Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Contrarian Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. During the quarter, the significant market influences were the U.S. election results, inflation, and the direction of interest rates. Against this backdrop, the fund returned 1.70% (net) during the quarter outperforming the 0.62% returns of the Russell 2500 Index and -0.26% returns of the secondary benchmark the Russell 2500 Value Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Meridian Contrarian Fund emphasized stocks such as Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN). Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The one-month return of Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) was 5.45%, and its shares lost 41.12% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 20, 2025, Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) stock closed at $38.92 per share with a market capitalization of $7.14 billion.

Meridian Contrarian Fund stated the following regarding Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN), a Chinese biotech company, is developing a promising CAR-T cancer drug in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. While the company’s stock has faced challenges stemming from controversy surrounding its former CEO, our biotech research team determined that the company’s cancer drug held promise, and the partnership with Johnson & Johnson provided confidence to see beyond the lagging controversy and China.

During the period, the stock came under pressure on market concerns that a competing treatment could impact future sales. Supported by the research and insights of our biotech research team, we view the competing drug as significantly inferior and believe that Legend continues to be very well positioned. We added slightly to the position on price weakness during the period."

A laboratory with workers in masks and lab coats focused on analyzing cell therapies.

Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 36 hedge fund portfolios held Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 31 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) 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 Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ:LEGN) and shared the list of best mid-cap growth stocks to buy according to analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.