Billionaire Leon Cooperman Desperately Clutching Onto eBay Inc (EBAY), Citigroup Inc (C), Actavis plc (ACT) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) To Dig Himself Out Of the Hole in 2015

Leon Cooperman‘s Omega Advisors has had a tough year, as overexposure to some energy stocks led to a 2.13% decline for the year. The market value of the fund also decreased from $6.79 billion to just under $6.0 billion in the fourth quarter alone, a drop of over 11.8%, according to figures revealed through the fund’s latest 13F filing. On a yearly basis, the fund saw its market value dip from $7.54 billion at the start of the year, which puts the annual drop in fund’s value at nearly 20%.

Leon Cooperman founded Omega Advisors in 1991 after an illustrious career spanning 25 years at Goldman Sachs. At the time of his retirement, he was CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The fund currently has about $12.65 billion worth of regulatory assets under management. The fund’s major industry focus continues to be finance, with 28.4% of the fund’s equity allocated to this sector at the end of 2014. Cooperman is no alien to being an underdog and then staging a comeback to steal the show at the end. Being the son of a plumber in South Bronx didn’t stop him from pursuing an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Omega’s abysmal year will hardly cast a dent in his confidence, and he has already in all likelihood brushed off the disappointment from last year and put his stock picking skills to work, with his trust laying in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for early 2015, according to the latest filing.

eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) saw its stake rise in Omega’s portfolio, as Cooperman added 375,200 shares of the technology company in the fourth quarter. The company’s $198.08 million stake now represents 3.38% of Omega’s portfolio value. eBay plans to spin-off its PayPal business later this year, which is seen in a positive light by many investors. Carl Icahn of Icahn Enterprises had urged the company to make this move in February last year but CEO John Donahoe had fought him on it at the time. However, the tide has changed now and Donahoe plans to step down from his post after the spin-off is complete.

eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) reported a fourth quarter revenue increase of 9% to $4.92 billion. This brought the non-GAAP adjusted income to $3.72 billion for the year, up about 5% from $3.56 billion in 2013. The fundamentals of the company look solid going into 2015.