Were Hedge Funds Right Betting on These Five Stocks in Q1?

The number of investors bullish on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) went up by 28 to 141 during the last quarter of 2015 and the funds that held shares of the eCommerce retailer saw the stock lose by 12% during the first three months, which slightly offset the returns registered in 2015, when Amazon ranked as one of the best-performing stocks. Nevertheless, the funds from our database hold some 5.50% of the company’s outstanding stock, according to the previous round of 13F filings.  The first quarter was marked by Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) making headlines in connection with rumors that the retailer plans to launch its own logistics system, which could compete with giants like FedEx or UPS. According to reports Amazon was planning to lease jets and acquire trucks in attempts to lower the shipping costs and increase the delivery speeds. However, investors are currently waiting for the company to start lowering the amount it invests in the expansion of its business and start focusing more on profits. In our list, the largest shareholder of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is billionaire Chase Coleman‘s Tiger Global Management, with ownership of 3.19 million shares.

Finally, there is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), whose stock ended the first quarter almost flat, and which saw 140 funds from our database holding shares at the end of 2015 representing 5.30% of the tech-giant’s stock, compared to 113 investors a quarter earlier. Billionaire Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners initiated a stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the third quarter and further raised it by 28% to 9.92 million shares during the last three months of 2015. In its third-quarter letter to investors, JANA Partners said there are many possibilities for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to grow its earnings and free cash flow per share for the next couple of years, including a reduction in opex, which is higher than many of its peers’ and it can return more capital to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. “Last, and this is a softer point and therefore harder to quantify, we are impressed by Satya Nadella and the management and product decisions he is making to improve the culture and the image of Microsoft,” JANA added (see article).

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