Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX), CBS Corporation (CBS) and Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI) Pushed This Hedgie to 11.5% Q1 Returns

CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) occupied the third spot in Brahman Capital’s equity portfolio, with the position consisting of 8.64 million shares valued at $478.21 million. Shares of the entertainment and media company were up by 9.84% during the fourth quarter after a down 2014 in which shares slid by more than 10%. CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) made gains during the quarter partly on the finalization of the highly anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, which will be jointly broadcast by CBS’ Showtime, and HBO. The pay-per-view event could generate more than $300 million in revenue for the cable networks. Brahman had the greatest exposure to CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), while Eric W. Mandelblatt’s Soroban Capital Partners had the largest position at 13.37 million shares.

Brahman was also very bullish on Sirius XM Holdings Inc.(NASDAQ:SIRI) during the fourth quarter, raising its position by 40% to 109.29 million shares valued at $382.51 million. It was the second straight quarter the fund added heavily to its Sirius holding, after initiating it during the second quarter of 2014. Sirius XM Holdings Inc.(NASDAQ:SIRI) also enjoyed a strong quarter, gaining 9.14%, and has risen by 21.17% over the past six months. Short interest on Sirius has been increasing over the past few months however, as shares have appreciated. The funds in our database were also very cautious towards the stock during the fourth quarter, with fund ownership dipping to 35 from 46, and capital allocation declining to $1.61 billion from $1.83 billion. Billionaire Leon Cooperman was not one of those, as he increased his position in Sirius XM Holdings Inc.(NASDAQ:SIRI) by 1% during the quarter.

Commscope Holding Company Inc (NASDAQ:COMM) is the former small-cap stock mentioned in the opening, which has ballooned into a $5.58 billion company thnaks in part to a big first quarter in which returns came in at a meaty 25.01%. The first quarter surge was largely due to the network infrastructure provider’s purchase of TE Connectivity’s Network Solutions division for $3 billion in late January. Commscope Holding Company Inc (NASDAQ:COMM) has also outperformed earnings expectations for multiple quarters in a row, most recently posting fourth quarter 2014 non-GAAP adjusted earnings of $0.38 per share. Brahman’s position of 7.73 million shares valued at $176.42 million was the fund’s tenth-largest position, and the largest position in the stock by any fund in our database, followed closely by Maverick Capital’s new 7.06 million share position.

Disclosure: None