Seth Klarman’s Portfolio: Top 5 Stock Picks

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In this article we will take a look at the top 5 stock picks in Seth Klarman’s portfolio. You can see our detailed analysis of Klarman’s history, investment philosophy, and hedge fund performance at Seth Klarman’s Portfolio: Top 10 Stock Picks.

5. Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT)

Klarman’s Stake Value: $811.8 million

Percentage of Seth Klarman’s 13F Portfolio: 6.58%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22

Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) is a communications company based in California that provides high-speed satellite broadband services and secure networking systems that cover military and commercial markets. Ranked fifth on the list of the top 10 stock picks in Seth Klarman’s portfolio, Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion.

Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group currently holds 16.28 million shares of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT), amounting to over $811.8 million in worth and representing 6.58% of the fund’s total portfolio value. By the end of the second quarter of 2021, 22 hedge funds out of the 873 tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) worth roughly $1.26 billion. This is compared to 26 hedge funds in the previous quarter with a total stake value of approximately $1.18 billion.

For the second quarter of 2021, the company issued its financial report which revealed quarterly revenues of Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) amounted to $554 million.

On August 9, Needham analyst Ryan Koontz raised the firm’s price target on Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) to $60 from $54 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares, owing to the company’s “strong” Q1 earnings.

Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund, in its Q4 2020 investor letter, mentioned Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT). Here is what Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund has to say about Viasat, Inc. in its letter:

“ViaSat (-50%, -2.29%; –, –), the satellite communications company, was also a top detractor this year. We exited our position in September at a moderate loss, but a longer-term opportunity cost after six years of ownership. Over the course of our holding, ViaSat shrunk its residential subscriber churn and raised prices, as we had originally believed they would. Its government business grew revenues and profits strongly, and ViaSat Inflight signed up over 2000 airplanes. But the company will not produce positive FCF for several more years due to the ongoing investment demands of its next-gen satellites and other capital allocation decisions. Hard to quantify threats from new entrants have emerged from the likes of a still questionable but now well-funded SpaceX and a farther-off Amazon constellation. We have also disagreed with management on certain items over our holding period. There is a wide range of outcomes from here for the business, but we felt we could deploy the capital elsewhere with less risk.”

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