Stanley Druckenmiller’s risk control is a little unconventional.
“I like putting all my eggs in one basket and then watching the basket very carefully,” Druckenmiller said.
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“If you look at a normal portfolio, most people will make seventy or eighty percent of money that year on two or three ideas. Even though they’ll have thirty or forty things in their portfolio. My concept was to put into those two or three ideas that I had the most conviction in,” he added.
That strategy has clearly paid off. He now ranks No. 233 on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $11 billion.
Druckenmiller was formerly George Soros’s right-hand man. He famously helped make the bet against the British pound in 1992, a trade that “broke the Bank of England.”
He is also the former chairman and president of Duquesne Capital Management, which he founded in 1981 and managed until it closed in 2010. Over its nearly three decades, the firm delivered an average annual return of 30%.
Related: Stanley Druckenmiller’s net worth (& how he made Soros $1 billion)
After Druckenmiller closed Duquesne Capital to outside investors, he continued to actively manage his wealth and investments under a family office structure, now called Duquesne Family Office.
However, even the best investors have regrets — he recently said he’d sold Nvidia too early, missing out on its meteoric rise.
From betting on and against currencies to going long on stocks, bonds and commodities, Druckenmiller has never tied his investment strategy to a single asset class.
Druckenmiller has doubled down on a health-care stock
In Q3 2024 Druckenmiller made a big bet on high-tech health care.
Duquesne Family Office increased its holdings in Natera (NTRA) to about 3.57 million shares by the end of Q3 from 1.97 million at the end of Q2, a jump of 80.6%, according to the firm’s Securities and Exchange Commission 13F filing.
That chunk of stock is valued at $603.9 million as of Jan. 13, making Natera the top holding in Duquesne Family Office’s portfolio.
Related: Stanley Druckenmiller makes a stunning confession about Nvidia stock
Natera is an Austin provider of genetic testing and diagnostics. It focuses on developing noninvasive testing solutions across three primary areas: reproductive health, oncology, and organ health.
Its Panorama test screens for genetic conditions during pregnancy. The Signatera test monitors cancer and detects recurrence, while Prospera helps identify organ rejection in transplant patients.
The company posted better-than-expected Q3 results last November, and Chief Executive Steve Chapman said that “2024 has already been a transformational year for Natera and I think Q3 represents our best quarter yet.”
Natera stock more than doubled (up more than 150%) in 2024.
Analysts raise Natera stock price targets before Q4 earnings
On Jan. 12 Natera estimated Q4 2024 revenue reached $472 million, 52% higher than in Q4 2023.
Full-year revenue is pegged at $1.7 billion, up 56% from 2023. The latest figure is $53 million above the top end of the company’s previous outlook.
Test volumes rose 26.5% in Q4 to 792,800 and 22.8% for the year to 3.06 million, Natera estimated.
Investment firm Craig-Hallum raised its Natera price target to $210 from $174 with a buy rating after the preliminary Q4 results, crediting what it called Natera’s solid performance and growth momentum, thefly.com reported.
Last week, Bernstein raised its price target on Natera to $200 from $160 and affirmed an outperform rating.
Bernstein expressed optimism for the life sciences sector in 2025, citing “real signs of recovery.”
The firm highlighted an uptick in biotech funding, the flow of China’s stimulus measures, and early signs that pressure on instruments may be easing.
Last December, JP Morgan analyst Rachel Vatnsdal raised her Natera price target to $200 from $160 with an overweight rating.
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In November, after Natera had reported for Q3, JP Morgan had raised its stock price target on the company to $160 from $135.
JP Morgan said Natera “continues to fire on all cylinders” from volume, selling-price, margin and cash-burn perspectives with room to improve further in 2025. It said that after the Q3 results it continued to donsider Natera one of the highest-quality companies in the diagnostics space.
Natera closed at $165.76, down 2.1%, on Jan. 14.
Related: Veteran fund manager delivers alarming S&P 500 forecast
