Morgan Stanley, Ford, and More: George Soros’s New Stock Picks

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We maintain a database of 13F filings from hedge funds and other notable investors. By pooling these filings, which disclose many of a fund’s long equity positions as of the end of the most recent quarter, we can research investment strategies. For example, on average the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds earn an excess return of 18 percentage points per year (learn more about imitating hedge funds’ small cap picks. We can also compare filings for a selected filer over time. We took a look at George Soros’s most recent 13F (for the fourth quarter of 2012) and compared it to the one which he filed three months earlier. Read on for the five largest new positions and see more stock picks from George Soros.

The billionaire investor initiated a position of 4.1 million shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley has been struggling with profitability in recent quarters, and severely underperformed expectations at times. Fellow billionaire Dan Loeb’s Third Point was also buying Morgan Stanley last quarter, reporting a position of 7.8 million shares after not owning any of the stock at the end of September (find more stocks Loeb was buying). Wall Street analysts insist that the investment bank is a good value, with their expectations implying a forward P/E of 9 and a five-year PEG ratio of 0.6.

SOROS FUND MANAGEMENTCitrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS), a $13 billion market cap business software and services company, was another of Soros’s new stock picks. Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital increased its own stake in Citrix in the fourth quarter of 2012, to a total of 3.8 million shares. Citrix experienced a 20% increase in revenue last quarter compared to the same period in the previous year, but slimmer margins resulted in net income only rising 5%. With the stock priced for growth at a trailing earnings multiple of 38, performance would have to improve in order for it to be a worthwhile growth stock.

Find three more stocks Soros bought, including Ford:

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