Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX), a $63 billion pharmacy benefit management services company was another top pick of Beech Hill’s, landing in third. The position was decreased by 1% to 79,590 shares during the first quarter, those shares holding a value of $6.91 million. Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX) returned a modest 2.48% during Q1 and was down slightly in April. However a positive earnings report and the news today that the company could be a player for Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE:OCR), a pharmaceuticals provider, give Express’ stock a lot of potential heading into May. Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX) does have a number of very bullish investors, including John Shapiro’s Chieftain Capital, which had greater than 16% exposure to the stock in his equity portfolio at the end of 2014, with it being his top pick. Three other investors in our database also had exposure greater than 10%.
Beech Hill has positions in both Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Class A and Class C shares. Its position in Google’s Class A shares (GOOGL) amounted to 12,002 shares, down by 1% during the first quarter, that position having a value of $6.66 million. Those Class A shares gained 4.53% during Q1, but were down 1% in April after Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s quarterly results missed estimates (though shares initially spiked following the earnings release). Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been mentioned as a potential suitor for both Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) recently, with the latter the more likely of the two given the potential of the platform and its management’s struggles. Billionaires Ken Fisher and Andreas Halvorsen are among the other top investors with position in both Google’s Class A and Class C shares.
Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) was one of the most popular restaurant stocks among the funds in our database heading into 2015, and Beech Hill was one of the 38 funds bullish on it. Yum! Brands offered up a tasty financial treat for those investors in the first quarter, returning 8.67%. While Beech Hill inched its position downwards by 2% to 84,012 shares, it was still the fund’s fifth-most valuable position at $6.61 million. Though Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) missed on revenue expectations during its most recent earnings report due partly to weakness in China, where its operations have endured some controversy, it did beat earnings estimates, which contributed to an even stronger April for the stock, as it’s shot up by another 9.2%. Billionaires George Soros and Steven Cohen were among the other investors of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), both wisely initiating their positions just before the start of the year.
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