In this article, we discuss the 5 stocks Cathie Wood is selling. If you want to read our detailed analysis of these stocks, go directly to Cathie Wood Is Selling These 10 Stocks.
5. Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 38
Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) is ranked fifth on our list of 10 stocks Cathie Wood is selling. The firm markets cloud security solutions and operates from California.
On August 23, investment advisory JPM Securities maintained an Outperform rating on Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) stock and raised the price target to $270 from $240, noting that the firm looked “attractively” valued on a growth-adjusted basis.
Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Boston-based investment firm Arrowstreet Capital is a leading shareholder in Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) with 1.4 million shares worth more than $318 million.
In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“We also exited our investment in Zscaler. Zscaler provides cloudbased Internet security solutions. Cybersecurity remains a top concern for businesses and governments alike as cyberattacks can have devastating financial and reputational consequences. Furthermore, managing the security needs of legacy on-premise applications, a growing number of cloud-based applications (Office 365, Salesforce, etc.) and a remote workforce make operating IT infrastructures increasingly complex. Zscaler’s scalable, cloud-based security platform is a more secure and efficient way to connect users and applications, which eliminates the need for several layers of security (firewalls, VPNs, etc.) developed and built over the last couple of decades. While the pandemic crisis is likely disrupting some areas of Zscaler’s new sales funnel, the company is particularly well-suited to scale and accelerate our market share-gain thesis. Ninety percent of employees are remotely connecting to the enterprise IT network in today’s inverted world, as opposed to prior solutions which are geared to support 10%-20% of workers connecting remotely with the rest connecting from within the walls of a corporate network. Many employees have used traditional VPN connections to log into their networks remotely, but Zscaler’s platform offers a more secure connection without exposing an entire internal network, is easier to configure and is less costly to operate at scale. While the trend toward connecting remote devices over the Internet backbone remains firmly in motion, the stock appreciated over 300% in 2020, quickly outgrowing our small-cap market cap mandate, and we ended our successful campaign.”
4. Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 49
Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GH) is a California-based precision oncology company. It is placed sixth on our list of 10 stocks Cathie Wood is selling.
On June 21, investment advisory Wells Fargo maintained an Overweight rating on Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GH) stock and raised the price target to $160 from $145, noting the long-term pricing outlooks as a positive for the firm.
Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Connecticut-based investment firm Viking Global is a leading shareholder in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GH) with 4.2 million shares worth more than $528 million.
3. Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 59
Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXLNX) is a California-based company that makes and sells programmable devices. It is ranked third on our list of 10 stocks Cathie Wood is selling.
On July 29, investment advisory Wells Fargo reiterated an Equal Weight rating on Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXLNX) stock and raised the price target to $140 from $110, highlighting the positive first quarter results posted by the firm.
At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 59 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $4.1 billion in Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXLNX), up from 57 the preceding quarter worth $3.5 billion.
2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM) is placed second on our list of 10 stocks Cathie Wood is selling. The company makes and sells semiconductors and related products and is headquartered in Taiwan.
On June 22, investment advisory Argus initiated coverage of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM) stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $150, appreciating a new capital spending plan of the firm.
At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 64 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $10.6 billion in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM), down from 76 in the preceding quarter worth $10.8 billion.
In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Bonsai Partners, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Taiwan Semiconductor is the world’s largest outsourced foundry of logic semiconductor chips. TSMC’s shares appreciated 8.9% during the quarter.
Similar to last quarter, the supply-demand imbalance in semiconductor chips continues to benefit TSMC. To fuel new technological advances and meet the current supply imbalance, we see significantly increased capital spending across the industry over the coming years.
TSMC has an extraordinary track record of return on these large investments despite their rapid historical cadence of expansion. I remain hopeful that the large capital expenditure plan they now have ($100 billion of investment over the next three years) will be money well spent and not lead to industry oversupply in the medium term. Hopefully, future returns on these investments will look as good as those of the past.”
1. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 87
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is ranked first on our list of 10 stocks Cathie Wood is selling. The company provides life science solutions and is headquartered in Waltham.
On August 4, investment advisory Argus maintained a Buy rating on Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) stock and raised the price target to $600 from $530, noting the earnings beat of the firm in the second quarter and improved guidance numbers.
At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 87 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $7.3 billion in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO), up from 79 in the preceding quarter worth $6.2 billion.
In its Q2 2021 investor letter, DEVON Equity Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“The broad response to the COVID pandemic from the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and life science industries has been nothing short of incredible.
Whilst Vaccine makers understandably garner the highest profile, Thermo Fisher (6.2% of NAV) should be considered one of the outstanding performers, reflected in their ‘COVID related revenue’ hitting US$9.4bn in the 12 months since March 2020 (we appreciate measuring ‘contribution’ to the pandemic by ‘dollars’ generated is a little crude – but ultimately it does tell us something).
Ever the short-termist, Mr Market has looked to the inevitable slowdown in COVID related revenue uneasily – questioning whether it might mean a decline in Earnings come 2022. These concerns resulted in TMO shares declining 5% since their November 2020 peak, the worst performer of our Top 10 holdings.
Fortunately, we look at the COVID dynamic for Thermo in the diametrically opposite fashion.
We think Thermo’s response to COVID has bolstered their competitive positon in multiple verticals, and meaningfully enhanced the long term earnings potential of the company:
Firstly, Thermo came from ‘also-ran’ to leading player in diagnostic testing in 6 months. In ordinary times, this might be expected to take 5+ years. As demand for COVID testing inevitably declines, the capacity Thermo built during 2020 will be filled with demand from non-COVID diagnostic tests, a fast growing area before the pandemic with improved prospects in light of the role testing is playing in the COVID response.
Secondly, Thermo invested heavily throughout 2020 in capacity for the core bioreactor business. Given our constructive view on biologics manufacturing (both volume and value), these investments should translate into sustainably higher market share.
Thirdly, we expect the ~US$4bn of ‘excess’ free cash flow generated from COVID related business to be reinvested into high returning businesses with a more sustainable earnings profile. This is already evident in Thermo’s strong M&A activity YTD, culminating in the US$20bn acquisition of PPD (PPD US).
PPD is a top tier CRO (Contract Research Organisation) which has been in and out of private equity ownership in recent times. To oversimplify, CRO’s effectively provide ‘outsourced’ R&D services across the entire customer spectrum (from big pharma to early stage biotech). Their value proposition varies slightly be customer, but ultimately comes down to quality of drug discovery / development and accelerating time to market (i.e. ‘Return on R&D investment’). CROs must stack up well on this metric vs in-house R&D spend, otherwise Firms would simply keep the spend 100% internal.
In the past Marc Casper (Thermo’s CEO) has been publically sceptical of moving into the CRO market – the simple logic being the creation of an integrated CRO/CDMO6 would bring Thermo into more direct competition with some of their large customers. However the acceleration in R&D spending from big pharma and explosion of innovative R&D activity in well-funded earlier stage Biotechs has driven a boom in the CRO market. COVID and the therapeutic / vaccine responses has added a further leg to the story, and the value proposition of top tier CRO’s has never been stronger.
From a regulatory perspective, one might also point to the relative ease for Thermo to execute a US$20bn CRO acquisition given this is essentially a ‘vertical’ rather than ‘horizontal’ move. Since Thermo are Top 3 in the majority of their segments, any further consolidation of direct competitors in an existing business of comparable size to PPD could prove problematic. Though PPD is ‘vertical’ – we can clearly see synergies with Thermo’s existing businesses, especially in CDMO and clinical trial drug provision / services. The targeted synergies announced in April feel highly conservative, and combined with the obvious potential for accelerated top line performance at PPD once in the Thermo stable, we expect the deal to prove far more accretive on a 3-5 year view than the ~8% earnings accretion based on publicly stated 2022 targets.
Thermo Fisher (and Danaher) have built highly successful multi-brand life science conglomerates, with M&A a critical driver of success. Our confidence in Thermo’s management team to reinvest a large portion of free cash flow into M&A at high rates of return is a key facet of our investment thesis. Done well, inorganic growth can be disproportionately accretive since consensus expectations rarely capture acquisitions as a source of future earnings (even in a demonstrably acquisitive business model such as this).
We established Thermo as a Top 5 position at the Fund’s inception to reflect the company’s strong positioning across a number of attractive life science verticals, with Biopharma and Clinical representing ~70% of end market exposure. We are also attracted to a business model delivering strong and consistent free cash flow generation underpinned by over 50% of revenue derived from consumables.
Given the Fund’s largest position (IQVIA) is a major competitor to PPD, it should come as no surprise we are excited at the prospect of Thermo’s move into the CRO market – in our view one of the most attractive areas of healthcare. Thinking about possible implications for IQVIA, we are not overly concerned about market share loss over the medium term. The CRO market remains fragmented, and we think IQVIA (standalone) and PPD (under Thermo ownership) represent two of the top tier players who are likely to gain market share from second and third tier players.
Thermo Fisher trades on 22x Forward Earnings with a Free Cash Flow Yield in excess of 4%: cheap vs its own history, closest comp Danaher, and the broader life science tools sector. We are comfortable with the possibility of a modest earnings decline in 2022 – to us it would be a reflection of the extent of their successful response to COVID. Recent developments give us increased confidence in the five year earnings and free cash flow prospects for the company. “
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