Hedge Fund JANA Partners’ Top Stock Picks Include Coca Cola Enterprises

The fund initiated a position of 6.1 million shares in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) last quarter. Copart is an online vehicle auction service with a market capitalization of $4.3 billion. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates was another major holder of the stock at the beginning of January (research more stocks Royce owns). Sales were up 17% last quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, though shrinking margins caused a decline in earnings. In addition, the stock is priced for future growth at 19 times consensus earnings for the fiscal year ending in July 2014.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE) was another of Rosenstein’s top picks with the 13F filing disclosing ownership of 5.2 million shares. This was up 10% from three months earlier. The European bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products suffered a 12% fall in net income in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous year, and the earnings multiples are above pure value levels so there may be better ways to invest in a European recovery. Oz Management owned 3.2 million shares at the end of December; that fund is managed by Daniel Och (see more stocks Och likes).

JANA’s fifth largest holding by market value was its 2.1 million shares of Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ:LINTA). SAC Capital Advisors, a large hedge fund managed by billionaire Steve Cohen, was also buying shares of Liberty in the fourth quarter of 2012 (check out more stocks SAC was buying). The company engages in televised shopping programs and e-commerce. At a market capitalization of a little over $11 billion, Liberty Interactive is valued at 20 times its trailing earnings and 15 times expectations for the current year.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.