Top 5 Stocks Billionaire Larry Robbins Just Added to His Portfolio

4. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Value of Glenview Capital’s 13F Position: $20.57 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 69

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) is another large-cap stock that has lost quite a bit of hedge fund support in recent quarters, with more than 30% of former shareholders ditching ATVI since early 2020. Robbins again took a contrarian stance on the stock, which lost 28% in 2021, and has been rewarded thus far in 2022, as ATVI shares have gained 21%.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)’s strong performance this year has been thanks to a rather unexpected savior in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which announced in January that it would acquire the struggling World of Warcraft and Call of Duty developer for $68 billion. The deal isn’t a sure bet to be approved by regulators however, which is why there’s a nearly 10% gap between ATVI’s current share price and the value of the Microsoft offer.

Citing some of those struggles that have beset Activision recently, Baron Partners Fund had to say about closing its Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) position in the fund’s Q4 2021 investor letter:

“The Fund’s Core Growth investments were negatively impacted by the market rotation to value-oriented businesses. Fundamentals for most of our Core Growth holdings remain strong. We exited two positions in this space, which included Activision Blizzard, Inc.  We believe ESG concerns at Activision could be a negative for the company in the coming years.

Shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc., a leading video game publisher, detracted from performance. The company reported solid earnings results and maintained guidance for fiscal year 2021. However, the stock fell primarily due to a combination of increased concern around an employee lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and timing delays for two key Blizzard games (Diablo IV and Overwatch 2). We sold our position.”