Billionaire Stephen Mandel’s Turns Bearish on Consumer Stocks; Gets More Bullish on Tech

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Lone Pine Capital was started in 1997 by “Tiger Cub” Stephen Mandelwho is regarded as one of the most successful hedge fund managers in recent times with Lone Pine Capital ranking among the largest hedge funds in the world. His fund has a stellar track record of significantly outperforming the broader markets. However, Lone Pine Capital LLC was down by 2%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In its latest 13F filing, Lone Pine Capital reported an equity portfolio worth around $19.2 billion, down from $22.40 billion a quarter earlier. The top ten holdings constituted almost 45% of its total 13F portfolio. During the fourth quarter, Stephen Mandel’s fund  acquired stakes in seven stocks and closed six positions. In this article, we are going to take a closer look at some of Lone Pine’s largest moves from the fourth quarter.

For further reading, don’t miss our list of the 140 biggest activist hedge funds.

Lone Pine Capital 2015 Q2 Investor Letter

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Lone Pine Capital added 3.35 million shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) to its equity portfolio during the fourth quarter and held 20.64 million shares worth $745 million at the end of December. On the other hand, Daniel Och’s OZ Management sold 3.19 million shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) having reduced its total holding to 7.41 million shares. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) recently has hired Tim Kilpin, a former employee of Mattel and Disney, in a move should enhance audience engagement of the $34 billion entertainment powerhouse. In addition, the company also announced the launch of a newly created Consumer Products division, which will enable Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) to expand its platforms through which it offers its franchises to audiences. The company reported an online player community of 50 million for 2016, up by 3% on the year. While the number of funds that we track long Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) decreased by three to 61 during the last quarter, the value of their holdings declined by 34.5% to $2.77 billion.

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Lone Pine Capital cut its stake in Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) by 6.07 million shares to 9.31 million shares worth $719 million. Another fund that cut its exposure to the stock was Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, which sold 302,106 shares and held 1.91 million shares at the end of December. Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) operates more than 14,000 stores across 48 states and five provinces in Canada under Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree Canada brands. The stock has underperformed the market by gaining just 3% over the last year.  For full fiscal 2016, the company expects to report revenue between $20.67 billion and $20.77 billion, while earnings per share are projected at $3.67 to $3.76. The number of funds from our database long Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) in their portfolios inched up by to to 65 during the October-December period.

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