Apple Inc. (AAPL), Micron Technology, Inc. (MU), Time Warner Inc (TWX): Big Winners and Top Picks for David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital

Acquiring 4.46 million shares of Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) is another venture that Greenlight embarked on in its fourth quarter. Forming nearly 2% of the fund’s portfolio value, Greenlight believes that Keysight was the main cash flow source for Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A), from which it was spun off in November. The tech company’s prospects were summarised in the investor letter as follows:

We expect that as an independent company starting with an almost unlevered balance sheet, KEYS will have the flexibility to invest in unexploited growth initiatives and make better R&D and capital allocation decisions. We believe the Street doesn’t fully appreciate KEYS’ prospects. We purchased our position at an average price of $30.54, or about 12x near-term EPS, which doesn’t yet benefit from the investment spend.

Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) ended the year at $33.77 and has soared another 9.19% year-to-date, to $36.49, nearly a 20% return for Greenlight thus far. Keysight has announced a number of new technology products in recent days, including the Keysight IntegraVision power analyzer for use by R&D engineers in designing and testing electronic power conversion systems, two new FieldFox handheld analyzers, and a Satellite Signal Monitoring Reference Solution for engineers to quickly validate the potential integrity of a satellite signal.

Lastly, Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) remains Einhorn’s top pick at the close of the year. Einhorn increased his position in Micron by 2% during the quarter, to 31.26 million shares. That position was worth $1.09 billion at the close of 2014, 14.54% of his fund’s $7.52 billion equity portfolio. This position, which was initiated in the fourth quarter of 2013 and was 47.7 million shares strong at the time, was a big winner for Einhorn in 2014. Shares rose 64.5% for the year, and Einhorn took profit from the position by selling off just over 33% of it throughout 2014.

However, Seth Klarman‘s Baupost Group cut its stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), once by far its largest, by 62% during the fourth quarter, selling off 31.95 million shares, and there is reason to believe Micron may have peaked, as there are fears that some of its technologies like 3D NAND are falling behind the curve, and that Samsung will depreciate memory chip values with a flood of excess supplies. Shares are down 9.03% year-to-date, partially on lower forecasted DRAM and NAND output in 2015.

Disclosure: None