Hedge Fund Manager Curtis Macnguyen Likes AIG and More

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Macnguyen and his team cut their stake in Microsoft during the third quarter but still owned 3.5 million shares at the end of September. Platinum Asset Management, which is managed by billionaire Kerr Neilson, owned almost 11 million shares and this made Microsoft the fund’s largest 13F position by market value (check out Platinum’s stock picks). Microsoft’s forward P/E is only 8 but that is highly dependent on how strong Windows and Office sales are; it’s probably best to avoid the stock until solid figures come in.

EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG). The $34 billion market cap oil and gas company was another of Ivory’s top picks with a position of about 740,000 shares. Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, who invests some of his wealth in stocks, had about 70,000 shares in his own portfolio (research more stocks Pickens likes). EOG’s revenue was up nicely in the third quarter of 2012 versus a year earlier, though net income fell 34%. The stock carries trailing and forward P/Es of 28 and 20, respectively.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). Ivory owned about 90,000 shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). The company’s bottom line has been negatively affected by the acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings. While we would expect that over time Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) will better integrate this acquisition and also grow its core advertising business, the stock trades at 23 times trailing earnings and so the market has already priced in quite a bit of growth. Billionaire Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital cut its stake but still had over $800 million invested in the stock.