Founded in by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services. Although it's never a particularly good strategy to blindly follow other investors, the activity of elite investors like Carl Icahn and Warren Buffet which is reported quarterly can provide worthwhile investing ideas.

Armed with this insight, we asked three of our contributors which stocks they think might be worth taking a cue on from the smartest investors. They recommended Idera Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ: IDRA , Bristol-Myers Squibb NYSE: BMY , and Apple NASDAQ: Below, they outline their reasoning for why they think these three stocks may be worth buying right now.

Julian and Felix Baker seemingly have the Midas touch when it comes to picking clinical-stage biotechs. So when their aptly named hedge Baker Bros.

Advisors fund picked up another 3. Although Idera has three drug candidates under development at the moment, the company's most important value driver is IMO IMO is a TLR9 agonist designed to be used in combination with either Bristol-Myers Squibb 's Yervoy or Merck 's Keytruda in patients with advanced skin cancer who fail to respond to checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy.

At a recent conference, Idera reported that IMO showed some encouraging synergistic effects with Yervoy in an early stage study, warranting further development. The basic issue is that IMO may be able to grab an accelerated regulatory approval based on the need for alternative treatment options for skin cancer patients who don't respond to checkpoint inhibitors -- combined with the drug's promising early results.

If so, Idera could break into the commercial-stage biotech population within the next two years and perhaps generate hundreds of millions in sales in the process. That said, the Baker brothers have periodically been dead wrong about clinical-stage biotechs in the past, and encouraging early stage results often fail to translate into viable commercial products, especially among oncology drug candidates.

As such, investors certainly shouldn't ignore the serious risks associated with this stock, even if the Baker brothers did dramatically up their stake in the most recent quarter.

He scooped up shares of ImClone Systems after an insider trading scandal sent them plunging. More, recently a manufacturing glitch led Genzyme shares low enough to stir Icahn's interest. Bristol-Myers Squibb got on Icahn's radar following a clinical trial misstep with Opdivo.

The clinical setback was significant, but I don't think Opdivo sales, or Bristol's bottom line, are finished climbing. Whatever the activist investor's intentions may be, Bristol's shares look like a relative bargain. The stock has been trading at just 18 times forward earnings estimates despite expectations of While a mega-merger at a premium would be a nice cherry on top, simply meeting consensus growth expectations would make this stock a pretty sweet deal.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway added over 42 million shares of tech titan Apple in its most recent disclosure filing period.

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Buffett is a renowned value investor and known for avoiding investments in technology companies, so that big bet on a tech titan is a bold move. Apple is something of a challenge for value-oriented investors. On the other hand, its growth opportunities are tied to the hardware upgrade cycle -- particularly regarding its iPhones. That reliance on an upgrade cycle makes Apple's growth prospects vulnerable to consumers who don't feel the new features are worth the cost of an upgrade.

It also puts Apple at risk of competition that may be able to leapfrog Apple's own innovations or offer similar features at lower prices. That makes forecasting Apple's future growth -- a key driver of most valuation models -- cloudier than it would be with a company with a less innovation-dependent repeat purchase cycle. Still, a vote of confidence in the form of a large share purchase from a value investing maven like Warren Buffett is a sign that Apple has substantial branding and staying power.

This Short-Term Dip Is a Great Time to Buy These Long-Term Stocks -- The Motley Fool

Only the future will tell whether Apple can deliver the growth it needs to justify its market price today, but if Buffett is confident enough in that growth to invest, who am I to argue? Chuck Saletta has no position in any stocks mentioned. Cory Renauer has no position in any stocks mentioned. George Budwell owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway B shares. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway B shares.

The Motley Fool has the following options: The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. George Budwell has been writing about healthcare and biotechnology companies at the Motley Fool since His primary interests are novel small molecule drugs, next generation vaccines, and cell therapies. Skip to main content The Motley Fool Fool.

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