In this article we present the list of Top 10 Stocks Billionaire George Soros Just Bought.
Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros is one of the most famous figures in the investing world, earning himself the enviable moniker “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” after he made over $1 billion in profit from shorting the British pound in 1992.
The 89-year-old Soros still ranks as the 162nd richest person in the world according to Forbes, having a net worth of $8.3 billion even after shifting $18 billion from his family office Soros Fund Management to the Open Society Foundations in 2018, which has primarily funded left-leaning groups with progressive agendas, including Black Lives Matter. Because of those affiliations, as well as donating over $10 million to Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016, Soros has become more famous in recent years as a villain of the political right.
Now operating as a family office, George Soros’ Soros Fund Management delivered exceptional returns to its clients during its four-decade run as a public hedge fund, averaging annual returns of over 20% and becoming one of the largest hedge funds in the world at its peak with $28 billion in assets under management in 2011.
Soros Fund Management has continued to post strong results since converting into a family office, including 24% gains in 2013 (though that actually trailed the S&P 500, which gained 30% that year), and 8.9% gains in 2017. There have been some duds mixed in there as well however, including just 0.9% gains in 2018.
While George Soros’ reputation as one of the all-time great investors will never be tarnished, the same can’t be said about hedge funds as a whole, as their hedged returns couldn’t keep pace with the unhedged returns of the market indices over the past decade. That doesn’t mean their stock picks aren’t worth tracking however. Our research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 56 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 34% through August 17. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter below to receive our stories in your inbox.
According to Soros Fund Management’s latest 13F filing for the reporting period of September 30, the fund added 46 new stocks to its portfolio and sold out of 55 positions. Some of its biggest moves during the third quarter were in chipmakers and consumer discretionary stocks, while it greatly reduced its exposure to telecommunications companies. Soros also jumped on several companies in the process of being acquired, as well as multiple Q3 IPOs.
Without further ado, let’s check out the Top 10 Stocks Billionaire George Soros Just Bought.
10. NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI)
NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) kicks off the list after Soros Fund bought 70,000 shares of the chipmaker during Q3. NXP ranked as one of hedge funds’ favorite stocks in 2017 and 2018, but has lost close to 30% of its hedge fund shareholders since then among the select group of high performing funds tracked by Insider Monkey.
The semiconductor industry posted a 5.8% year-over-year increase in global sales during September, while global chip sales rose by the same amount as smartphone demand intensifies following pandemic-induced shipment difficulties earlier in the year. Sales were particularly strong in the Americas, rising by just over 20% year-over-year. In addition to mobile, it was a big rebound in sales to the auto industry that helped spur NXPI’s strong Q3 results that have pushed shares up by 13% over the past two weeks.
9. PPG Industries Inc (NYSE:PPG)
Soros Fund bought 91,000 shares of paint, coatings and materials supplier PPG Industries Inc (NYSE:PPG) during Q3, opening a new stake valued at $11.1 million as of September 30. Several other hedge funds took an interest in PPG during Q3, including Benjamin Smith’s Laurion Capital Management and Ira Unschuld’s Brant Point Investment Management.
First Eagle Investment Management took a large position in PPG at depressed prices during the first quarter and expressed its optimism for the stock’s prospects in its Q1 investor letter, stating:
“PPG has a history of conservative balance sheet management and strong capital allocation and has generated positive free cash flow for more than 40 consecutive years. Early-2020 weakness in PPG’s share price, due primarily to its exposure to cyclical weakness in autos and industrial production, enabled us to add this business to the portfolio at what we considered an attractive price.”
The position has been a huge winner for First Eagle, as PPG shares have gained over 70% since the end of Q1, resulting in over $50 million in profit for the firm based solely on the size of its holding at the end of Q1 (it would add more than 300,000 additional PPG shares in Q2).
8. National General Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NGHC)
400,000 shares of National General Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NGHC) were snapped up by Soros Fund Management during Q3, a position worth $13.5 million at the end of the quarter. NGHC, which ranks as one of the 76 Best Insurance Dividend Stocks To Invest In, was owned by 17 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey as of June 30. It’s proven to be a popular stock thus far among Q3 filers given its new status as a merger arbitrage stock, as John Orrico’s Water Island Capital and Robert Emil Zoellner’s Alpine Associates each opened large new stakes in NGHC during Q3.
It was announced in early July that The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) would acquire NGHC in an all-cash deal valued at $4 billion, or $34.50 per share. In an interesting twist to the deal, the special dividend being paid to NGHC shareholders could be reduced by $1.00 if the company fails to meet its earnings growth expectations throughout the remainder of 2020. Investors don’t seem too concerned that that will be the case, as the stock has been trading around the $34.10 mark since the deal was announced.
7. Walt Disney Company (The) (NYSE:DIS)
One of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds in Q2, Walt Disney Company (The) (NYSE:DIS) looks to be well on its way to achieving the same distinction in Q3 after Soros and several other hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey took stakes in the media and entertainment giant during the quarter. For its part, Soros Fund bought 150,000 DIS shares valued at $18.61 million on September 30.
The purchase by Soros comes after Disney shares have endured a rare slump in 2020 brought about by the pandemic, sliding by 4.34%. They have rallied by over 11% in recent days however following Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s announcement of the results of a promising Covid-19 vaccine.
A vaccine would certainly be a huge boon for Disney’s struggling theme parks division, though Daniel Loeb of Third Point pointed out the silver lining to the situation in his fund’s Q2 investor letter, stating:
“A slew of sell‐side analysts had recently downgraded the stock but we believed they failed to grasp that the pandemic also provided Disney with an important opportunity – to accelerate a plan to bring its blockbuster content directly to the consumer via streaming, which will further elevate Disney’s position as the world’s pre‐ eminent media company. Streaming is Disney’s biggest market opportunity ever with potentially $500 billion of revenue spread across over a growing market of 750 million current broadband homes globally ex‐China, dwarfing the size of Disney’s current addressable markets (roughly $100 billion between global box offices and theme parks). Disney’s dominant position in the global media landscape sets up the company to take a meaningful chunk of the growing DTC streaming market, shown by the early success of Disney+. In less than nine months, Disney+ attained 60 million global subscribers, a milestone that took Netflix over seven years to meet.”
6. Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ:MXIM)
Rounding out the first-half of our list of George Soros’ top new stock picks is Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ:MXIM), the second chipmaker on the list to catch Soros’ attention. Soros Fund bought 294,369 shares of MXIM during Q3, giving it a position valued at $19.90 million on September 30.
Maxim ranked among the 10 US Companies With Highest Revenue Exposure To China, with 35.7% of its revenue coming from the country. That didn’t stop Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) from agreeing to acquire the company in an all-stock deal back in July, which is expected to be completed next summer. ADI is getting a company on the rise, as Maxim’s earnings per share have skyrocketed over the past three years.
- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR)
The second-half of our list is kicked off with another merger-arb play, as Soros Fund Management bought 145,058 shares of Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) during Q3, a holding valued at $24.5 million at the end of September.
David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management owned by far the largest position in Varian at the end of Q2 among the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at just over $400 million. That set them up for a major payday after Varian jumped by over 21% following the August announcement that it would be acquired by Siemens Healthineers for $16.4 billion in cash.
- Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U)
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) went public in the middle of September and Soros Fund was quick to add the gaming software company to its 13F portfolio, buying 300,000 shares which were worth $26.18 million at the end of Q3. That purchase has proven to be a great one, as Unity Software has had a tremendous debut as a public company, gaining over 67% in two months and pushing its market cap past the $31 billion mark.
Unity Software provides one of the two dominant platforms which video games are built on, the other being Epic’s Unreal Engine. And while Unreal Engine may be the more celebrated of the two, Unity actually powers more games. The engine also has a big lead in the augmented reality (AR) realm, powering 90% of the games on Microsoft’s AR headset HoloLens. While AR has yet to take off, it (and Unity) are responsible for one of the most popular games ever created in the form of Pokemon Go. In addition to gaming, Unity’s software platform is increasingly being used across a wide range of other industries, including engineering, film & animation, automotive, and advertising.
- Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)
Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) is the third and final chipmaker to make the list of top stocks bought by George Soros in Q3. The billionaire’s family office purchased 267,956 MCHP shares during the quarter, which were valued at $27.54 million at the end of September. Hedge funds piled into MCHP in droves in the second-half of 2019 but then fled the stock just as quickly once the pandemic hit.
In its Q4 2019 investor letter, Amana Funds praised Microchip Technology, which was one of its top performing stocks of 2019. It also anticipated strong future growth for the semiconductor industry, though it was uncertain of whether the rally would start in 2020 or 2021. MCHP shares have fully rebounded from their pandemic swoon, rising by 17% this year.
- Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU)
Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU) is another merger play that Soros Fund jumped at the chance to play during Q3, buying 384,096 shares during the quarter. That position was worth $32.66 million on September 30, ranking as the family office’s 25th most valuable 13F holding at that time.
Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) announced that it would acquire Immunomedics for $21 billion in cash, paying more than double what IMMU’s market value was before the announcement, a huge score for IMMU shareholders like Kurt Von Emster’s VenBio Select Advisor, which had over 18% exposure to IMMU as of June 30. In Tao Value’s Q3 investor letter, the Gilead shareholder expected the deal to be significantly accretive to Gilead’s bottom-line by 2023.
- Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR)
Topping the list of new stocks purchased by George Soros is another IPO in the form of Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR), which debuted right at the end of Q3 on September 30. Since then, shares have had a similarly meteoric rise as Unity Software’s, gaining 66% in six weeks. That was great news for Soros Fund, which opened a huge position of 18.45 million PLTR shares valued at over $175 million on September 30. Assuming the position hasn’t been altered since, Soros Fund has made a cool $115 million off the stock in just six weeks.
Investors are excited about the data analytics company’s burgeoning opportunities in the healthcare space, which includes being tagged by the U.S government to help deploy the Covid-19 vaccine and track health data. It’s also recently been awarded a $91 million contract from the U.S Army and had an existing anonymous aerospace customer renew a $300 million contract.
For more timely stock picks from the hedge fund world’s greatest investors, check out 10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy According To Billionaire Ken Fisher.
