We recently compiled a list of the 15 Stocks Targeted By Activist Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) stands against the other stocks targeted by activist hedge funds.

Shareholder activism continued at a record pace in 2024 as activist hedge funds pushed for strategic changes in various companies to unlock hidden value. In the first nine months of the year, 184 activist hedge fund campaigns were up and running, 26% above the four-year average. The surge came as new activists joined the fray and spearheaded 22% of the campaigns.

Why Was Shareholder Activism on The Rise?

A number of factors can be emphasized. One is the global economy cooling down. Although the US economy appeared to be on track to a soft landing, as many experts had predicted, economic growth remained timid, and other nations like Germany were on the verge of going into recession.

The rise of so-called ESG investing is another factor contributing to increased shareholder activism. Environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, is a relatively recent trend in which investors purchase stock in a company for its intrinsic value and because it performs well on ESG metrics. Some activist investors have positioned themselves as ESG-focused in the midst of this trend.

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Nevertheless, only 30% of the top ten activist investors accounted for the total campaigns in 2024, down from 46% in the same period in 2023. On the other hand, most of the campaigns were less successful in breaking into company boardrooms as management fought back.

Management pushed back on several campaigns even as activist hedge funds were forced to settle on management changes. Additionally, as investors’ newfound freedom to choose between management and dissident slates makes it easier to get representation on boards, the universal proxy card continues to lead to more settlements between activists and businesses.

Even though winning board seats isn’t the main goal of every campaign, the quantity of victories indicates how well businesses are defending themselves. Dissidents won 74 seats in the first half, compared to 93 in the same period in 2023. Activists only secured 11% of the seats they were vying for in US proxy elections, compared to 65% in 2023.

Similarly, a push for company sales by activist hedge funds hit a snag as buyouts throughout the year were scarce owing to the high interest rate environment. High interest rates made it difficult for companies to access cheap capital that they could use to complete acquisitions.

According to Jim Rossman, head of the Barclays advisory group, there hasn’t been much merger and acquisition activity in the past two years. The activists’ preferred method of obtaining value from a company’s stock is weakened as a result. The most frequent demand of activists is still M&A, but they are now more focused on altering a company’s board and management.

“Activism has become increasingly sophisticated as a tactic,” says Rossman, who sees firms hiring bankers, lawyers and private equity veterans. “There’s a greater depth of understanding on how to unlock value in companies.”

As corporate board nominations open in the new year, the pace of activism is expected to increase in the upcoming months. According to Rossman, activist demands for M&A may resurface in 2025 as private equity firms look to use their growing cash and their current holdings.

Activist hedge funds typically have minority, long interests in underperforming businesses that have significant potential for value development. Since value investors make up the majority of activist investors, they must first find undervalued companies.

Our Methodology

To make our list of stocks targeted by activist hedge funds, we looked for companies that made the headlines in the context of renowned activist investors taking a position. We then ranked these companies based on their latest market capitalization.

 At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Company Market Cap as of December 31: $150.35 Billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 80

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is a healthcare company that discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, metabolic, migraine, and women’s health. It is one of the stocks that underperform in 2024, going down by about 10%.

Amid the underperformance, it is one of the stocks targeted by activist hedge funds. Activist hedge fund Starboard Value acquired a $1 billion stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and started pushing for changes aimed at turning the company’s fortunes around. Parts of the modifications that hedge funds pushed for include management changes.

Reports indicated that the activist hedge fund had approached former executives Ian Read and Frank D’Amelio to help reinvigorate the healthcare company’s growth prospects. The activist campaign comes on Pfizer Inc.’s (NYSE:PFE) struggle to find a product to compensate for the lost revenue from its once-lucrative COVID-19 vaccine business.

The company’s sentiments took a significant hit in 2024 following a weaker-than-hoped launch of the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, and clinical data from its obesity pill was disappointing. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) has spent some $70 billion since 2020 on acquisitions while launching cost-saving initiatives to pursue new growth opportunities and strengthen its profit margins.

Overall PFE ranks 3rd on our list of the stocks targeted by activist hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of PFE as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PFE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.