Andreas Halvorsen’s Biggest Energy and Utilities Purchases of Q2

#4 Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE)

– Shares Owned by Viking Global (as of June 30): 12.61 Million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $278 Million

Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) was a new entrant in Viking Global’s equity portfolio in the second quarter. Fuelled by the rally in energy prices, Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE)’s stock has had a stellar rally so far in 2016 and currently trades up by 161.43% year-to-date. However, it is still down by more than 20% from the highs it was trading at in June 2014. Several analyst who track the stock believe that despite the humongous rally it has seen this year, it still remains undervalued when compared to peers, especially when one takes into account that the company has been increasing its production while reducing its costs. On August 29, analysts at Williams Capital initiated their coverage on the stock with a ‘Hold’ rating and a $29 price target, which represents a potential upside of 9% from the stock’s last trading price. Though the ownership of Rice Energy among hedge funds covered by us increased by only three to 38 during the second quarter, the aggregate value of their holdings in the company during the same time saw a jump of over 82%. Apart from Viking Global, other hedge funds that initiated a stake in the company during the second quarter include Ben Gambill‘s Tiger Eye Capital and Jesse Ro’s Tiger Legatus Capital.

#3 Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN)

– Shares Owned by Viking Global (as of June 30): 20.36 Million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $300.4 Million

Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN) is the only stock covered in this article in which Viking Global didn’t increase its stake by more than 100% during the second quarter, although by boosting its holding in the company by 98% the fund did come very close to doing that. Another billionaire who was bullish on Calpine Corporation going into the third quarter was David Einhorn, whose hedge fund Greenlight Capital initiated a stake in the company during that period by purchasing 5.66 million shares.  The Texas-based utility company lost a considerable amount of its market capitalization last year and its stock has again taken a large beating in August due to which it is currently trading down almost 11% for 2016. The decline that the stock has seen this month can be blamed largely on the dismal second quarter numbers that the company released at the end of last month. While analysts had expected Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN) to declare a per share loss of $0.02 on revenue of $1.29 billion for that period, the company reported a loss of $0.08 per share  on revenue of $1.16 billion. During the April-June period, the number of funds covered by us long Calpine Corporation declined by four to 32. However, the aggregate value of hedge funds’ holdings in the company during the same time saw an increase of $123 million.