix dropped to 17 from 21 during the third quarter (before the company announced the failure of the SUPPRESS trial). Even so, those investment managers amassed nearly 12% of the company’s outstanding shares. Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group lifted its position in Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX) by 53% during the third quarter to 1.07 million shares.
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Let’s head to the next two pages of this article, where we discuss the two filings submitted by successful money manager Steven Cohen.
