PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund released its second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund modestly underperformed the S&P 1500 Health Care Index in the quarter which declined 1.1%. Security selection within pharmaceuticals, MedTech, and health care provides & services contributed the most value during the quarter, while stock selection within Biotechnology was largely detracted. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund highlighted stocks like Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is a biotechnology company focusing on developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). The one-month return of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) was -1.37%, and its shares gained 30.13% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 2, 2024, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) stock closed at $462.14 per share with a market capitalization of $119.279 billion.
PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund stated the following regarding Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical with a core franchise of small molecule CFTR modulators for cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic and progressively fatal respiratory disease. Vertex has built a unique and unrivaled market position as the dominant market leader in CF, having created and expanded the market into a nearly $10B franchise and growing. Later this year, we expect them to receive approval for their next-gen CF triple therapy, which we think will drive top-line growth and margin expansion in 2025 onwards. Vertex is also developing an acute and chronic pain franchise. Vertex reported positive Phase 3 data in acute pain and Phase 2 data in chronic pain earlier this year; the FDA filing in acute pain has been completed, and pending approval, Vertex expects to launch in acute pain in early 2025. Beyond CF and pain, Vertex has focused its pipeline around genetically driven diseases with the potential for a transformative clinical benefit. It currently spans 5 disease verticals: sickle cell/beta thalassemia, type 1 diabetes, APOL-1 kidney disease, IgA nephropathy (from the recent acquisition of Alpine Immune Sciences), and alpha-1 antitrypsin disease. Vertex has had a strong start to the year and has delivered positively on several clinical trial readouts, as well as beat Q1 revenue estimates and maintained what was a better than expected ’24 guidance. Vertex has a busy catalyst calendar in 2H24 which include next-gen CF approval, acute pain approval for their first-in-class pain drug, and additional data sets in chronic pain.”
A pharmacist delivering a specific medication to a patient in a specialty pharmacy.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 59 hedge fund portfolios held Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) at the end of the second quarter which was 62 in the previous quarter. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated’s (NASDAQ:VRTX) second quarter revenue increased 6% year-over-year to $2.65 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) and shared Jim Cramer’s go-to stocks for success. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.