First Eagle Investment Management’s Top Stock Picks This Quarter; Oracle Corp Leads the Pack

#2. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

– Number of shares held by First Eagle as of March 31: 25.83 Million

– Value of First Eagle’s holding as of March 31: $1.56 Billion

The multi-billion-dollar asset manager increased its stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.78 million shares during the first quarter of this year to 25.83 million shares, which were valued at $1.56 billion at the end of March. At the end of April, Comcast Corporation agreed to acquire Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc. (NASDAQ:DWA) at a price of $41 in cash for each share of DreamWorks. The soon-to-be completed acquisition is set to expand the reach of Comcast’s NBCUniveral by leveraging the kids and family entertainment space of DreamWorks Animation. The deal is also expected to deliver cost synergies through overhead reductions, as well as lower costs associated with film distribution channels. Shares of Comcast are up 8% since the beginning of 2016 and currently change hands at a forward PE multiple of 15.7, versus the forward PE ratio of 18.0 for the Nasdaq 100 Index. Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management owns 2.20 million shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) as of the end of the March quarter.

#1. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

– Number of shares held by First Eagle as of March 31: 39.80 Million

– Value of First Eagle’s holding as of March 31: $1.63 Billion

First Eagle owned 39.80 million shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) on March 31, representing an increase of 403,425 shares quarter-on-quarter. The $1.63 billion-position constituted 4.14% of the asset manager’s equity portfolio at the end of March. Just recently, Oracle announced that it had agreed to acquire utilities cloud-services provider Opower Inc. (NYSE:OPWR), which would create the largest provider of cloud services to utilities. Under the terms of the agreement, Opower shareholders will receive $10.30 in cash per share, which values the target at approximately $532 million. Oracle’s revenue from cloud software reached $1.52 billion for the nine months that ended February 29, which marked an increase of 42% year-on-year. The Opower acquisition seems to play a key role in Oracle’s strategy to expand its cloud-computing business. Oracle shares are 7% in the green year-to-date, but are down 10% in the past 12 months. Pzena Investment Management had 10.41 million shares of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in its equity portfolio at the end of March.

Disclosure: None