Boyd Watterson Resolutes on Top Stock Picks for This Quarter

#3 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

– Shares Owned by Boyd Watterson (as of March 31): 33,500

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $3.62 Million

Boyd Watterson reduced its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 20% during the March quarter. Shares of the $306 billion healthcare company have gained around 10% so far this year, outperforming the pharmaceutical industry. The conglomerate has beaten EPS estimates for the last 13 quarters, but that doesn’t mean that its path forward is hurdle-free. The conglomerate’s Invokana, which treats type 2 diabetes is facing declining sales and the competition is about to get stiffer with Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s superior drug Jardiance, which was approved by FDA last August. Furthermore, the company’s blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Remicade is going to be under fire from Celltrion’s biosimilar. Fisher Asset Management upped its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1% to 10.85 million shares during the first quarter.

#2 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

– Shares Owned by Boyd Watterson (as of March 31): 40,800

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $4.44 Million

The 2.11% rise in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price during the first quarter might have worked well for Watterson, since it raised its stake in the tech giant by 5% during the same period. However, the stock has declined by over 13% year-to-date amid disappointing results for its fiscal second quarter, which included EPS of $1.90 on revenue of $50.56 billion, versus estimates of $2.00 and $51.97 billion. The revenue slid by 13% on the year, which marked the first decline since 2003. The number of iPhone shipments was better than expected, but also declined year-on-year. Recently, activist billionaire Carl Icahn said he dumped his stake in Apple.

#1 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

– Shares Owned by Boyd Watterson (as of March 31): 90,700

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $5.0 Million

Watterson inched up its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1% during the first three months of 2016. The $449 billion Redmond-based company recently sued the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with the government-sponsored cloud data searches, about which they wanted Microsoft to keep silent and not notify users whose data had been shared. The company is on its way to making a transition to the cloud and the current cloud run rate stands at about $9.4 million, showing a 71 year-on-year growth, while it is expected that in 2018 the run rate will reach $20 billion. Jeffrey Ubben‘s ValueAct Capital held about 56.62 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of 2015.

Disclosure: None