ValueAct’s Jeffrey Ubben’s Top Stock Picks Include Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE). The $19 billion market cap software company was another of ValueAct’s top picks, with the fund owning 31 million shares at the end of September. D.E. Shaw, a large hedge fund managed by billionaire David Shaw, cut its stake but still reported a position of 1.2 million shares (find more stocks D.E. Shaw owns). The trailing P/E multiple is 23, but in its most recent quarter Adobe reported 28% earnings growth compared to the same period in the previous year.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). ValueAct owned close to 18 million shares here, a position worth nearly $1 billion at the time. Tiger Cub Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global was another major holder of the stock. Valeant’s products include treatments for neurological and dermatological conditions. While the company doesn’t seem to have been performing particularly well on the bottom line recently, sales have been up.

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO). Ubben and his team had the second largest position in Moody’s at the end last quarter out of all the investors in our database of 13F filings; Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned over 28 million shares. See Warren Buffett’s favorite stocks. The company reported large increase in revenue and earnings in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2011, and carries earnings multiples in the teens.

CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG). ValueAct reported almost 32 million shares of the $6.4 billion market cap real estate services company. The stock’s beta is 2.3 as its real estate related business leaves the company exposed to the broader economy. CBRE trades at 29 times trailing earnings, but Wall Street analysts expect that a stronger real estate market will drive growth and so the forward P/E is only 15. Ubben’s former employer, Blum Capital Partners, owned 15 million shares of the stock according to its own 13F.