Billionaire Stephen Mandel Bullish On Tech

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) moves into Mandel’s top ten picks after he increased his stake by 213% during the first quarter, to 6.84 million shares valued at $850.92 million. Apple, which owns one of the most profitable businesses ever, was also a positive contributor to Mandel’s first quarter returns, gaining 12.7%. It’s been a relatively underwhelming second quarter by comparison, with shares up just 3.4% thus far. However, at least one analyst believes the iPhone-maker’s upcoming bond auction could spur the stock to the next level, as a similar auction did two years ago. Others however are skeptical of such claims, suggesting the scenarios are not similar and that products will continue to be Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s catalysts, making the WWDC conference, which kicks off tomorrow, far more relevant than a bond auction. Carl Icahn must be extremely frustrated at the lack of upwards mobility for the stock, despite his repeated insistence that it is grossly undervalued. Icahn owns 52.76 million shares of Apple, which constitutes over 20% of his public equity portfolio.

Lastly is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), in which Mandel increased his position by 165% to 14.49 million shares with a value of $588.93 million as of March 31. Mandel seemingly took advantage of the early first quarter tumble of the stock to grab a larger position, and that has paid off in the second quarter as Microsoft has made up for most of its first quarter losses, gaining over 13%. On Friday, Microsoft Wifi was confirmed by the tech giant, after its existence was accidentally leaked a day earlier.  The service will reportedly allow users running any device (not just Windows devices), access to the wi-fi of local providers at millions of hotspots around the world. Details including pricing have yet to be revealed. Jeffrey Ubben added yet another 2% to his already massive Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) position during the first quarter and now owns 75.27 million shares valued at over $3.06 billion.

Disclosure: None