Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) regained its place as the most popular stock among hedge funds in the first quarter of 2013 (see the full top ten list) even with many billionaire investors selling the stock; Ainslie, meanwhile, increased his stake by 27% to nearly 690,000 shares. Lower margins caused Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s earnings to fall by 18% in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year, even as revenue grew by 11%. The company has announced plans to return more cash to its shareholders, including both a large repurchasing program and increased dividend payments which have brought the annual yield to 2.7%. Investors are pricing further earnings declines into the stock price.
Ainslie and his team were heavy buyers of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS), upping their stake in the company to 3.4 million shares and making it one of their top five picks. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) has become something of a dividend stock, with the yield currently just under 3%. However, the stock trades at 15 times forward earnings estimates even though growth has been fairly marginal. As a result United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) looks dependent on increasing its growth rate in order to justify its current valuation. Renaissance Technologies, founded by billionaire Jim Simons, owned 1.3 million shares of the stock at the end of the quarter (find Renaissance’s favorite stocks).
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) was another of Maverick’s top picks, as the filing disclosed ownership of 8.5 million shares of the $14 billion market cap data storage systems company. NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) is another company where investors are expecting improvements on the bottom line: earnings per share are expected to rise to $3.07 for the fiscal year ending in April 2015, giving the stock a forward P/E of 12 even though the trailing earnings numbers are not particularly strong. We’d also note that the company’s numbers were flat in its last fiscal Q4 compared to a year ago. Billionaire George Soros was another major shareholder in NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) (check out Soros’s stock picks).
The fund initiated a position of 7.2 million shares in large hospital company HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA). The stock carries trailing and forward P/E multiples of 13 and 10, respectively, placing it in value territory at least in quantitative terms, but HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA)’s quarterly reports have shown a decline in net income and we’d have to investigate why the sell-side expects that to reverse- particularly with the top line not looking that healthy either. Glenview Capital, a hedge fund managed by Larry Robbins which has been interested in healthcare stocks, owned 8.9 million shares of HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) according to its own 13F.
Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.
