Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) was another big-time performer during the first quarter in which North Tide had a long position at the start of the year. Shares of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX)soared by 33.96% on the quarter, experiencing a particularly big jump on February 18 after a court settlement was reached in a case concerning it and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) which stretched back nearly a decade, to its 2006 acquisition of Guidant. Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) was accused of interfering with a deal that had already been reached between Guidant and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), with the latter seeking damages of as much as $7 billion as a result. The deal was finally settled for $600 million, which Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) will be able to pay primarily using balance sheet cash, allowing it to avoid compounding the settlement by not having to take on debt. North Tide had a 5.0 million share position in Boston Scientific at the end of 2014, valued at $66.25 million. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital owned the largest position of any fund in our database, which consisted of 23.35 million shares, though it had less exposure to the stock than North Tide (which again, topped all funds we track).
Its long position of 1.50 million shares in Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL), valued at $84.56 million, was North Tide’s fifth-largest at the start of 2015. The global pharmaceutical giant enjoyed a solid quarter, with returns of 5.29%, and has enjoyed an even better second quarter thus far. Shares are up by more than 10% in April after it made a $28.9 billion bid to buy Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO) on April 8.Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL) itself is also a potential takeover target of the aforementioned Teva Pharmaceutical, which puts a lot of potential money balls in the air for Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL) shareholders. Among those shareholders are billionaires John Paulson and Rob Citrone.
Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE:WTW) is all about helping clients lose weight, but it was the company’s own shares that shed weight in the first quarter; in fact they became downright anorexic. Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE:WTW) returned a horrendous -71.86% during the first quarter, falling to an all-time low of $6.99 from $24.84 at the start of the year. That was the worst performance by any $1 billion+ company during the quarter and dragged its market cap down to less than $450 million. 2014 saw a double-digit loss in subscribers to the company’s weight management system, which led to a severe 48.6% drop in operating income during the fourth quarter of 2014. That was bad news for billionaire Israel Englander, so seemingly felt the bottom had already been reached after a poor 2014; he increased his stake by over 3,000% during the fourth quarter to 1.89 million shares, the largest position in the stock of any fund in our database. North Tide’s 1.70 million share position valued at $42.23 million (now significantly less) came next.
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