We recently published a list of Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Top 15 Stock Picks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) stands against other Billionaire Steve Cohen’s top stock picks.
Steve Cohen is one of the most prominent and successful hedge fund managers in the world, known for his extraordinary trading acumen and ability to generate consistent returns. As the founder of Point72 Asset Management, Cohen has built a reputation as a pioneer in the hedge fund industry. He was born in 1956 into a middle-class family. His father worked in the garment industry, while his mother was a piano teacher. Cohen showed an interest in finance early on, even dabbling in poker, which honed his skills in risk-taking and probability analysis. He graduated from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 with a degree in economics. Shortly after, he began his career on Wall Street as a junior trader at Gruntal & Co, where he quickly gained recognition for his ability to generate profits through equities trading.
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In 1992, Cohen founded SAC Capital Advisors with $25 million, including $10 million of his own savings. The hedge fund, named after his initials, focused on long/short equity strategies and became known for its aggressive trading style. Over the years, SAC Capital emerged as one of the most successful hedge funds in history, consistently delivering double-digit returns. At its peak, SAC Capital managed over $16 billion in assets. Cohen reportedly generated annualized returns of approximately 30% for his investors, an extraordinary achievement in the hedge fund industry. Cohen’s trading style emphasized speed, precision, and a deep understanding of market dynamics.
In 2014, Cohen launched Point72 Asset Management, a firm focused on managing his personal fortune and eventually reopening to external investors. Point72 has since grown into a major player in the hedge fund industry. As of the third quarter of 2024, Point72 manages over $39 billion in 13F securities. The firm employs over 1,800 people and operates across multiple global offices. Point72 combines Cohen’s expertise in active trading with investments in technology, data analysis, and artificial intelligence, positioning itself at the forefront of modern finance.
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For this article, we selected stocks by combing through the 13F portfolio of Point72 Asset Management at the end of the third quarter of 2024. These stocks are also popular among other hedge funds. Why are we interested in 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).
A physician and a patient having a discussion in a hospital about biopharmaceutical medicines.
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 59
Point72 Asset Management’s Stake: $193.2 million
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is a California-based biotechnology company founded in 1987. The following features make this company a strong investment case. Firstly, the report for the third quarter of 2024 indicates the company’s success in expanding its product offerings and capturing demand in critical healthcare segments, which may attract investment. For instance, as per the report, product sales increased 7% to $7.5 billion compared to the same period in 2023 and total third-quarter 2024 product sales, excluding Veklury, increased 7% to $6.8 billion compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to higher sales in HIV as well as in Oncology and Liver Disease. Secondly, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) presented the results of the pivotal Phase 3 PURPOSE 2 trial, which is studying twice-yearly lenacapavir, the company’s injectable HIV-1 capsid inhibitor, for the investigational use of HIV prevention. This may attract investment as it holds the potential to increase revenue streams, estimated to be over $10 billion. Moreover, the company is also advancing its oncology pipeline, including therapies for multiple myeloma and breast cancer.
Overall, GILD ranks 11th on our list of Billionaire Steve Cohen’s top stock picks. While we acknowledge the potential of GILD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a stock that is more promising than GILD 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.
