Soros likes NKTR and other biotechs. Courtesy of TexasDude on the Biotech Valuation thread...
Soros Fund favors pharmaceutical stocks
By Joel Rothstein
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - A quarterly report on Monday by influential investor George Soros showed new or bigger stakes in several pharmaceutical companies and reduced holdings in technology bellwethers Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research)
The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed the long stock positions, or bets that stock prices will rise, of Soros Fund Management LLC as of June 30.
Quarterly SEC disclosures from institutional investors exclude short positions, or bets that stocks will decline, that the portfolio may hold.
New disclosed holdings as of that date included 3.3 million shares in NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc (NPSP.O: Quote, Profile, Research), 783,000 shares in GTC Biotherapeutics Inc (GTCB.O: Quote, Profile, Research), over 700,000 shares in Celgene Corp (CELG.O: Quote, Profile, Research), 343,000 shares in Hana Biosciences Inc (HNAB.O: Quote, Profile, Research), 280,000 shares in Human Genome Sciences Inc (HGSI.O: Quote, Profile, Research), 285,000 shares in Indenix Pharmaceuticals Inc (IDIX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and an increase to 413,000 shares from 257,000 shares in Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) since Soros filed a March 31 report with the SEC.
The filing showed a reduced stake in Cisco to 123,000 shares from 699,000 shares and a cut in its Microsoft holdings to 126,000 shares from 252,000 shares since March 31.
The fund sharply increased its stakes in Axcelis Technologies Inc. (ACLS.O: Quote, Profile, Research), and Extreme Networks Inc (EXTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and also added 100,000 shares in Oracle Corp (ORCL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to its disclosed portfolio.
In other sectors, Soros money managers showed new, small stakes in AMR Corp. (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and UAL Corp. (UAUA.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the parent companies of American Airlines and United Airlines, while showing reduced holdings in low cost competitor JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O: Quote, Profile, Research).
The Soros fund held nearly 390,000 shares of AMR and 38,000 shares in UAL as of June 30 after showing no holdings in both carriers as of March 31. The fund also said it held 6.7 million shares of JetBlue as of June 30, down from 16.7 million on March 31, SEC filings showed.
The filing also showed an increased stake in web retailer Bluefly Inc. (BFLY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) from 5.3 million shares to 48.6 million shares. The fund more than doubled its stake in retailer Bombay Co. (BBA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to 1.4 million shares between March 31 and June 30, according to the documents.
The total value of the Soros fund's disclosed holdings dropped about 22 percent to $2.1 billion on June 30 from $2.7 billion on March 31.
By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly unchanged during the second quarter while the Nasdaq Composite dropped about 7 percent. |
