How Did Bill Gates’ Portfolio Handle the Recent Market Turmoil?

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)‘s stock dropped between July and September as the company faces issues in the mining and energy segments. Caterpillar has recently embarked on a cost-cutting plan, which involves laying off around 10,000 employees in the next two years. This confirms the words of famous short-seller Jim Chanos, who explained back in January why he was shorting the stock (see the details).  However, the decline of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and the weak confidence of his peers seems to not affect Mr. Larson’s position regarding Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) as the Trust disclosed an unchanged position of 11.26 million shares in its latest 13F filing.

Then there is Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM), in which the Trust owns 18.63 million shares. This was the only stock that gained ground during the third quarter among Mr. Larson’s top five picks and it ended the quarter around 8.3% in the green. Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)’s stock has also edged up by 3% since the beginning of the year, but it is still under the radars of most funds from our database. Only 31 of them reported long positions as of the end of June, which represented around 6% of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)’s shares in aggregate.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is a completely different story, because even though the stock fell by only 8% during the third quarter, its slump of over 9% registered yesterday and the most probable consequent declines will be severely affecting the Trust’s returns at least in the short-term, assuming that Mr. Larson sticks to the position, which he most likely will do. The stock fell yesterday after the company said that its revenue will remain flat for the fiscal year 2016. The news has disappointed many investors that have been bullish on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), such as funds managed by billionaire quants like AQR Capital and Renaissance Technologies, which are among the top ten hedge fund holders of the stock. Warren Buffett has also been betting on the company for many years and is one of the largest shareholders of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) to this day.

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