Apple Inc. (AAPL), Priceline.com Inc (PCLN): Massive Hedge Fund Tiger Global Is Long

Editor’s note, related tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN)

We track quarterly 13F filings from hedge funds, including Tiger Cub hedge fund Tiger Global Management. There are a number of uses for this information. For one, we have found that 13Fs can be used to help develop investing strategies- for example, the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds outperform the S&P 500 by 18 percentage points per year on average (learn more about our small cap strategy). We can also examine individual funds’ top picks in a number of areas, including those which have been in the portfolio for two years or longer, and treat these as initial ideas for further research. Read on for our quick take on the five largest holdings in Tiger Global’s portfolio as of the end of December which it had also had at least $10 million invested in at the end of 2010 (or see the full list of stocks the fund reported owning):

Tiger Global reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 19% during the fourth quarter of 2012, but at a little over 1 million shares that was still its largest holding by market value. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) lost its place as the most popular stock among hedge funds during Q4 to AIG (find more stocks hedge funds loved) and the stock is down 19% in the last year even as market indices have risen strongly. It is currently valued at 11 times its trailing earnings as the market expects its margins to continue to fall (in its most recent quarter, revenue was up compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year but earnings were down 18%).

Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) is a popular stock among many Tiger Cub funds- billionaire Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, for example, had over $1 billion invested in the travel website at the beginning of this year (check out Mandel’s stock picks) and while Tiger Global was selling some shares here as well Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) is one of its long term picks. While the stock’s trailing earnings multiple is high, revenue and earnings have continued to grow rapidly even as the company has increased in size. Wall Street analysts expect this trend to continue and Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN)’s five-year PEG ratio is in fact about 1.