In this article, we will take a look at the top 10 stock picks of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital.
Based in New York, Mapleline Capital LLC was founded in 2013 by Leon Shaulov who is currently a Managing Member at the firm. Earlier, he was employed by Sagamore Hill Capital and Goldman Sachs.
Maplelane Capital is among the hedge funds that suffered from the Reddit-triggered rise of GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. during the first quarter of 2021. The fund was down 39% for the quarter. However, the hedge fund has since significantly altered its portfolio to protect itself against further losses.
Apart from the top stock picks of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital listed in the article, the fund also held significant shares of several famous corporations by the end of the third quarter of 2021, including McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO).
Our Methodology
We picked the top 10 stocks from the third quarter portfolio of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital for this analysis. The sentiment of hedge funds toward each stock was measured using data from the 867 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey as of the third quarter of 2021.
With this context in mind, here is our list of the top 10 stock picks of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital.
Top 10 Stock Picks of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital
10. Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $573,000
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.01%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 67
In addition to its stake in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO), Maplelane Capital held 6,500 shares in Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z) by the end of Q3 2021.
A total of 67 funds out of 867 that are tracked by Insider Monkey held shares in the company by the end of Q3 2021, worth over $4.2 billion.
In its “Value Fund” third quarter 2021, Third Avenue Management, an investment management firm, mentioned Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z) and discussed its stance on the firm. Here is what the fund said:
“In the past, we have railed against the failure of inflation statistics to capture important developments related to housing costs. If that point was debatable then, it certainly is not now. In August, Zillow reported that its Home Value Index3 had risen 17.7% year-over-year. S&P Case Shiller has not yet reported its August home price figures but, in July, the index measured a 19.7% year over year increase, which had been preceded by an 18.7% increase in June and 16.9% in May, each a record at the time. Zillow’s Observed Rent Index rose by 11.5% year over year in August. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that “rent of primary residence” rose 2.1% year over year in August while “owners’ equivalent rent of residences” rose by 2.6%. If one were to accept Zillow’s Observed Rent Index data as a reasonably accurate depiction of the pace of rental rate increases—and it is similar to several other independent sources of national home rental data—the incorporation of that data into the CPI weighting system in August would have caused CPI to be measured at something like 8.1% rather than 5.3%.”
9. Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $2.005 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.06%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 34
A manufacturer of machine vision systems, software, and sensors, Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) is one of the top stock picks of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital. The fund held 25,000 shares of the company by the end of Q3 2021 which were valued at over $2 million. Based on the data of 867 funds tracked by Insider Monkey as of the end of the third quarter, Terry Smith’s Fundsmith LLP held the most shares of the company with more than 1.6 million shares worth over $130 million. Overall, 34 funds were bullish on Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) at the end of Q3, down from 35 in the previous quarter.
Although the company’s Q3 2021 revenue grew 13.5% year over year, on November 4, its revenue of $284.85 million missed estimates by over $3 million. Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)’s adjusted Q3 EPS of $0.40 also missed estimates by $0.05. However, the company’s CEO announced that its operating margin of 31% was 30% above the long-term target. Still, the stock fell by 7% after the earnings were announced.
In the Q2 2021 investor letter, Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, highlighted a few stocks, and Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) is one of them. Here is what the fund said about Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX):
“Cognex is an innovative manufacturer of machine vision systems enabling computers to identify, measure, locate and/or ensure quality in a production process at speeds which the human eye cannot process. Machine vision systems are used to ensure product quality (eliminating defects, verifying proper assembly) to automate production and track parts. Over the last several years, the company’s dominant market position has enabled it to experience impressive growth as demand for vision technology has rapidly increased. While we believe vision penetration is still in the early stages globally, the company’s market cap mandate exceeds our small-cap mandate, and we ended our successful investment campaign which began in 2013.”
8. Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $2.269 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.07%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 73
On November 25, the Montana-based cloud computing and data warehousing company Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) announced its decision to collaborate with Intel in order to provide optimal performance to their mutual customers.
The stock was downgraded by Blair Abernethy, an analyst at Rosenblatt, to “Neutral” from “Buy” on November 19. However, Abernethy increased his price target on the stock to $370 from $300. On November 16, Phil Winslow, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, initiated Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW)’s coverage with an “Outperform” rating and set a price target of $455.
At the end of the third quarter, Maplelane Capital held 7,501 shares of Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) worth roughly $2.3 million. Leon Shaulov’s fund increased its stake in the company by 50% during Q3 2021, indicating a strong hedge fund sentiment. By the end of Q3, 73 funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW), worth over $14.5 billion, as compared to 70 in Q2 worth $12.5 billion.
In its first-quarter 2021 investor letter, RiverPark Funds, an investment management firm, mentioned Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) and discussed its stance on the company. Here is what RiverPark Large Growth Fund said:
“We also established a position in Snowflake during the quarter. Snowflake offers cloud-based data storage and analytics, generally termed “data warehouse-as-a-service.” The data warehousing market—created by the massive, growing amount of user, customer, and account data and the need to search and analyze it—has historically stored its data on physical servers located on-premises. The cloud data platform market—storing data off-premises on cloud servers—is a relatively new $70 billion+ market. Significantly, incremental warehouse data capacity and renewals are expected to be driven by and to the cloud, with more than 75% of databases in the cloud by 2022.
Snowflake requires absolutely no infrastructure management from its users, is fully scalable for each customer, runs on Amazon, Microsoft, or Google cloud platforms, and most critically, Snowflake helps companies analyze their data. The company also has a unique, customer-aligned billing model based on usage. All of which has led to Snowflake being among the leaders of this highly fragmented market, posting 124% revenue growth last year. SNOW’s growth comes from the combination of more customers—which grew 73% last year—and customers buying more services—the company boasts an amazing 150%+ net customer retention. The company’s growing scale has also led to increasing gross margin and operating leverage, up 1,100 basis points and 8,200 basis points, respectively, over the past two years. The company has guided to FCF break-even this year, and with the company’s capital expenditure-light model—Snowflake uses the public cloud for hosting—we expect FCF to grow much faster than revenue growth, which we forecast to grow comfortably more than 50% per year for the next several years. Additionally, we have great confidence in the SNOW management team, which previously had an enormously successful run guiding one of our other core Cloud software holdings ServiceNow.”
7. Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $3.593 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.12%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 42
An online vehicle auction service, Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) operates in 11 countries.
At the end of the third quarter, Maplelane Capital held 25,900 shares of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) worth over $3 million. Overall, at the end of Q3, 42 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) worth over $998 million, down from 44 in Q2.
Merion Road Capital Management mentioned Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) in its second-quarter 2021 investor letter, and shared its insights about the company. Here is what the firm had to say about Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT):
“Many of our companies reported very strong earnings back in April. The market shrugged these off as it pondered how much growth would be sustainable, are inflationary trends transitory, and when interest rates will rise. While a slow-down in the broader economic recovery would hurt our portfolio, I remain positive on our position’s market positioning and longer term trends.
For instance, Copart reported 33% YoY revenue growth with EBIT margins expanding to 45%, an all-time high. While the company benefitted from inflation (an interesting hedge the market largely ignored earlier in the year), sustainable increases in ASPs and service offerings bode well for revenue per vehicle growth. Management noted that traffic is still down 20% or more as non-US markets are several months behind the United States on reopening and vaccinations. This volume boost should provide good tailwinds in the coming months.”
6. Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $3.942 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.13%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 23
One of the top 10 picks in Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital is Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD). The European frozen foods company is based in Feltham, England, and produces both frozen savories and frozen desserts under brands such as Birds Eye and Goodfella’s.
Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD)’s revenue for Q3 2021 was $678 million, which was compared to $652 million for the same quarter in 2020. In November 2021, an analyst at Goldman Sachs downgraded Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD) to “Neutral” from “Buy”. The price target was lowered to $29 from $36.
With over 4.5 million shares of Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD), Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies is the biggest shareholder of the company, based on the data of 867 funds tracked by Insider Monkey as of the end of the third quarter of 2021. Overall, 23 funds were bullish on Nomad Foods Limited (NYSE:NOMD) at the end of the Q3, down from 26 in the previous quarter.
5. Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $6.687 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.22%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 58
In October 2021, the Arizona-based online used car retailer announced a partnership with Hertz in which the latter would use Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) as its vehicle disposition channel. At the strategic move, Sharon Zackfia, an analyst at William Blair, declared that the partnership would boost Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA)’s inventory breadth and sales.
Announced on November 4, the company’s revenue for the third quarter of 2021 was $3.48 billion, beating consensus by $210 million. However, its EPS for Q3 2021 was -$0.38 which missed estimates by $0.10. Due to the miss, on the same day, Chris Pierce, an analyst at Needham, lowered his price target on Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) to $378 from $421 yet kept a “Buy” rating on the stock.
Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) is one of the newest stocks in Leon Shaulov’s portfolio. At the end of the third quarter of 2021, Maplelane Capital held over 22,000 shares of Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) worth more than $6 million. Overall, at the end of Q3, 58 funds out of the 867 funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) worth over $8 billion, down from 63 by the end of Q2.
4. The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $10.840 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.36%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 33
The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) is a holding company for the famous fast-food chain named Wendy’s. Leon Shaulov’s fund held 500,000 shares in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) worth more than $140 million by the end of the third quarter of 2021. Moreover, Maplelane Capital increased its stake in the company by 93% during the third quarter of 2021.
In Q3 2021, The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) presented a positive hedge fund sentiment, as 33 hedge funds out of the 867 in the Insider Monkey database reported having stakes in the company, up from 30 in the previous quarter. The total value of these stakes is over $949 million.
3. Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $10.980 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.37%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 49
Maplelane Capital held 16,500 shares of Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) by the end of Q3 2021. The total value of this stake is over $10 million. The California-based manufacturer of orthodontics equipment is famous for producing its 3D digital scanners and Invisalign clear aligners.
Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN)’s revenue grew by 39% year over year to over $1 billion during Q3 2021. It beat consensus by a $42 million margin while the Q3 EPS of $2.28 beat estimates by $0.02. This revenue jump was primarily due to the 32% increase in sales of its Invisalign product.
Among the 867 elite funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 49 hedge funds reported having stakes in Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) at the end of the third quarter worth over $2.2 billion.
2. Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $17.191 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 0.58%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 41
Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP), based in Arizona, manufactures microcontroller, analog, mixed-signal, and Flash-IP integrated circuits.
In November, the company announced the repurchase of $4 billion of its common stock using proceeds from its operations after capital expenditures and dividend payments. Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) has predicted its Q3 revenue to be between $1.71 billion and $1.78 billion but has not yet announced its earnings.
At the end of the third quarter of 2021, 41 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth over $1.1 billion in Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP), compared to 50 in the previous quarter worth slightly less than the combined value in Q3.
Kerr Neilson’s Platinum Asset Management is the leading stakeholder of the manufacturing company.
1. Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN)
Maplelane Capital’s Stake Value: $51.187 million
Percentage of Maplelane Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 1.73%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q3 2021: 61
Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN) is a software technology company that is famous for its clinical speech recognition and artificial intelligence software used in the United States healthcare industry. By the end of the third quarter of 2021, Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital held 930,000 shares of Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN) worth over $51 million and constituting 1.7% of the fund’s 13F portfolio.
Investment management firm Rhizome Partners published its third-quarter 2021 investor letter in which it mentioned Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN). Here is what the letter said about Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:
“We also exited our small position in Nuance upon Microsoft’s acquisition. Nuance is a leader in voice recognition software, with dominant market share, and its speech-to-text product is the gold standard in radiology. In addition, by eliminating the need for note taking and allowing doctors to focus on patient care, Nuance could transform the way doctors treat patients. We built a 1% position in Nuance after attending its comprehensive investor day. Our view is that if Nuance can successfully grow its voice-recognition software in doctor’s offices, it could be worth multiples of our cost basis. Microsoft’s acquisition eliminated the multi-bagger upside but also partially validates the belief that Nuance is a high-quality technology company. We exited Nuance with a 62% gain in less than a year. This example is representative of the slight adjustments we made to our portfolio construction. We will allocate to small bets on technology and high-growth companies that could increase our exposure to “right tail” upside. Rest assured that our focus is still roughly 50% real estate, 30% high-quality companies trading at cheap multiples of free cash flow, and the rest in investments with the potential for growth and higher upside.”
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Disclosure. None. Top 10 Stock Picks of Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital is originally published on Insider Monkey.
