Tag Archives: Tiger Management

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's What This Huge Long-Term Winner Is Buying

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By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool

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Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let’s look at Lone Pine Capital, founded by Steve Mandel in 1997. Prior to that, Mandel was a managing director at Tiger Management. Lone Pine is one of the biggest hedge fund companies, and reportedly beat the S&P 500 for 11 years in a row. Like many value investors, Mandel is known to dig deep into companies, aiming to buy undervalued ones.

The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $15.9 billion in value as of Dec. 31, 2012.

Interesting developments
So what does Lone Pine Capital‘s latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:

The biggest new holdings are Facebook and Capital One Financial . Other new holdings of interest include Intuitive Surgical . Facebook is compelling to many, with its hundreds of millions of users and its top ranking in mobile app reach. But it’s not without risks, such as a seemingly rich valuation and concerns about the influential younger generation gravitating toward other social platforms. In addition, a new study casts doubt on the efficacy of social-media advertising.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical hit a 52-week low recently, partly on reports that robotic surgeries may not be as worthwhile as many think and news of an investigation into its systems’ safety. But with a recent P/E ratio of about 30, a forward P/E of 21, and an expected near-term growth rate of 18% (following an average growth rate of 34% over the past five years), many see it as attractively priced now.

Among holdings in which Lone Pine Capital increased its stake was priceline.com . Priceline has been experiencing strong growth internationally, and its financial statements offer lots to love, such as its steep and growing free cash flow and net margins near 27%. Its forward P/E ratio of just 15 is attractive, too, considering its sizable growth rate. The company has made a $1.8 billion offer for Kayak Software , and its hotel-booking business has been a very strong performer.

Lone Pine Capital reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Accretive Health , which has fallen by more than 57% over the past year, in part due to news that it’s delaying releasing its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings reports as it reevaluates its accounting habits. The company specializes in revenue cycle management services for the health-care industry. Right now, it’s heavily shorted, reflecting market skepticism about it.

Finally, Lone Pine Capital‘s biggest closed positions included Apple and Schlumberger . Energy giant Schlumberger is in the business of helping companies find and extract gas and oil. It’s the second-largest fracking supplier and its technology and offerings may help frackers be kinder to the environment. It recently took a small hit on news that it’s experiencing pricing pressures and …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's What This Hedge Fund Pioneer Has Been Buying

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By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool

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Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article erroneously attributed the founding of Tiger Global Management to Julian Robertson, who founded the unrelated hedge fund Tiger Management. Charles Coleman, who once worked for Robertson, founded Tiger Global Management. The author and the Fool regret the error.

Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13-F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today let’s look at Tiger Global Management. The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $7.1 billion  in value as of Sept. 30, 2012, and contained just a few dozen stocks. Indeed, the top 10 holdings make up about 63%  of the overall portfolio’s value.

Interesting developments
So what does Tiger Global‘s latest quarterly 13-F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details.

The biggest new holdings are Yahoo! and Burger King Worldwide . Other new holdings of interest include Questcor Pharmaceuticals and Heckmann . Questcor has a multiple-sclerosis drug, Acthar, which is selling solidly, and the company is looking to get into rheumatology as well. It has its risks, though, such as an investigation into its marketing practices, and competition.

Wastewater treatment and disposal specialist Heckmann is attracting fans in part because of its work serving the controversial fracking industry and its presence in just about every shale field. Insiders have been buying shares, and doubters have been shorting shares, leading to the possibility of a short squeeze, should the company continue to perform well.

Among holdings in which Tiger Global increased its stake was Baidu , the search engine giant of China, which has shrunk by 24% over the past year, thanks largely to China‘s slowing growth rate. The company has been a fast grower, with revenue and earnings sporting five-year average annual growth rates of more than 60%. Meanwhile, much of China and Asia has yet to get online, representing huge growth potential. Baidu does have serious competition, though — such as from Qihoo 360 Technology , which Tiger Global actually sold out of during the quarter.

Tiger Global reduced its stake in several companies, including Deckers Outdoor , maker of UGG boots and Teva sandals. With the company challenged by factors such as some rising costs and weakness in Europe, the stock has fallen by more than 60%  over the past year, and the company is now reportedly on the block. There’s clearly value there, though, with strong brands and its move to integrate vertically by opening its own retail stores.

Finally, Tiger Global‘s biggest closed positions included Qihoo 360 Technology and HomeAway . Other closed positions of interest include wireless communications specialist Ubiquiti Networks . Ubiquiti has been fighting counterfeit competition as well as some lawsuits, and it recently lowered guidance. Still, it looks promising on a number of measures, such as manageable debt, strong …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's What This $14 Billion Hedge Fund Company Has Been Buying

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By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool

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Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let’s look at Viking Global Investors, founded in 1999 by Andreas Halvorsen and David Ott, who had previously worked together at Julian Robertson‘s respected Tiger Management firm. Viking is known as a long-short global equity fund, meaning that it aims to maintain long positions in companies on which it’s bullish and short positions in those where it’s bearish.

The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $14.4 billion in value as of Dec. 31, 2012.

Interesting developments
So what does Viking’s latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:

The biggest new holdings are Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Las Vegas Sands. Other new holdings of interest include EMC and TIBCO Software . EMC is a $50 billion storage giant, with solid growth prospects in the rapidly growing cloud-computing and Big Data arenas. It also holds an 80% ownership stake in virtualization specialist VMware. EMC has been held back some by softness in technology spending due to a weak global economy, but that won’t last forever. In the meantime, it has struck a partnership with Lenovo, which might help it in China, and its recent earnings report was solid, with strong operating income growth

TIBCO is another Big Data operator, and one that got whacked late last year after posting disappointing earnings results. It had previously posted a long string of strong earnings and pointed to softness in orders as well as some weather interference for the miss. Still, management is upbeat, as are some of my colleagues, such as Anders Bylund, who bought shares. Some think the company may end up acquired by another.

Among holdings in which Viking Global increased its stake was BlackBerry . BlackBerry, until very recently known as Research In Motion, has been fighting strong competition from iPhones and Android devices. (Apple, for example, is expected to debut a lower-cost smartphone that might appeal to businesses that buy in bulk for employees, threatening BlackBerry’s longtime strength in the corporate market.) BlackBerry recently debuted some new devices, but some think that’s not enough to turn the company around.

Viking Global reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Sherwin-Williams , which has averaged annual growth of nearly 30% over the past five years, partly on signs of a housing market recovery. Last year, the company bought global paint giant Comex, based in Mexico, for $2.3 billion. Some don’t like that the deal will add to Sherwin-Williams’ debt, but others see it as a smart strategic move. In a sign of strength, the company recently boosted its dividend by 28%. With a forward P/E ratio of 19, it’s reasonable to see the stock as not a bargain right now.

Finally, Viking’s biggest closed positions included Apple and priceline.com. Other closed positions of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance