Billionaire Richard Chilton’s Top Picks Are Already Hitting All-Time Highs

#2 Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 1.11 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $128.37 million

Chilton Investment was extremely bullish on the home improvement retailer’s prospects, as it bumped its stake in the company by 21% during the July-to-September quarter. The move has served the fund well, as the stock is currently trading at an all-time high after posting 28.3% gains this year. While the improvement in the housing market helped Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) beat both the top and bottom line estimates in its financial results for the third quarter, its management’s strategy to focus on online sales and margin expansion were also vital components of its strong quarterly performance. Digital sales rose by 25% year-over-year during the last trimester and now comprise 5.1% of the company’s top line. Operating margin jumped by two percentage points to 14%, which compares extremely favorably to its main competitors Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) having respective operating margins of about 9% and 7.5%. Fisher Asset Management, which is led by billionaire Ken Fisher, owned about 8.38 million shares of Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) at the end of September.

#1 W. R. Grace & Co (NYSE:GRA)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 1.95 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $181.58 million

A total of about 2,500 shares were added to Chilton’s W. R. Grace & Co (NYSE:GRA) position during the third trimester. The $6.87 billion specialty chemicals company has seen its stock rise by 2.55% so far this year, which is much better than the 2.43% losses posted by the chemicals industry during the same period. While W. R. Grace & Co (NYSE:GRA)’s third quarter EPS of $1.37 beat estimates by $0.17, its quarterly revenue of $790.1 million missed the expected mark by $10.8 million. David Cohen and Harold Levy‘s Iridian Asset Management is another large stockholder of W. R. Grace & Co (NYSE:GRA), as it owned some 6.34 million shares of the company at the end of the last quarter.

Disclosure: None