Investors have always known that Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY) has a strong pipeline, but the community didn’t know the exact number of potential product launches until now. According to a presentation to the investment community that Eli Lilly will make today, the company predicts that it has the potential to launch 20 new products over a ten-year span that began in 2014. Moreover, Eli Lilly believes that it could launch an average of two line extensions or new indications per year for its portfolio of already-approved products during the same time period. Eli Lilly will mainly focus its research and development efforts on five therapeutic areas including four core areas—diabetes, oncology, immunology and neurodegeneration—and one growth area—pain. Anlaysts are pretty bullish on Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY)’s pipeline and predict the company will grow its earnings per share by an average of 12.44% a year for the next five years. Eli Lilly shares are up by 1.26% today.
Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) was in 57 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. LLY has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest lately. There were 54 hedge funds in our database with LLY positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare LLY to other stocks including Ambev SA (ADR) (NYSE:ABEV), Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global has the number one position in Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY), worth close to $847.1 million, accounting for 3.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $304.3 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Hal Mintz’s Sabby Capital, Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors, and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies.
On the next page we’ll look at some funds that took up positions in Eli Lilly during Q1, as well as compare the stock to a handful of others with similar market caps.
With general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd into Eli Lilly. Viking Global assembled the most outsized position in Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY). Viking Global had $847.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also initiated a $31 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LLY investors: Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Michael Castor’s Sio Capital, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY). We will take a look at Ambev SA (ADR) (NYSE:ABEV), Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP), and QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). This group of stocks’ market values resemble LLY’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABEV | 24 | 415202 | 3 |
| CELG | 61 | 2103671 | -3 |
| SNP | 10 | 20951 | 2 |
| QCOM | 59 | 4420564 | -9 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 39 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.74 billion. That figure was $3.00 billion in LLY’s case. Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNP) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average and just a notch below the two most popular stocks in the list. Given that LLY also rose in popularity during Q1, while the other two stocks lost investors, LLY may be worth considering for a long position.
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