Canadian Billionaire Prem Watsa’s Top Picks and New Bets for Current Quarter

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)

– Number of shares owned by Fairfax as of March 31: 1.36 Million

– Value of Fairfax’s holding as of March 31: $206.35 Million

There were 1.36 million shares of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) in Fairfax’s pool of public equity investments at the end of March, which were valued at $206.35 million. The IBM position, which did not undergo any adjustments in the first quarter, made up 12.4% of Fairfax’s portfolio. Just recently, analysts at Wells Fargo raised the price target on the iconic tech company to $150 from $135 and reiterated their ‘Market Perform’ rating on the company, after IBM allegedly started to clandestinely lay off thousands of employees amid a transition to the cloud. Wells Fargo analysts believe that the software and service company is “moving in the right direction” by reducing costs and channeling massive amounts of capital into the strategic shift from software and services to cloud computing. Although IBM’s headcount is said to be below 378,000 jobs at the moment versus a number of 434,000 in 2011, the company says there are 20,000 positions to be filled. IBM shares are 7% in the green for the year. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had 81.23 million shares of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) in its portfolio at the end of March.

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)

– Number of shares owned by Fairfax as of March 31: 46.72 Million

– Value of Fairfax’s holding as of March 31: $378.77 Million

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) was the largest equity holding within Mr. Watsa’s portfolio at the end of March, accounting for 22.8% of his firm’s portfolio. The 46.72 million-share position was valued at $378.77 million at the end of the March quarter. The Toronto-based firm initially acquired a stake in BlackBerry during the third quarter of 2010, but the Canadian smartphone maker has lost a great deal of value in the past several years. Precisely, BlackBerry has seen its market value plunge 82% in the past five years. Blackberry shares are not doing great this year either, as the stock is down 25% year-to-date. The Canadian handset giant was exceptional at making phones and dominated the market before Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released the iPhone. Although BlackBerry has been refocusing its business on the Enterprise Solutions and Services space, the company continues to be present in the smartphone and devices market and plans to release new smartphones by February next year. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC owned a 14.77 million-share position in BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) at the end of the first quarter.

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