Here’s What Greenlight’s David Einhorn Has Bought and Sold: Seagate Technology PLC (STX) and More

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GREENLIGHT CAPITALEvery quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let’s look at highly regarded value investor David Einhorn and Greenlight Capital, which he founded. Einhorn’s investing success and his advocacy of financial transparency and accountability have attracted many fans. Although he isn’t afraid to short stocks, he prefers going long and looks for situations where he feels a stock is mispriced.

The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $6.4 billion  in value as of Dec. 31, 2012.

Interesting developments
So what does Greenlight’s latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:

The biggest new holdings are calls on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). Other new holdings of interest include Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC). The U.K.-based telecom giant Vodafone has bulls excited about the projected growth of 4G technology, its Smart II low-cost, mass-market smartphone, and its entry into the promising mobile payments market. Others are wary of uncertainty. The company is huge, with more than 400 million customers, and its 45% interest in Verizon Wireless is a big plus, generating billions in cash.

Western Digital, along with Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX), controls about 90% of the hard-disk drive market. While Greenlight bought into Western Digital, though, it reduced its stake in Seagate. My colleague Jim Mueller is bullish on the industry, despite worries about a shrinking PC market, because he sees massive and growing need for storage and points out that hard-disk drives are inexpensive solutions for that. Both companies are growing, but Western Digital has been posting stronger numbers, including more than half a billion dollars in free cash flow in its last quarter. Seagate has nearly quadrupled its dividend over the past five years, and recently yielded 4.4% vs. Western Digital’s 2.1%.

Among holdings in which Greenlight increased its stake was Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL). The company’s stock seems cheap these days, with the company whacked by weak PC sales. Its potential to profit from the growth of cloud computing is promising, as is its new processor for low-cost smartphones and tablets is a fast-growing part of the online market. In the meantime, there’s a new dividend, recently yielding 2.6%, as well as stock repurchases .

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