In this article, we discuss 10 stocks that Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital is buying. If you want to see some more of his latest stock picks, check out Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital is Buying These 5 Stocks.
Thomas Steyer is an American investor, entrepreneur, and hedge fund manager who founded Farallon Capital in 1986. Farallon Capital is a California-based hedge fund that manages assets and capital for university endowments, foundations, and wealthy individuals. The fund focuses on value stocks, credit investments, and merger arbitrage, as well as investments in the developed and emerging markets.
Thomas Steyer, a Yale graduate, commenced his finance career in 1979 at Morgan Stanley. After his two-year stint there, he pursued further education from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and joined Goldman Sachs as a mergers and acquisitions associate. Before founding his own hedge fund, Thomas Steyer also held management positions at Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm based in San Francisco.
Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital adopts an “event-driven” investment strategy, and the fund currently has $39 billion in flexible capital. The fourth quarter portfolio of the hedge fund is valued at $18.7 billion, with a top 10 holdings concentration of 39.6%. Farallon Capital invests primarily in the information technology, healthcare, industrials, finance, consumer discretionary, and communications sectors.
According to the fourth quarter filings, Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital purchased 38 new stocks and disposed of 42 holdings. The hedge fund also made additional purchases in 62 companies and slashed stakes in 41 securities. The most notable stocks in Thomas Steyer’s Q4 portfolio include Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), in addition to others discussed in detail below.
Our Methodology
For this analysis, we selected the newest stocks in the Q4 portfolio of Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital. We picked the most popular names that were added to the hedge fund in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital is Buying These Stocks
10. Better Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTTX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 7
Better Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTTX) was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company operates a software-based prescription digital therapeutics platform for the treatment of diabetes, heart disease, and other cardiometabolic ailments in the United States.
Securities filings for Q4 2021 reveal that Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital added 1.35 million shares of Better Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTTX) to its portfolio, worth $6.2 million, representing 0.03% of the total 13F securities. Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 7 funds were bullish on Better Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTTX) at the end of December 2021, with collective stakes worth $13.2 million.
On March 16, Chardan analyst Keay Nakae maintained a Buy recommendation on Better Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTTX) and raised the firm’s price target on the shares to $18 from $17. The analyst cited the company’s top-line data from the pivotal trial evaluating its prescription digital therapeutic, BT-001, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The analyst believes BT-001 is now ready to obtain FDA authorization for treating diabetes.
In addition to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), Better Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:BTTX) is a notable pick of Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital.
9. Theseus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THRX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 10
Theseus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THRX) is a biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company develops and commercializes targeted oncology treatments for cancer patients. In the fourth quarter of 2021, 10 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey reported owning stakes in Theseus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THRX), worth $243 million.
Thomas Steyer’s hedge fund added Theseus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THRX) to its fourth quarter portfolio by purchasing 523,979 shares of the company, worth $6.6 million. The stock represents 0.03% of the total 13F holdings for Q4 2021.
The company successfully completed its initial public offering in 2021 and at year-end, Theseus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THRX) reported cash and cash equivalents of $244.7 million, as well as proceeds from the IPO, which will fund operations and capital expenditures till the second half of 2024.
8. Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 12
Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX) is a California-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that produces therapy candidates for inflammatory diseases and autoimmune disorders. The company also has candidates in clinical trials for cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, and rheumatologic diseases. According to Insider Monkey’s Q4 data, 12 hedge funds held Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX) in their public stock portfolios, collectively owning stakes worth approximately $337 million.
Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital, as of Q4 2021, held 1.11 million shares of Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX), worth $22.13 million, representing 0.11% of the total 13F investments. Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX) is a new addition to the Farallon Capital portfolio.
On March 31, Canaccord analyst Edward Nash initiated coverage of Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX) with a Buy rating and a $30 price target. The analyst noted that presently there are three programs in the company’s clinical pipeline, all targeting key mechanisms associated with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The analyst’s model incorporates only VTX002 with a 2027 launch in the United States.
7. Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 16
Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX) is a Massachusetts-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on therapies for oncology. The company has ongoing clinical trials for solid tumors, small cell lung cancer, and melanoma. As of December 2021, cash and cash equivalents were $144.5 million as compared to $47.1 million in 2020, providing Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX) with enough funding for operations into the second half of 2024.
13F filings from Q4 2021 reveal that Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital purchased 1 million shares of Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX), worth $3.17 million, representing 0.01% of the total 13F holdings. Overall, among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 16 funds placed long calls on Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX) at the end of December 2021, with combined stakes amounting to $127.8 million.
Ladenburg analyst Aydin Huseynov on March 15 initiated coverage of Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX) with a Buy rating and a $7 price target. The company’s bi-specific VEGF/DLL4 antibody, CTX-009, “has all it takes to get an accelerated approval” from the FDA, the analyst told investors. CTX-009 has shown promising responses but he is “particularly encouraged” by the responses in the CCA indication and the possible path for accelerated approval in 2025, the analyst added.
Elite investors are leaning towards Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX), just like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB).
6. Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 16
Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI) was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California. The company operates a digital cell biology platform that enables the development and commercialization of biotherapeutics and cell-based products. Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital disclosed in securities filings for Q4 2021 that it had purchased 787,327 shares of Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI), worth $14.3 million, accounting for 0.07% of the total 13F securities.
On March 2, Cowen analyst Steven Mah assumed coverage of Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI) with an Outperform rating as he took over coverage of the Synthetic Biology space at the firm. The “SynBio” market opportunity is worth trillions of dollars and it can grow to mid-double digit trillions by 2025, the analyst noted.
Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 16 hedge funds held bullish positions in Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI) at the end of December 2021, compared to 18 funds in the prior quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors is a significant shareholder of Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI), with 1.10 million shares worth $20 million.
Here is what Alger Small Cap Focus Fund has to say about Berkeley Lights, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLI) in their Q1 2021 investor letter:
“Berkeley Lights Inc. was among the top detractors from performance. Berkeley Lights is a leading digital cell biology company founded in 2011. The company provides a single cell manipulation platform to enable and accelerate rapid development and commercialization of biotherapeutics and other cell-based products. The Berkeley Lights platform provides an advanced environment for rapid functional characterization of single cells at scale, with advanced automation systems that analyze live cells using proprietary consumables and application and workflow software to deliver robust single cell data. Berkeley Lights’ workflows enable a deep understanding of each cell’s behavior by recording critical data such as relevant phenotypic characteristics and linking to genetic information using real -time continuous images on thousands of cells, cell by cell. The company drastically reduces the amount of time required to get results for each of these application workflows by using customer defined criteria to find the best eel I for each customer’s desired product.
We believe the underperformance of Berkeley Lights shares during the first quarter was driven more by heavy insider selling than by a change in fundamentals and we believe the base business remains strong. For example, the company recently announced a new$17 mi11ion multi-year non-exclusive collaboration agreement with a global leader in the contract development and manufacturing organization (COMO) space, which will expand the company’s total addressable market and potentially allow the company to develop new workflows that it can commercialize in the future. More broadly, Berkeley Lights has tailwinds from strong demand for cell -based products, increasing complexity of these products and a growing number of therapeutic modalities, all of which should drive demand for the company’s technology.”
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Disclosure: None. Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital is Buying These 10 Stocks is originally published on Insider Monkey.
