Top Five BioTech Stocks of a Quant Hedge Fund

#3 Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)

Shares held (as of September 30): 1,362,516

Total Value (as of September 30): $157.69 million

Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 0.89%

Arrowstreet Capital’s stake in Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) remained unchanged over the quarter. With a market cap of more than $88 billion, Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) is a biotechnology company engaged in making drug therapies for cancer and inflammatory disorders. The company’s shares dropped 14.01% during the last three months. On a GAAP basis, Celgene posted a loss of $34 million, or $0.04 per share for the third quarter, compared to a net income of $508 million, or $0.61 per share, in the year-ago quarter. The company’s revenue, however, jumped to $2.3 billion, versus $1.98 billion in 2014. Samuel Isaly’s Orbimed Advisors held 3.83 million shares of Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) at the end of the second quarter.

#2 Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG)

Shares held (as of September 30): 1,093,372

Total Value (as of September 30): $240.10 million

Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 0.62%

Arrowstreet Capital is also a fan of Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG), in which the fund boosted its stake by over 150%. Having a market cap of $41.61 billion, Shire PLC is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in making medicines for patients with rare diseases and other specialty conditions. Recently, Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG) announced that it is acquiring Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ:DYAX) for $37.30 per share in cash for a total value of about $5.9 billion. Massachusetts-based Dyax is a biotechnology company primarily focused on the development of plasma kallikrein (pKal) inhibitors for the treatment of HAE, a debilitating and sometimes life-threatening rare genetic disease. The deal, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is expected to close in the first half of 2016. Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG)’s lost 14.56% during last three months. Among investors we track, John Paulson’s Paulson & Co held around 7.10 million shares of Shire at the end of June.

#1 Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Shares held (as of September 30): 909,920

Total Value (as of September 30): $299.49 million

Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 0.77%

Arrowstreet Capital was bullish on Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), boosting its stake by around 200% between July and September. Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in making therapies for people living with serious neurological, autoimmune and rare diseases. The company reported solid financial results for the third quarter, with its revenues increasing by 11% to $2.8 billion, compared to the same quarter last year. Net income increased by an annual 13% to $966 million. Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) also announced a corporate restructuring, including an 11% reduction in workforce and the termination of a number of pipeline programs. Biogen expects these changes to reduce the current annual run rate of operating expenses by about $250 million. Shares of Biogen’s stock have dropped by 13.42% year-to-date. Biogen was also the top biotech pick of Krishen Sud’s Sivik Global Healthcare, holding 20,000 shares as of the end of September 30.

Disclosure: none