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Why Are Hedge Funds Bullish on Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) Now?


We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Stocks to Buy According to Navellier & Associates. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) stands against the other stocks approved by Navellier & Associates.

Founded in 1987 by growth analyst Louis Navellier, Navellier & Associates is an independent firm based in Reno, Nevada. Navellier & Associates specializes in identifying market inefficiencies to find top-growth stocks through a disciplined quantitative and fundamental analysis system. With over 30 years of experience, they offer customized portfolio strategies for individual investors to maximize returns while managing risk. Unlike competitors who mimic indexes, Navellier aims to outperform them, resulting in low correlation with benchmarks and increased diversification.

Louis Navellier is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, Chief Investment Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer of Navellier & Associates, Inc. With decades of experience applying academic techniques to real market scenarios, he advocates for disciplined quantitative analysis to identify stocks that can outperform the market. His approach involves a rigorous three-step process: quantitative analysis, fundamental analysis, and optimization of selected securities for portfolio inclusion. This approach has been used by the firm where they employ a highly disciplined, bottom-up stock-selection process for most portfolios. First, they screen market and stock statistics to measure reward (alpha) and risk (standard deviation), selecting stocks in the top percentiles. Next, they further screen the top-ranked stocks for high-profit margins, strong earnings growth, and reasonable price/earnings ratios based on future earnings. Finally, a proprietary optimization model maximizes portfolio alpha while minimizing standard deviation, creating well-diversified portfolios across various sectors and industries.

Since 1980, he has shared his insights through the MPT Review, a stock advisory newsletter. Since 1987, he has actively managed individual portfolios, mutual funds, and institutional portfolios. Known for his charismatic leadership, Louis Navellier has been featured extensively in international media, including CNBC, Bloomberg, The Nightly Business Report, and Wall Street Week. His insights have also been highlighted in Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, Investor’s Business Daily, Money, Smart Money, and The Wall Street Journal. He has been profiled in books such as Kenneth A. Stern’s “Secrets of the Investment All-Stars” and Alan R. Ackerman’s “Investing Under Fire.” Mr. Navellier earned his B.S. in business administration in 1978 and his M.B.A. in finance in 1979 from California State University – Hayward.

Navellier & Associates is a well-known advisory firm with 1,314 clients and manages assets worth $743,578,818, as reported in their Form ADV from March 2024. Their Q1 2024 filing shows they handle $811,568,534 in securities, with the top 10 holdings making up 29.01% of the total.

Our Methodology

This article covers Navellier & Associates’ top 10 stock picks for the first quarter of 2024. We’ve included analyst ratings and key details about these companies, along with the number of hedge funds investing in each. Why focus on hedge fund investments? Our research indicates that copying the top picks of leading hedge funds can result in better-than-market returns. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy, which chooses 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks each quarter, has achieved a 275% return since May 2014, outperforming the benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here).

An array of pharmaceutical pills with the company’s logo on the bottle.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY)

Navellier & Associates’ Stake Value: $19,919,729 

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 109

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) landed in the 4th spot in Navellier & Associates’ top 10 stock picks. Established in 1876, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is a global pharmaceutical firm known for its innovative medications. It has developed major treatments for diabetes, cancer, and mental health. Its GLP-1 drugs, Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity are showing strong growth and fit into the growing trend for weight loss treatments. Recently, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced it will acquire Morphic Holding (NASDAQ:MORF) for $57 per share, totaling $3.2 billion. This move gives Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) a chance to enter the IBD market, despite some risks with MORF-057 and its pipeline.

For the recent quarter, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) has experienced notable revenue and operating income growth. Between 2020 and the past 12 months, its EBITDA rose from $8.26 billion to $13.55 billion. Analysts view Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) favorably, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average stock price target of about $858.72. By the end of the first quarter of 2024, Navellier & Associates reported holding 25,605 shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), valued at $19,919,729. This investment made up 2.45% of their portfolio, based on regulatory filings.

Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

“Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells medicines in the categories of diabetes, oncology, neuroscience, and immunology, among other areas. Stock performance was strong due to robust fourth quarter sales of Mounjaro/ Zepbound, better-than-anticipated initial guidance for fiscal year 2024, and ongoing enthusiasm surrounding the company’s obesity and diabetes franchises. We continue to think Lilly is well positioned to grow revenue and earnings at attractive rates through the end of the decade and beyond.”

Overall LLY ranks 4th on our list of the best stocks to buy according to Navellier & Associates. You can visit 10 Best Stocks to Buy According to Navellier & Associates to see the other Navellier & Associates-approved stocks that are on hedge funds’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of LLY 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 more promising than LLY but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

 

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These 10 Stocks in June.

 

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.



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