Billionaire Eric Sprott Betting on Healthcare; Apple Inc. (AAPL) Among Top Holdings

#2. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

– Number of shares held by Sprott as of March 31: 445,955

– Value of Sprott’s holding as of March 31: $48.61 Million

Mr. Sprott’s investment firm reduced its exposure to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13,290 shares during the first quarter of 2016, ending the three-month period with 445,955 shares valued at $48.61 million. Sprott also acquired ‘Put’ options with respect to 355,500 Apple shares during the quarter. The iPhone maker will release its second-quarter earnings report on April 26, a day later than previously scheduled, as revealed on the company’s website. The earnings announcement has been rescheduled due to a memorial service for Silicon Valley’s beloved Bill Campbell. The much-awaited earnings report will be particularly interesting for the investment community considering that Apple recently revealed the iPhone SE, which is expected to add approximately $6.8 billion to the company’s top-line figure for the current calendar year. The earnings report will also shed some light on Apple’s services businesses, which are expected to account for 29% of the company’s gross profit by the end of 2020, versus the current portion of only 15%. Apple shares are 1% in the green thus far in 2016, but they have declined 18% in the past 12 months. Charles Paquelet’s Skylands Capital reported ownership of 349,365 shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) through the latest round of 13Fs.

#1. Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT)

– Number of shares held by Sprott as of March 31: 727,900

– Value of Sprott’s holding as of March 31: $54.59 Million

Toronto-based Sprott Asset Management acquired a new stake of 727,900 shares of Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) during the first three months of this year, which were aggregately worth $54.59 million on March 31. This was the largest equity holding of Sprott at the end of March, accounting for 4.28% of the fund’s equity portfolio. Similarly, the investment firm also purchased put options on 435,400 shares, which were most probably purchased to protect the investment firm from a possible downturn in equity markets. The Ireland-based medical device maker, which completed an inversion move by acquiring Covidien for a total consideration of $50 billion in early 2015, has seen its shares gain 2% year-to-date. Despite benefiting from a lower tax rate of only 12.5% and implementing cost cutting efforts in connection with the inversion deal, the shares of Medtronic have not performed quite well since the completion of the deal. The company plans to achieve at least $850 million in annual pre-tax cost savings by the end 2018. Barry Dargan’s Intermede Investment Partners owns 483,089 shares of Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) as of the end of the March quarter.

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