Billionaire Howard Marks’ Top Stock Picks For 2016

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND)

– Shares Owned by Oaktree as of December 31: 4.42 Million

– Value of Holding as of December 31: $ 170.42 Million

Although Oaktree’s stake in Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) remained unchanged during the fourth quarter, it climbed five spots in the fund’s list – in terms of value, as the stock gained 24.92% between October and December. Another fund that profited from this increase was Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which held 318,348 shares of the company at the end of the fourth quarter. For the quarter ended January 29, analysts expect Diamond Foods to deliver adjusted earnings of $0.35 per share on $231.30 million in revenue. Since the beginning of 2016, the stock inched down by 6.5% and is trading at 26.5 times forward earnings.

Ally Financial Inc (NYSE:ALLY)

– Shares Owned by Oaktree as of December 31: 8.63 Million

– Value of Holding as of December 31: $ 160.87 Million

Ally Financial Inc (NYSE:ALLY) also escalated a few spots in Oaktree’s list, even though the firm’s stake remained unmodified in relation to the third quarter and the stock lost 8.54% over the fourth quarter. Even more optimistic on the company was Richard Perry’s Perry Corp, which also maintained its stake at 22.6 million shares, unchanged over the fourth quarter. A couple of weeks ago, Ally posted fourth-quarter EPS of $0.52, $0.01 above the consensus estimate on revenue of $995 million, which was $315 million below the Street’s expectations.

First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP)

– Shares Owned by Oaktree as of December 31: 41.84 Million

– Value of Holding as of December 31: $ 135.99 Million

Finally, there’s First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP), which also counts with the support of Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors, which disclosed ownership of 5.67 million shares as of December 31, down from 6.55 million shares by September 30. The company recently has announced EPS of $0.07 for the fourth quarter, compared to estimates of $0.09, while its revenue of $125.21 million missed the expectations by $1.6 million.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.