Edinburgh Partners Continues To Trim Top Picks Amid 2015 Struggles

Edinburgh Partners reduced its investment in its second-largest equity holding, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), by 3% during the second quarter, with the investment manager holding 2.50 million shares valued at $111.18 million at the end of the period. During the second quarter, the shares of the tech giant witnessed growth of 8.6%. The Windows operating system company is focusing towards creating a Windows ecosystem while pulling itself out from other endeavors. The CEO of Microsoft Corporation, Satya Nadella, sent an email to his employees recently indicating more job cuts in the near future, with the expected figure being 7,800 and the majority of these job cuts target the phone division of the company. Along with these job cuts, the company will bear impairment charges of $7.6 billion in addition to a restructuring charge of $750 million to $850 million associated with the acquisition of Nokia’s device and service division. The shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are down by 1.79% year-to-date despite their strong second quarter. Jeffrey Ubben of ValueAct Capital was among the primary investors of the technology company, with an investment of $3.06 billion consisting of 75.27 million shares as of March 31.

PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE:PKI) is the top new stock pick of Mr. Nairn, who owned 1.76 million shares of the company, with a market value of $91.86 million at the end of the second quarter. The shares of the environmental and human health company are up by 15.74% in 2015 and gained 2.93% in the quarter ending June 30. PerkinElmer reported excellent first quarter financial results, with earnings per share of $0.50 against consensus estimates of $0.46 from ten analysts. Its revenue was lower than the expected revenue of $537 million however, as the company announced net revenue of $526.9 million. PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE:PKI) is expecting earnings per share of $2.54 to $2.60 for the current fiscal year. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates held a large position in the company of 2.74 million shares valued at $140.13 million on March 31.

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