Billionaire Chris Hohn’s Top Picks: Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC), Moody’s Corporation (MCO), Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (AMBC)

Chris Hohn’s Childrens Investment Fund Management has filed its 13F with the SEC for the period ending of March 31. The investment firm is known to donate a certain percentage of its profits to causes supporting the welfare of children in various developing countries, which is from where its name derives. Childrens Investment Fund Management has a concentrated portfolio with only four stocks, which have a market value of $2.75 billion. Of those, the firm’s three primary investments are in Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC), Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO), and Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC).

Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com

Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com

Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) is the largest stock investment of Hohn, who owns 15.02 million shares of the TV services provider, with a market value of $2.25 billion. The holding accounts for a grand 81.71% of the overall equity portfolio of the investment manager. The shares of Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) have grown 1.84% year-to-date, lifting its market cap to $44.20 billion. The big news surrounding the company is the decision by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to abandon its attempt to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) for $45 billion. According to experts, regulatory approval was a primary concern, which ultimately lead to the end of the deal. In separate news concerning Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is in talks with banks to offer a new acquisition bid of its own to acquire the cable company. Time Warner rejected a bid of $132.50 per share from Charter in January 2014 and demanded $160, with $100 of that sum in cash. Hohn holds the largest investment in Time Warner Cable among the funds we track followed by John Paulson‘s Paulson & Co. He also, interestingly enough, opened a small position in Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) during the first quarter, the only one of his four positions we will not otherwise cover in this article.

Moving on, Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) comes at number two in the equity portfolio of Childrens Investment Fund Management. The firm owns 4.37 million shares of the credit ratings firm, with a market value of $453.28 million. The shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have grown 13.16% year-to-date and the company has current a market cap of $22.24 billion. The credit research and analytics service provider reported better-than-expected quarterly results for the period ending on March 31. Moody’s Corporation reported net revenue of $865.6 million along with $1.11 earnings per share for the reporting period. The market was expecting quarterly revenue of $832.49 million along with earnings per share of $1.05. Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway, Akre Capital Management, and D E Shaw hold large positions in the credit rating company.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC) is the third-largest stock pick of Hohn, who holds 1.96 million shares of the surety insurance firm with a market value of $48.05 million. The shares of Ambac Financial Group have grown 2.52% year-to-date and it has a current market cap of $1.14 billion. The financial group operates through multiple subsidiaries including Ambac Assurance Corporation, Ambac Assurance UK Limited, and Everspan Financial Guarantee Corporation. Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC) announced its quarterly financial results last week, posting net income of $214.7 million or $4.57 per diluted share, which was lower than the net income of $453.6 million quarter over quarter. Centerbridge Partners, Canyon Capital Advisors, and Fir Tree are among the shareholders of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC) whom we track.

Childrens Investment Fund Management is just one of more than 700 hedge funds that we have in our database, whose equity portfolios we collate quarterly as part of our small-cap strategy. Even though most smaller investors believe that tracking 13F filings is a fruitless endeavor because they are filed with a delay of a maximum of 45 days after the end of a calendar quarter, the results of our research prove that is not the case. To be on the safe side, we used a delay of 60 days in our backtests that involved the 13F filings of funds between 1999 and 2012 and we still managed to gain an annual alpha in the double digits. Moreover, since the official launch of our strategy in August 2012, our small-cap strategy has obtained returns of more than 137%, beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by 82 percentage points (see the details).

Disclosure: None