Vipshop Holdings Ltd – ADR (VIPS), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK) & Wells Fargo & Co (WFC): Horseman Capital’s Top Picks Heading Into Q2

Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) represents the fund’s third largest position, which comprises 11.98% of its equity portfolio, with 708,500 shares worth $38.5 million. For the fourth quarter of 2014, the year on year revenue increased by 4% to $21.4 billion. Net income for the same period surged to $5.38 billion, as compared to $5.37 billion in the same period of 2013. However, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) reported a year-on-year revenue decline of 1.5% to $21.3 billion for the first quarter of 2015. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is among the top shareholders of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), with 463.5 million shares valued at $25.4 billion, as of end of the fourth quarter of 2014. Other major stockholders are Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner with 18.5 million shares and 14.6 million shares respectively, for the same period.

Horseman’s stake in Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF), a diversified financial services holding company, amasses 10.2% of its equity portfolio. Horseman Capital holds 416,100 shares valued at $32.8 million, as of the end of the first quarter of 2015. Even though the fund increased its exposure in Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF) by 33% during the first three months of 2015, the company’s stock depreciated by 4.14%. In addition, for the first quarter, Capital One’s bad loan provisions increased to $935 million from $735 million, as compared to the same period a year earlier. Therefore, the company reported revenue of $5.65 billion and a net income of $2 per share, versus the estimates of $5.7 billion in revenue and EPS of $1.88. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital was among the shareholders bullish on Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF) at the end of last year, holding 2.7 million shares.

John Horseman decreased the fund’s exposure in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) by 75%, during the first quarter, holding 6,300 shares valued at $524,000. Accordingly, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA)’s stock depreciated by 19.92% during the first quarter of 2015, amid counterfeit issues and analyst downgrades. The Chinese e-commerce firm has been facing allegation from the US law firms and the Chinese government for selling counterfeit goods on its online platform.  Dan Loeb’s Third Point and Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management are among the major shareholders in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), holding 10.0 million shares and 9.3 million shares respectively, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2014.

Disclosure: none