Here’s Why Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) Shares Rose in Q1

Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Opportunity Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund rose 15.33% (Institutional Shares), outperformed the Russell 3000 Growth Index, which gained 11.23%, and the S&P 500 Index, which advanced 10.56%. US equities continued their robust performance in Q1 with all major indices touching all-time highs on multiple occasions. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Baron Opportunity Fund highlighted stocks like Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The one-month return of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was -22.07%, and its shares gained 137.54% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 10, 2024, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) stock closed at $56.38 per share with a market capitalization of $6.217 billion.

Baron Opportunity Fund stated the following regarding Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

"Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) develops metabolic disease medicines with a focus on diabetes/obesity and MASH (metabolic steatohepatitis, i.e., fatty liver). Viking’s lead asset is VK2735, an injectable and oral version of a GLP-1/GIP combination weight loss medication that directly competes with well-known Eli Lilly products called Mounjaro and Zepbound. Viking’s second asset competes with Madrigal Pharmaceutical’s just approved MASH asset. Shares rose in late February when Viking announced positive top-line results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of VK2735. Both of Viking’s main assets appear to be more efficacious than their competitors in two exceptionally large revenue end markets. After a couple of decades of working on treatments for oncology and rare diseases, the pharmaceutical industry is shifting back to lower-priced/higher-volume primary care medications led by treatments for obesity, and Viking has the potential to be a notable player in this space. To size the potential obesity market, if 50 million people (one-third of the current U.S. addressable market) are treated at $2,000 per year, that would result in a $100 billion opportunity."

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Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 52 hedge fund portfolios held Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) at the end of the first quarter which was 25 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) reported positive results from two of its major pipeline initiatives. While we acknowledge the potential of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) 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 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) and shared Jim Cramer’s list of stocks that you should not buy. Alger Small Cap Growth Fund also benefitted from the Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) stock’s recent rise. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.