PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund recently released its third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Given concerns regarding the decreasing pace of U.S. employment and the associated concerns that U.S. interest rates may have been maintained at levels higher than necessary to moderate the pace of inflation, U.S. equity markets fluctuated during the summer and partially reversed their year-to-date gains. The S&P 1500 Health Care Index appreciated 6.1% in the third quarter, outperforming the S&P 500, which gained 5.9%. While the fund advanced in the quarter, it underperformed the index. Stock selection within medtech and pharmaceuticals contributed to the most value. Relative performance was negatively impacted by security selection in biotechnology and health care providers and services, as well as underweights in life sciences tools and services. 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 Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company. The one-month return of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was 21.17%, and its shares lost 34.84% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 11, 2024, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) stock closed at $34.00 per share with a market capitalization of $4.229 billion.
PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund stated the following regarding Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) is a biotech company focusing on complement therapeutics. The company sells two drugs. The first is subcutaneous pegcetacoplan for the treatment of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) which was approved in 2021. The second, approved in February 2023, is Syfovre for the treatment of Geographic Atrophy (GA). Syfovre has shown compelling data out to 36 months and its launch has been going extraordinarily well. Outside of Empaveli and Syfovre, Apellis also has a growing pipeline of complement therapeutics focused on rare disease and ophthalmology. Weakness the past several months is attributed to lack of approval of Syfovre in Europe, the launch and marketing messages of a competitive drug from Astellas Pharma named Izervay, reimbursement dynamics between the two drugs and a slower than expected growth of the overall GA market. While we believe the market opportunity for GA and that growth in the treated GA patient population is large enough to support solid growth for both drugs, we have also come to appreciate that the safety issues seen with Syfove in the Summer of 2023 have complicated the marketing message for these new drugs. This has led to slower growth in the treated GA patient population than we expected, which has led us to decrease our position in Apellis. We continue to believe in the ultimate opportunity of Syfovre but have decreased our position size to more appropriately align with our updated view of the revenue growth and peak sales potential for Syfovre.”
A biomedical scientist in a lab coat conducting research on biopharmaceutical compounds.
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) at the end of the third quarter which was 38 in the previous quarter. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:APLS) third quarter revenue was approximately $197 million compared to $110 million in Q3 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) 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 Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) and shared PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2024 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.