Despite Weak Q3 Performance, You Should Follow Ken Fisher’s Favorite Picks

Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was another winning pick for Fisher during the third quarter, as the stock appreciated by 3.9%. The investor held 14.54 million shares valued at $977 million, which put it on the eighth spot of its portfolio. Aside from Fisher, 13 other billionaire investors were bullish on Visa Inc (NYSE:V) heading into the third quarter, including Warren Buffett, Stephen Mandel and Ken Griffin. They were right to hold that sentiment, as the stock is currently 15% in the green year-to-date, surpassing the credit services industry by over 12 percentage points. Earlier this month, both Guggenheim and Cowen and Company initiated coverage on Visa Inc (NYSE:V), with ‘Buy’ and ‘Outperform’ ratings, respectively, while Guggenheim set a price target of $85.00 per share.

In Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), Fisher reported a stake of 8.45 million shares as of the end of June, while the stock lost 9.9% during the following quarter. Despite the decline in August, the company is optimistic about its future performance as it took advantage of the dip to buy back over $2.0 billion worth of stock. Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) has a diversified portfolio of businesses, collecting profits from theme parks, toy licensing, TV advertising, and more. However, hedge funds are collectively cautious towards Walt Disney, as only 60 funds reported stakes as of the end of June with an aggregate value equal to just 2.30% of the company’s outstanding stock. Fisher was also the top shareholder of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) in our database, followed by Lansdowne Partners with a stake of 8.32 million shares.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranked on the 16th spot in Fisher’s equity portfolio, the fund holding a stake of 17.99 million shares. The stock remained flat during the third quarter, inching up by 0.9% during the period. The stock has advanced by another 10% since the beginning of the month however, as investors are excited about how well the company’s Windows 10 OS has been received by consumers and the selling out of its new Surface Book laptop, among other news. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock also sports a dividend yield of 3.03%, which allowed it to be ranked among the favorite dividend picks of billionaire investors (see the full list), and trades at some 14.7 times forward earnings, slightly below the S&P 500 average. Jeff Ubben’s ValueAct capital is the largest shareholder of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) among the funds from our database, with a stake of 75.27 million shares.

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