Billionaire George Soros’ Latest Move Involves Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (CY); His Holdings Return -2.2% in Q2

Billionaire George Soros’ Soros Fund Management has filed a 13G disclosing an increase of its stake in Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) by 4.45 million shares to 17.67 million shares. Following the increase, the investor’s stake amasses 5.32% of the company’s outstanding common stock.

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) is an American semiconductor design and manufacturing company that delivers high-performance, high-quality solutions at the heart of today’s most advanced embedded systems, from automotive, industrial and networking platforms to highly interactive consumer and mobile devices. The shares of Cypress have dropped by over 17% since the beginning of the current year and it seems that the stock have already hit its bottom. Cypress has been involved in months-long bidding war attempting to acquire the chip maker Integrated Silicon Solution (NASDAQ:ISSI), but failed to secure this deal. Although Cypress intended to strengthen its positon in the automotive chip market through this acquisition and failed in doing so, the company remains competitive in capitalizing on automotive trends. The revenues generated from the industrial and automotive segment represented 51% of the company’s total first-quarter revenues, which indicates that Cypress is successfully moving away from the mobile market towards other industries. As stated by our database, Matthew Sidman’s Three Bays Capital represents the second largest investor in Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:CY) with 8.23 million shares.

George Soros

Soros Fund Management is a privately held investment management firm established by George Soros, one of the world’s best known hedge fund managers, in 1969. George Soros, famous for “breaking the Bank of England”, announced his retirement at the end of 2011 and does not participate in the daily operations of the fund, but still remains involved in the fund’s decisions and bets. Soros Fund Management is currently managed by its Chief Investment Officer, Scott Bessent, who seems to perfectly replicate Soros’ moves with the short bet on the yen at the beginning of 2013. Soros Fund Management is considered one of the most profitable firms in the hedge fund industry, generating an average annualized return of 20% since its inception until 2010.

Soros Fund Management’s flagship fund, the Quantum fund, delivered the strongest return among its peers in 2013 and its best return since 2009, collecting around $5.5 billion from its return of roughly 22%. However, Soros Fund Management struggled to deliver best-in-class returns during the second quarter of this year. However, the fund’s 156 long positions in stocks with a market capitalization of over $1 billion returned negative 2.2% during the quarter, yielding a return of 1.7% year-to-date. Among the largest holdings that contributed to this performance are Soros’ stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) and Endo International plc (NASDAQ:ENDP).

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Soros Fund Management increased its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 44,604 shares, ending the first quarter with 4.44 million shares valued at $369.97 million. The shares of Alibaba have decreased by 22% year-to-date and lost 1.2% in the second quarter alone. Alibaba has recently announced its plans of launching its video streaming service, Tmall Box Office, in China. The company intends to unlock new revenue streams by penetrating the China’s booming online video market, which has grown at a rate of over 60% year-over-year throughout the recent quarters. Within our database, Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management is the largest shareholder in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) with 8.77 million shares.

Soros also cut its stake in The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) by 554,353 shares to 4.63 million shares valued at $222.12 million. The stock has grown by 12% since the beginning of the year and might keep rising amid the strong petrochemical market. During the second quarter, Dow Chemical’s stock generated a return of 7.5%. At the beginning of June, Credit Suisse increased the second quarter earnings estimates for Dow Chemical to $0.85 per share from $0.74. The full-year earnings estimates were also raised to $3.28 per share from $3.14. Meanwhile, the price target was maintained at $57. From the pool of over 700 hedge funds that we observe, Dan Loeb’s Third Point holds the largest position in The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) with 22 million shares.

Soros Fund Management raised its stake in Endo International plc (NASDAQ:ENDP) by 27% on the quarter to 2.22 million shares valued at $198.88 million at the end of March. The shares of Endo are up by 15% since the beginning of 2015, but lost 11.2% during the April – June period. On May 18, Endo announced its acquisition of the privately-held Par Pharmaceutical Holdings for $8.05 billion. This deal is expected to enhance the long-term double-digit revenue growth of the company, so there is strong upside for Endo in the future. Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management is among the largest shareholders of Endo International plc (NASDAQ:ENDP), owning 5.18 million shares.

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