Hedge funds like Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square and Seth Klarman’s Baupost usually get all the attention, but some of the smaller, lesser-known investors have actually built a better track record near this. CNBC Pro found investors with the best stock pickers using hedge fund tracking company Symmetric.io. Then we find out what stocks they are betting on. Symmetric.io evaluates the stock picking ability of nearly 1,000 hedge funds in its database using a proprietary performance indicator called StockAlpha. It is derived by comparing the performance of stocks in the fund with the performance of an industry exchange-traded fund. StockAlpha scores over three years show the extent to which managers have outperformed the broader market or areas they’ve focused on over the past three years. Boxer Capital focuses on biotech companies. The fund holds Mirati Therapeutics, Odonate Therapeutics and BeiGene as the top three holdings at the end of the second quarter. First Light Asset Management also focuses on biotech-focused names, with Model N, AtriCure and Prothena being the biggest bets. First Light added a bit more to these holdings in the second quarter. Heavy industrial and energy stocks Industrial stocks featured in a number of hedge funds that bought the stock in late June. Electrical products maker Hubbell and energy management company Eaton are big bets Sandler Capital Management after raising its stake in the second quarter. These two stocks both rose double digits in the third quarter. Another industry stock is Goodnow Investment’s favorite Triton, which owned more than $100 million worth of stock at the end of June. The company saw its shares rise 20% this quarter, pushing the highs. increase by 2022 to about 5%. Meanwhile, Oaktree Capital focused on the energy sector in the second quarter. Energy has been the standout group in this tumultuous year, fueled by sharp increases in oil and gas prices. Oaktree’s largest holding at the end of June was Chesapeake Energy, with a stake worth more than $850 million. The stock is up more than 60% this year. Vistra Energy was Oaktree’s third-biggest bet at the end of the second quarter. The hedge fund also holds stakes in Petroleo, Berry and energy producer Civitas Resources.