Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Is Betting On These Technology Stocks

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) still ranks as one of Stevens Capital’s top tech picks, despite it reducing its position in the company by over 55%. The stake contains 388,076 shares, with a reported value of $15.78 million. Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has risen by 19.8% since May 2014. Last week, reports were surfacing that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) would buy Salesforce.com, Inc (NYSE:CRM), which leads the $20 billion-a-year cloud CRM sector with a 16% market share. Elevation Partners co-founder Roger McNamee, in an interview with CNBC, said that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) should not buy Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), because large transactions in the software industry have historically had disastrous aftermaths.

It seems that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may been thinking along the same lines as Reuters has reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has no plans to acquire Salesforce, citing the company’s high valuation. The largest investor of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) among the funds we track is First Eagle Investment Management, which disclosed owning 34.44 million shares of the company as of the end of March, worth $1.40 billion.

Lastly, we will discuss Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), another new position of Stevens Capital. The new holding contains 692,803 shares, valued at $15.63 million. Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) offers precision materials engineering solutions for the semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic industries. The market cap of the company is $24.5 billion. Year-to-date, the company’s stock has dropped by an alarming 21.02%, opening today’s trading session at $19.92.

At the end of April, Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) announced a new share repurchase program that authorized the repurchasing of up to $3 billion worth of the company’s common shares over the next three years, beginning in the third quarter of fiscal 2015. Other investors that see value in Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) include Mason Capital Management, led by Kenneth Mario Garschina, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Disclosure: None