Five Cheap Healthcare Stocks With Hedge Fund Support

#2 Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA)

 – Investors with Long Positions (as of December 31): 29

 – Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of December 31): $246 million

Shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) have rallied by nearly 25% since the company reported its fourth-quarter results on February 23. In that process, they have recouped all the losses they suffered earlier in the year and now trade flat for 2016. During the fourth quarter, the number of funds from our database long Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA)’s stock remained unchaged, but the aggregate value of their holdings inched up by 5.7%. For the fourth quarter per share loss of company at $0.32 came in-line with analysts’ expectations, but the revenue of $36.50 million was considerably below the consensus estimate of $44.79 million. On March 9, analysts at JMP Securities reiterated their ‘Market Perform’ rating on the stock, but lowered their price target on it to $9 from $11. Billionaire David E. Shaw‘s firm,  D. E. Shaw, increased its stake in Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. by 653% to 1.17 million shares during the fourth quarter.

#5 Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD)

– Investors with Long Positions (as of December 31): 18

– Aggregate Value of Investors’ Holdings (as of December 31): $182.4 million

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD)’s stock saw a considerable boost after Walgreens Boots Alliance announced in October that it has agreed to acquire the company  for $9.00 per share in cash in October. However, that announcement and that surge didn’t entice smart money enough to buy Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD)’s stock. During the fourth quarter, the ownership of the company among funds covered by us increased only by one and the aggregate value of their holdings in it rose only 21.2%. On March 3, the company announced that its same store sales  declined by 0.8% year-over-year in February. The 11 prominent analysts and research houses that cover the stock currently have an average rating of ‘Overweight’ and an average price target of $9 on it. Nick Niell‘s Arrowgrass Capital Partners initiated a large stake in Rite Aid Corporation during the fourth quarter by purchasing over 30 million shares of the company and became its largest shareholder among the funds tracked by us, at the end of December.

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