A Look At Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Top New Bets

Mr. Cohen’s fund initiated a new position of 4.26 million shares in Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), worth $79.58 million. The provider of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display and solar photovoltaic (PV) industries has seen its shares slid by 24% over the past 12 months. The company’s new orders for fiscal 2015 increased by 5% year-on-year due to higher demand for semiconductor equipment, semiconductor spares and services, which was somewhat offset by weaker demand for display and solar equipment. Earlier this month, the California-based company reported its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 ended January 31, which were very well received by the market. More importantly, Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s management said it anticipates sequential net sales growth in the range of 5%-10% for its second fiscal quarter. The shares of Applied Materials are trading at around 11.5 times forward fiscal 2017 earnings, below the multiple of 12.6 for the Semiconductor Equipment industry. The number of hedge funds among those we track with stakes in the company dropped to 41 from 54 during the fourth quarter. Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital disclosed owning 8.24 million shares of Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in its latest 13F filing.

Point72 Asset Management also acquired a new stake of 1.99 million shares in PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF), which was valued at $73.08 million at the end of 2015. The shares of the petroleum refiner are down 19% year-to-date, presumably because of fast-mounting gasoline supplies in the United States. A recent article posted by Bloomberg said that refiners’ profit per barrel from refining West Texas Intermediate crude into gasoline and diesel dropped to as low as $2.14 in the Mid-Continent. However, the Dated Brent (NYH) 2-1-1 industry crack, which is a benchmark for industry refining margin, was approximately $16.35 per barrel for 2015, higher than the $12.92 per barrel in 2014. PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF)’s gross refining margin totaled $2.82 per barrel of throughput in the fourth quarter of 2015. PBF Energy has three refineries, which are located in Ohio, Delaware and New Jersey.  The company’s operating income, excluding special items, for 2015 totaled $787.3 million, down from $837.8 million for 2014. Among the funds we track, 25 investors had stakes in the company at the end of December and accumulated nearly 30% of its outstanding shares. Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group owned 11.03 million shares of PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) at the end of last year.

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