Tamarack Capital Management is a hedge fund that was founded by Mr. Justin John Ferayorni, its current Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager. Before deciding to start his own firm, Mr. Ferayorni built up serious experience in investing, working as a Healthcare Analyst and Portfolio Manager, and later own as a Director of Research at Bricoleur Capital Management, LLC. Prior to joining Bricoleur Capital Management, Mr. Ferayorni worked at Robertson Stephens & Company’s investment banking division. He graduated with honors, earning an A.B. degree in Chemistry from Princeton University, and he also earned his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2000.
The fund employs a long/short investment strategy, with the main focus on the companies in the US healthcare sector. It uses integral bottom-up analyses to track the stocks that are worthy of investment. Tamarack Capital Management stays away from pre-commercial biotech-type companies. Its Tamarack Global Healthcare Fund, LP had some very good years in terms of return. It delivered a great 33.92% in 2013, 18.77% in 2014, 2.23% in 2015. Then in 2016, it lost 9.12%, only to come back more powerful next year with a return of 29.91%. 2018 was also a lucky year for the fund as it has generated a return of 9.51% (since January through October 29th). Thanks to its high quarterly returns generated from their investments in the companies with market caps above $1.0 billion, Tamarack Capital Management was the 20th best performing hedge fund in our database in the third quarter of 2018. On March 31, 2017, the fund held $240 million in discretionary assets under management, as disclosed in its plain brochure.
Insider Monkey’s flagship strategy identifies the best performing 100 hedge funds at the end of each quarter and invests in their consensus stock picks. This way it is always invested in the best ideas of the best performing hedge funds and is able to generate much higher returns than the market. Since its inception in May 2014, our flagship strategy generated a cumulative return of 96.9%, beating the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by over 40 percentage points (see the details here).
Tamarack Capital Management’s equity portfolio was valued at $350.23 million at the end of the third quarter of 2018. Among 30 holdings in it, there wasn’t a single company from 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds in Q3 of 2018, which means that its picks distinguish from the most favorite stocks. The biggest position it held was in NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVA), a medical device company, and it included 525,000 shares with a value of $37.42 million, accounting for 10.68% of its portfolio. During the third quarter, Tamarack Capital Management initiated two and dumped three common long positions. More about these portfolio changes you can read on the next page.
The second biggest position the fund disclosed on September 30, 2018, was in Novocure Ltd (NASDAQ:NVCR), and after the fund had lowered it by 43%, it counted 635,000 shares, worth $33.42 million, accounting for 9.54% of its equity portfolio. This is a commercial-stage oncology company that works on inventing new treatments for solid tumors. Over the past 12 months, the company’s stock gained 86.14%, and at the moment of writing, it is trading at $39.09. In its latest financial report for the full year 2018, preliminary net revenues were of $248 million, up by 40% from 2017. Whereas Q4 2018 net revenues stood at $69.6 million, compared to $53.7 million in Q4 of 2017. Smart money investors from Insider Monkey’s database were more bullish on Novoucre in the previous months with the number of those with long positions in the company being 20 at the end of Q3 2018, compared to 17 in Q2 2018. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion.
Tamarack Capital Management initiated the biggest new position during the third quarter of 2018 in Glaukos Corp (NYSE:GKOS) by obtaining 75,000 shares outstanding, which were worth $4.87 million. This is a glaucoma treatment company, that offers a progressive iStent surgery for those who suffer from cataract and glaucoma problems. Over the past six months, the company’s stock gained 32.36%, and at the moment of writing this article it is trading at $56.65. The second largest new position during the third quarter, the fund disclosed in a software company, Model N Inc (NYSE:MODN). Tamarack Capital Management obtained 100,000 Model N’s shares that were valued $1.59 million. At the end of Q3 2018, there were 14 hedge funds bullish on the stock, down from 17 in Q2 2018.
The biggest position the fund decided to drop during the third quarter of 2018 was in DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc (NASDAQ:XRAY), and it counted 275,000 shares, with a value of $12.04 million. Tamarack Capital Management also said goodbye to its position in Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ:LMNX), which included 79,089 shares, worth around $2.34 million, and it also sold out its stake in Sientra Inc (NASDAQ:SIEN) that was big $2.44 million, on the account of 125,000 shares.
Disclosure: None
This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
