A Look At Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Top Long-Term Stock Holdings

At the end of 2015, Bridgewater Associates held 819,846 shares of NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), up by 82% from the end of the third quarter. Dalio initiated this position during the third quarter of 2012, but the stock was in no hurry to go up, having traded mostly sideways since then. Analysts are not very optimistic about NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s future performance either as the company struggles to turn itself around. Macquarie recently downgraded the stock to ‘Underperform‘ from ‘Neutral’ and reduced its price target on it to $22 per share. In February, analysts at Piper Jaffray reiterated their ‘Neutral’ rating for NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) but lowered their price target on it to $25 per share from the previous target of $27 per share.

Dalio decided to reduce his exposure to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, a position his fund has held since the third quarter of 2013. Although the stock had been trading in a range since then, Dalio’s patience was finally rewarded when Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) entered a strong uptrend earlier this year. According to its latest 13F filing, Bridgewater Associates holds 423,665 Verizon shares, down by 26% over the quarter. The popularity of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) among elite hedge funds cooled during that quarter, with the number of funds reporting long positions having decreased to 52 from 59 as of the end of September. Billionaire Warren Buffett is also betting big on Verizon, with Berkshire Hathaway having reported ownership of a little over 15 million shares as of the end of December.

Last but not least is Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM), a stock Bridgewater Associates first bought in the beginning of 2012. Unfortunately for Dalio, the stock immediately headed south, losing more than half of its value by the end of 2015, when it bottomed out at approximately $16 per share. His belief that Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) is a good long-term investment remained firm, with Bridgewater indicating a 53% increase to its holding in the stock during the fourth quarter, to 957,569 shares as of December 31. Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) is currently trading at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 62.21, while analysts’ earnings expectations place a forward P/E ratio of 21.46 on the stock, suggesting that experts also expect bigger things to come, namely a significant increase in the company’s earnings within the next 21 months. The company’s next earnings report is due on April 20, after the market close, with investors looking for $1.85 billion in revenue and earnings of $0.18 per share.

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