Harvard Management Company’s Stock Picks Trail the Broader Market

Harvard Management Company cut its stake in the oilfield services company Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) nearly by half to 415,423 shares during the fourth quarter. Shares of Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) ended the first quarter down by 4.6% and are currently trading nearly 9% in red year-to-date. Iconic energy investor T Boone Pickens‘ BP Capital was among the hedge funds that initiated a stake in Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) during the fourth quarter; it purchased 96,036 shares of the company during that period. On April 6, merely a few days after the company along with Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) announced that their respective shareholders have approved their merger, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit to block the $35 billion merger between the two companies. On April 7, analysts at FBR & Co. released a note to their clients asking them to continue being long Baker Hughes Incorporated because, even if the merger fails, Halliburton Company will have to pay $3.5 billion to Baker Hughes Incorporated as a break-up fee, which the latter can use for its restructuring initiatives.

Harvard Management Company went bullish on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) during the fourth quarter, increasing its stake by 1,821% to 307,210 shares. Another fund that also boosted its exposure to the company during the same period was Dmitry Balyasny‘s Balyasny Asset Management, which increased its holding by 1,214% to almost 1.3 million shares. Owing to the 30% rally it saw during the second-half of the first quarter, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA)’s stock managed to end the first quarter with a marginal loss of 2.75%. On April 5, the company completed its $4.2 billion acquisition of Chinese video site Youku Tudou and on April 12, it announced that it has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Southeast-Asian online retailer Lazada in a deal worth almost $1 billion. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) also has recently announced that it became the largest retailer in the world as measured by gross merchandise volume (GMV) at the end of its fiscal year ended March 31. Though the company is yet to release its fourth quarter and full year numbers, its announcement makes it clear that it surpassed $482.1 billion in GMV that Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) announced for its last fiscal year.