Apple Inc. (AAPL), Priceline.com Inc (PCLN): Massive Hedge Fund Tiger Global Is Long

The fund has consistently liked Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) for the past couple years, disclosing ownership of about 670,000 shares as of the end of December. Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) is another stock dependent on growth, with trailing and forward P/Es of 24 and 19 respectively. The credit card company’s numbers have been decent, with net income up 12% last quarter compared to the first quarter of 2012, though it would have to continue at that rate for some time in order to justify the current valuation. Viking Global, managed by billionaire Andreas Halvorsen, was another major shareholder in Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) (research more stocks Viking owns).

According to the 13F, Tiger Global more than doubled the size of its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) between October and December to a total of 1.2 million shares. Talk about a growth stock: Amazon is actually unprofitable on a trailing basis, but its market cap is $120 billion as the market expects the company to eventually convert its large and growing revenue into earnings. We’d still think that it’s a bit too speculative for us to recommend investing in. Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management owned 2.4 million shares of Amazon at the beginning of 2013 (see Fisher’s favorite stocks).

Tiger Global included Visa Inc (NYSE:V) along with Mastercard as credit card stocks of which it has been a long term shareholder. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) has risen 53% in the last year, more than doubling the performance of the S&P 500, though this has led to it being valued at a premium to its best known peer; it currently trades at 21 times forward earnings estimates. Net income was down a bit in the first quarter of 2013 versus a year earlier despite a 15% rise in revenue. Discovery Capital Management, which is run by fellow Tiger Cub Rob Citrone, owned 2.2 million shares.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.