Harding Loevner, an asset management company, released its “Global Equity Strategy” fourth-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The stock market recovered in the last quarter of 2023. The market regained all that it lost in the steep decline in 2022. The fund generated 13.21% (13.10% net) compared to 11.15% and 11.53% for the MSCI All Country World Index and MSCI World Index, respectively. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Global Equity Strategy featured stocks such as Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is a biotechnology company. On February 8, 2024, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) stock closed at $423.06 per share. One-month return of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) was -2.39%, and its shares gained 42.25% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) has a market capitalization of $109.015 billion.
Global Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Health Care outperformed due to a strong showing by US-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, even as other holdings in the sector posted weak returns. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) reported positive phase 2 trial data for a drug to address diabetic neuropathic pain.
The potential for technological innovation to create shareholder value goes far beyond the effects of Al, of course. For example, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is building a significant competitive advantage through its unique approach to drug discovery.
Unlike most drug developers, which focus on mitigating symptoms of an illness, Vertex seeks to understand and address the causal biology of a disease more fully. This approach has helped the company establish a wide lead in treating cystic fibrosis (CF), a rare disease that causes mucus buildup in organs such as the lungs. Vertex’s research and treatments have targeted the root cause of CF, which is that a particular protein becomes misfolded and unable to move chloride out of a cell, resulting in an imbalance between salt and water. Its scientists have been able to do this by working with the lung cells of real CF patients, an advantage over using engineered animal cells to simulate the disease-causing mechanism to determine which drug candidate is most promising for humans. Vertex’s latest therapy, approved in 2019, is Trikafta, a combination of three medicines that targets a mutation found in 90% of CF patients. Vertex is now using the same approach to address other illnesses. In 2023, Casgevy, its treatment for sickle cell disease, became the first CRISPR-based gene-editing therapy to receive regulatory approval. (CRISPR, a technology honored by the Nobel Prize in 2020, allows scientists to make precise changes to parts of the genome, the set of DNA instructions found in a cell.) By correcting the faulty gene that causes sickle cell disease, Casgevy could offer a one-time therapy to cure approximately 16,000 patients who have the red blood cell disorder-a significant improvement over the usual course of treatment, which is merely to manage symptoms through blood transfusions and pain medicines…” (Click here to read the full text)
A biotechnologist in a lab wearing an apron and safety glasses, working on a biopharmaceutical process.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 57 hedge fund portfolios held Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) at the end of third quarter which was 54 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in another article and shared the list of S&P 500 stocks on the move. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 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.
