Billionaire Stephen Mandel Ditches PayPal for eBay, Priceline for Expedia

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Mandel’s fund trimmed its stake in Priceline Group Inc. (NASDAQ:PCLN) by 48% in the third quarter to 574,683 shares, good for a value of $845.6 million. Although Priceline is a great company, some bears fear the strong U.S. dollar could hurt the company’s profit overseas. Priceline could also face increasing eventual competition from AirBNB in the future. Despite the factors, shares of the company are up 19.77% year-to-date. 98 top funds had a bullish position in Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) at the end of September, up 13 funds from the previous quarter.

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Although Lone Pine cut its stake in Priceline, the fund is apparently not adverse to investing in travel related online stocks. The elite fund initiated a 7.14 million share position in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) during the third quarter, giving it a value of over $833 million and accounting for around 3.72% of the fund’s 13F  portfolio. James Lee of CLSA recently intiated coverage on the stock with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a $145 price target. The number of elite funds with holdings in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) fell by 5 quarter-over-quarter to 62 at the end of September.

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Last but not least, Lone Pine raised its stake in gaming giant Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) by 142% from June through September to 8.619 million shares, good for a market value of over $736 million at the end of Q3. EA shares have had a decent 2016, rising 13.4% year-to-date. Shares trade for a reasonable 18.7 times forward earnings estimates. 61 elite funds had a bullish position in Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) at the end of the third quarter, up 3 funds from the previous quarter.

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DISCLOSURE – NONE

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