Fred Alger Management, an investment management company, released its “Alger Mid Cap Focus Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. U.S. equities were positive in the quarter, with the S&P Index finishing up 4.28%. Class A shares of the fund underperformed the Russell Midcap Growth Index in the quarter. The Communication Services and industrials sectors were the relative contributors while Health Care and Information Technology detracted from the relative performance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Alger Mid Cap Focus Fund highlighted stocks like Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The one-month return of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was 14.81%, and its shares gained 299.11% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 3, 2024, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) stock closed at $58.39 per share with a market capitalization of $6.469 billion.
Alger Mid Cap Focus Fund stated the following regarding Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for patients suffering from metabolic and endocrine disorders. Their lead drug VK2809, a beta-selective thyroid hormone receptor agonist, is in development for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Their VK2735 drug is a GLP-1 dual agonist being developed for patients with obesity. During the quarter, the company’s shares were negatively impacted by several factors: 1) a challenging environment for biotechnology stocks, exacerbated by Fed policy decisions to maintain elevated interest rates, 2) increased competition in the obesity treatment landscape, 3) manufacturability and scalability concerns regarding Viking’s obesity drug and 4) the absence of strategic partnerships from large pharmaceutical companies. Despite the challenging quarter, we continue to believe that the company’s GLP-1 drug has the potential to be a best-in-class obesity drug given its favorable efficacy and safety profile. Further, with approximately one-third of U.S. adults suffering from obesity, we believe the company’s GLP[1]1 drug has the potential to address a large market once approved.”
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Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 50 hedge fund portfolios held Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) at the end of the second quarter which was 52 in the previous quarter. In Q2 2024, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) reported a net loss of $22.3 million, or $0.20 per share, compared to a net loss of $19.2 million, or $0.19 per share in Q2 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that 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 as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) and shared Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund’s views on the company. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) contributed to performance of Alger Small Cap Growth Fund during Q1 2024. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
