Apple Inc. (AAPL), Alibaba, Amazon & More: Tiger Cubs Like These Stocks

Julian Robertson started Tiger Management in 1980 and it was one of the biggest hedge funds in the world by 1998. However, Julian Robertson closed his fund in 2000 and invested his own capital to seed a number of hedge funds. Several of his former employees also started their own hedge funds and became extremely successful. These hedge fund managers were known as “Tiger Cubs” and currently run some of the biggest asset management firms today. Among the most notorious Tiger Cubs are Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital. Most of these hedge fund managers follow the same long/short equity strategy used by Julian Robertson.

We have selected five stocks: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Visa Inc (NYSE:V). Each one of these stocks had at least four of the six aforementioned Tiger Cubs holding shares heading into the fourth quarter. Let’s take a closer look at how these investors traded the stocks during the third quarter and what is the general smart money sentiment towards them.

We follow over 700 hedge funds and other institutional investors and by analyzing their quarterly 13F filings, we identify stocks that they are collectively bullish on and develop investment strategies based on this data. One strategy that outperformed the market over the last year involves selecting the 100 best-performing funds and identifying the 30 mid-cap stocks that they are collectively the most bullish on. Over the past year, this strategy generated returns of 18%, topping the 8% gain registered by S&P 500 ETFs.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) was the new favorite among Tiger Cubs with four of them initiating a new position in the stock during the third quarter. It was the fifth largest holding of Tiger Global Management, which initiated a stake containing 5.37 million shares worth $568 million during the third quarter. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital also added the company to its 13F portfolio and held 5.15 million shares valued at $544 million. Coatue Management initiated a new stake by acquiring 2.78 million shares worth $294 million. The stock has advanced by nearly 11% since the beginning of the year. Jack Ma’s company is gaining ground in China owing to a large internet population. Its recent partnership with DreamWorks and Amblin Partners will grant this e-commerce giant the exclusivity to various movie franchises in China. Overall, the hedge fund interest towards Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) went up during the third quarter with the number of funds tracked by us long the stock jumping by 35 to 104 funds that amassed $8.26 billion worth of stock in aggregate at the end of September.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) remained a hot favorite between the Tiger Cubs, being amongst the five largest holdings of four of these funds during the third quarter. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the top holding of Viking Global, which held 2.9 million shares worth $2.45 billion held at the end of the quarter. It ranked second in Tiger Global Management’s 13F portfolio, with the fund holding 1.34 million shares worth $1.12 billion. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital cut its stake by 351,140 shares to 1.29 million shares worth $1.08 billion, while Blue Ridge Capital bought 64,900 shares and reported ownership of 407,900 shares worth $341,539 as of the end of September. In addition, Coatue Management also held 297,090 shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) worth $248 million at the end of September. The stock has cheered investors by returning more than 15% in the last year. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was included in 13F portfolios of 150 funds that we track at Insider Monkey at the end of the third quarter, up from 145 at the end of June.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) found a place in the 13F portfolios of five Tiger Cubs. It represented the second-largest holding and a new position for Coatue Management, which amassed 6.5 million shares worth $735 million at the end of September. Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management boosted its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.22 million to 3.6 million shares worth $407 million, while Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital increased its stake by 1.98 million shares to 1.99 million shares valued at $225 million. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global initiated a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the third quarter, having acquired 247,264 shares worth $27.95 million. According to our records, 145 funds held shares of Apple worth $16.22 billion at the end of the third quarter, compared to 116 funds holding $10.67 billion worth of stock a quarter earlier.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was a hot favorite among the Tiger Cubs with all of them holding class C shares of the company. It became the sixth largest holding of Coatue Management with the fund buying 58,474 shares during the third quarter and holding 585,709 shares worth $455 million at the end of September. In the equity portfolios of Viking Global and Tiger Global Management, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the seventh largest holding, which contained 1.07 million shares worth $832 million and 283,877 shares worth $220 million, respectively. Maverick Capital and Lone Pine Capital also held 299,535 shares and 843,449 shares in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), respectively. Analysts are bullish on the stock, which has an average ‘Buy’ rating. The number of hedge funds from our database long Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s class C stock increased by eight to 134 and the total value of their holdings surged by 18.6% to $14.22 billion during the third quarter.

Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was a new addition to Tiger Global Management’s and Viking Global’s portfolio during the third quarter. While Tiger Global bought 599,800 shares worth $49 million, Viking Global held 577,552 shares valued at $47.7 million at the end of September. However Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital was less bullish on Visa Inc (NYSE:V) with the fund reducing its holding by 67% to 2.33 million shares worth $193 million. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was also represented in Blue Ridge’s equity portfolio by a holding containing 2.4 million shares worth $198.9 million. Though the number of funds tracked by us long Visa Inc (NYSE:V) inched down to 115 from 118, the value of their holdings advanced by 10% to $10.26 billion between July and September.

Disclosure: None