Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Top Picks Outshined By His Fund’s Performance

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) rose modestly by 4.11% during Q1. Bridgewater held some 537,300 shares valued at $50.65 million in its most valuable non-index stock holding. The company’s drugs, Solvadi and Harvoni are market leaders in the treatment of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The health care company also has a strong portfolio of drugs for treating HIV and just this month it submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA in this regard pertaining to the usage of a combination of its drugs, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), for the treatment of HIV among adults and pediatric patients older than 12 years of age. Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management held the highest stake in the company among the funds that we track.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the second worst performer during Q1 among these picks and depreciated by 11.84%. The falling revenues from Windows have been hurting the tech company, but new products like HoloLens, cloud, and the new Surface 3 tablet, which is based on Intel’s Cherry Trail Processor provide a promising new direction for the company in the future. Jeffrey Ubben’s Valueact Capital is also banking on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s turnaround as it held about 74.24 million shares valued at $3.45 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) slumped the most among these top picks, by 13.21% over the quarter. The ailing tech company was also one of the biggest first quarter mega-cap disappointments for investors. Dalio held about 709,200 shares valued at $25.74 million. Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management held the most prominent stakes in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) among the funds that we track, at the end of 2014.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s meagre 0.74% first quarter returns did little to tick the huge fund’s needle further down the green zone, especially given its relatively small stake which amounted to about 147,100 shares valued at $23.61 million. Legendary investor Warren Buffett is a prominent stakeholder of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), and despite the company’s downhill trajectory he increased his stake in the company by 10% during the fourth quarter.

Disclosure: None