Is Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) A Smart Long-Term Buy?

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Opportunity Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. An increase of 3.16% was delivered by the fund’s institutional shares for the fourth quarter of 2021 but trailed the Russell 3000 Growth Index, which increased 10.89%, and the S&P 500 Index, which climbed 11.03%. For the full year 2021, the Fund gained 12.29% but underperformed the two indexes, which advanced 25.85% and 28.71%, respectively Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Baron Opportunity Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1993, Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) is a San Diego, California-based biotechnology company with a $4.8 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, David Meek. Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) delivered a -40.23% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -50.92%. The stock closed at $87.67 per share on March 18, 2022.

Here is what Baron Opportunity Fund has to say about Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“We established a position during the period in Mirati Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics targeting the genetic and immunologic drivers of cancer. The company’s lead drug, known as Adagrasib, targets a protein called KRAS that is a central node in driving tumor growth. We think Adagrasib has a best-in-class profile in a multi-billion dollar drug category. Currently, Amgen has a competing drug on the market, but clinical data on Adagrasib presented at the recent European Society of Medical Oncology meeting gives us confidence that Mirati’s drug has better attributes including residence time on target, efficacy response rates, longer duration of treatment, combinability opportunities, and blood-brain-barrier penetration.”

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Our calculations show that Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) was in 46 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 46 funds in the previous quarter. Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) delivered a -39.52% return in the past 3 months.

In November 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

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