For once, the “smart money” was not caught off guard by the resurgent covid pandemic, and as a barrage of 13F filings published today showed, during the second quarter hedge funds loaded up on companies that would benefit from a new wave of the pandemic even before the delta variant began to rapidly spread throughout the U.S.
As Bloomberg summarizes, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management and Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management both increased their stakes in food delivery service DoorDash in the second quarter. Coatue also added to its bet on vaccine maker Moderna, while Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital took a new stake in the biotech company worth more than $900 million. These purchases were a reversal from the first quarter, when many hedge funds cut positions in Work From Home companies like Peloton and Zoom as vaccinations began to ramp up in the U.S. That, in turn, fueled wagers on companies that had been hardest-hit by travel restrictions and remote work.
Tiger and Coatue also increased their stakes in Zoom in the three months through June, their 13F filings revealed. The two funds, along with D1 Capital Partners, were among those that added to positions in Peloton, while Viking Global Investors made a new bet on the exercise equipment company.
13F filings also showed that funds including Soros Fund Management and Temasek snapped up shares of fintech companies. Marqeta was a top new buy for Soros, while Temasek disclosed new positions in SoFi Technologies, Flywire and Payoneer Global. Marqeta and SoFi tumbled last week after reporting disappointing second-quarter results. Temasek also snapped up shares in two new BlackRock carbon transition ETFs (LCTU and LCTD), while Soros took a new position in electric-vehicle producer Proterra, as clean energy continues to be a prominent trend among investors.
Coatue, Viking and Gabe Plotkin’s Melvin Capital Management also added new positions in Beijing-based JD.com Inc. in the quarter, a move that would prove to be rather unfortunate as shares of the giant online vendor have slumped 16% since June 30. Chinese shares have tumbled since June as Beijing banned for-profit tutoring companies and ordered more than two dozen tech firms to carry out internal inspections and address issues such as data security.
Some, such as Soros were either lucky or good in cutting their exposure to Chinese ADRs in the second quarter, ahead of the furious selloff. Soros Fund Management exited many of its investments in Chinese ADRs including Baidu, Vipshop Holdings, Tencent Music Entertainment Group and IQiyi, positions it snapped up during the collapse of Archegos Capital Management in March and April, as noted previously.
Other funds also dumped China-based companies with listings in the U.S. D1 Capital sold its 25-million-share stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group, while Soroban Capital Partners exited its 2.06-million-share stake in Alibaba. Soroban’s largest new positions favored tech, with the top three additions being Facebook, Twitter and Netflix.
Some other notable 13F findings:
- Michael Burry, of “The Big Short” fame, owned puts on Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF and increased its Tesla puts (more here).
- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway added to just three positions in the quarter and trimmed its holdings in several companies, including a full exit of controversial Alzheimer’s drug developer Biogen. As first noted earlier, Berkshire’s only new position in the quarter, 1.55 million shares of Organon was the result of a spinoff of the women’s health pharmaceutical company from Berkshire holding Merck. Its most significant addition was a 21% increase in its position in grocer Kroger. Besides Biogen, exits included Liberty Global’s Class A shares and Axalta Coating Systems, while Berkshire trimmed positions in Marsh & McLennan, Abbvie, General Motors and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
- Seth Klarman’s long-standing investment in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire finally came to an end during the second quarter. Baupost Group sold its entire Fox Corp. stake, including 7.6 million Class A shares and 5.7 million Class B shares with a combined market value of $446 million at the end of March.
- Carl Icahn, who runs a concentrated portfolio with just 17 reportable investments, sold all of his 9.59 million shares of Tenneco in the quarter. He also has a new undisclosed position in an unnamed stock — an unusual step that requires a separate filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Dan Loeb’s Third Point added SentinelOne Class A to its investments and exited IAA in the second quarter. The fund also added to its holdings in Intel, boosting its stake to 14 million shares from 1 million, while decreasing its stake in Charter Communications Class A. Upstart Holdings was Third Point’s biggest holding, representing 9.8% of disclosed assets
- Elliott Investment Management’s largest purchases of the quarter included a 3-million-share buy of Twitter. The increase in shares comes despite Elliott partner Jesse Cohn’s departure from Twitter’s board on June 9. He originally joined the board as part of a partnership Twitter entered with Elliott and Sliver Lake on March 9, 2020.
- Singapore state-owned investment fund Temasek Holdings’s largest new purchase in the quarter was a 4.84-million-share position in Airbnb. Airbnb reported strong second-quarter earnings last week that were offset by tepid guidance, according to analysts. Temasek also disclosed new positions in SoFi Technologies, Flywire and Payoneer Global.
Here are some other moves made by prominent funds tracked by Bloomberg:
APPALOOSA
- Top new buys: UBER, PHM, BODY, TCVA
- Top exits: CRM, ADBE, DIS, PYPL, IQ, DISCA, BIDU, SHOP
- Boosted stakes in: MOS, FCX
- Cut stakes in: PCG, MU, TMUS, AMZN, CHK, BABA, FB, GOOG, HCA, XLE
BAUPOST GROUP
- Top new buys: SJR, RTPY, 1865300D
- Top exits: FOXA, FOX, PEAK, FNF, RTP, HIPO
- Boosted stakes in: FB, MU, QRVO, TBPH
- Cut stakes in: INTC, WLTW, EBAY, PSTH, SSNC, ADV, AJAX, NXST, DBRG, LBTYK
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY
- Top exits: AXTA, BIIB, LBTYA
- Boosted stakes in: KR, RH, AON
- Cut stakes in: GM, BMY, ABBV, LBTYK, CVX, MMC, USB
CORVEX MANAGEMENT
- Top new buys: CRM, ZNGA, BOAC, ROVR, TWCT, LGV
- Top exits: FISV, EXPE, GLD, FE, GPN, RADI, ORGN, TALK, ELMS, NFLX
- Boosted stakes in: BLMN, AMZN, GOOGL, DIS, MSFT, CCEP, ATUS, EXC, DOMA, FB
- Cut stakes in: ATVI, TMUS, AJAX, CFAC
D1 CAPITAL PARTNERS
- Top new buys: PCOR, FTCH, PODD, ALKT, CMG, DLO, DECK, STNE, CRWD, FTV
- Top exits: HLT, NFLX, EDU, BAX, NKE, PPD, LVS, FIS, BX, BMBL
- Boosted stakes in: AMZN, EXPE, CVNA, PTON, BBWI, JD, RH, BLL, BKNG, DIS
- Cut stakes in: MSFT, TMUS, FB, COUP, DHR, DDOG
DUQUESNE FAMILY OFFICE
- Top new buys: NFLX, ABNB, MRNA, SMAR, GM, COUP, MAR, FTCH, CF, RBLX
- Top exits: C, GOLD, MELI, UBER, TSM, LIN, RUN, JPM, AA, ASHR
- Boosted stakes in: GOOGL, AMZN, CVNA, FB, KBR, MA, V, SBUX, EXPE, OPCH
- Cut stakes in: MSFT, SE, ON, BLDR, PLTR, FLEX, TMUS, SNOW, TECK, FCX
ELLIOTT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
- Top new buys: DUK, DBX, HRB
- Top exits: DISCK, CYH, FB
- Boosted stakes in: TWTR, ETWO, PINS
- Cut stakes in: SNAP, HWM
GLENVIEW CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
- Top new buys: CNC, AMZN, BABA, CCCS, UBER, AMGN, CHNG, OUST, BOWX, LSAQ
- Top exits: NUAN, LH, MSFT, CAR, LYFT, MAR, PPD, NBSE
- Boosted stakes in: GPN, CCEP, APTV, WBA, DD, CTVA, DVA, NSC, HOLX, ESI
- Cut stakes in: CI, TAK, HCA, MCK, DXC, FB, ANTM, BSX, BAX, FISV
GREENLIGHT CAPITAL
- Top new buys: SPY, PLBY, GPK, NWS, SRNG, EXPE, DMYI, LIVN, UWMC, PANA
- Top exits: ADT, ALIT, TALK, SEAH
- Boosted stakes in: TECK, GPRO, ODP, CC, CPRI, JOBY, SATS, ASTS, FUBO, REZI
- Cut stakes in: DNMR, APG, KPLT, CNX, XOG, CNXC, JACK, SNX, NUVB, CEIX
ICAHN
- Top exits: HLF, TEN
- Boosted stakes in: IEP, XRX
- Cut stakes in: OXY, DK, WBT
JANA PARTNERS
- Top new buys: CSOD
- Boosted stakes in: CONE, VG, SPY, EHC
- Cut stakes in: LH, CAG, THS
LANSDOWNE
- Top new buys: ILMN, WMG, NVT
- Top exits: ED, DAR, AES, REGI, CDE, PAAS, USO
- Boosted stakes in: ETN, FCX, CARR, AER, DAL, IEUR, BLBD, VMC, RBLX, UVXY
- Cut stakes in: AMAT, TSM, LRCX, MU, RYAAY, GE, ENIA, EGO, ADI, BKNG
MAVERICK CAPITAL
- Top new buys: CNC, JLL, CANO, FTCH, GPN, BHG, CMAX, ADSK, SE, JWSM
- Top exits: FIS, PLD, ELAN, LVS, SPFR, MAC, DASH, TJX, ZBRA, HPQ
- Boosted stakes in: CVNA, ASO, SNOW, V, BABA, EXPE, TMUS, CCK, XP, ATRA
- Cut stakes in: SEER, AMAT, ALNY, LRCX, AON, AMZN, LPLA, SUM, TGTX, GOOG
MELVIN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
- Top new buys: JD, DASH, PYPL, DPZ, MSFT, TGT, VMEO, SE, SHOP, DDOG
- Top exits: NFLX, NUAN, PINS, AAP, NKE, MU, SIG, TPX, TPR, WYNN
- Boosted stakes in: AMZN, ATVI, ALGN, LYV, LH, EXPE, SEAS, SNOW, PVH, TXRH
- Cut stakes in: MA, FB, BBWI, GOOGL, SBUX, UBER, FICO, NTES, HLT, NOW
OMEGA ADVISORS
- Top new buys: LAD, BHC, VOO, PFSI, EFA, IVW, COG, SCHO, IEUR, EWJ
- Top exits: MGY, IFF, CMCSA
- Boosted stakes in: FOA, WSC, VRT, NRG, PXD, ABR, ASH, ASPU, BABA, FLMN
- Cut stakes in: FOE, NAVI, OCN, TRN, BBDC, FCRD, SRGA, FB, SNR
PERSHING SQUARE
- Boosted stakes in: DPZ
- Cut stakes in: LOW, QSR, HLT, A
SOROBAN CAPITAL
- Top new buys: FB, TWTR, NFLX, WAB, KAHC, LGV, BKI, PLNT, MSDA, TIOA
- Top exits: BABA, CMCSA, DPZ, RTX, GRA, GWRE, ALIT, SFTW, SPFR
- Boosted stakes in: LOW, CSX, ADI, UNP, FIS, VYGG, BTNB
- Cut stakes in: ATUS, SPGI, PAYO, KVSB, ME, SUNL, BGRY, GNAC, DOMA, NSH
SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT
- Top new buys: FIGS, INFO, PTRA, MQ, PPD, VER, NUAN, MGLN, INDI, ACN
- Top exits: BIDU, DEN, VIPS, TME, IQ, DISCK, XLE, MU, ASHR, WAL
- Boosted stakes in: AMZN, MXIM, ELAN, GOOGL, CLVT, DIS, OPEN, W, CRM, SYF
- Cut stakes in: LQD, QS, VICI, UPST, TXN, LVS, ADI, NXPI, DHI, LPLA
STARBOARD
- Top new buys: PZZA, WPCB, LEGA, KAHC, SLAM, FRXB, ATMR, ROSS, MACC, ACAH
- Boosted stakes in: CERN, BOX, IWM, IWR, TWCT, KVSC, DGNU, PRPB, LNFA, ON
- Cut stakes in: CTVA, IWN, ACM, MAAC, SCOR, NLOK, MMSI, ELAN, CVLT
TEMASEK HOLDINGS
- Top new buys: ABNB, INTA, FLYW, PAYO, KRE, STEM, LCTU, INTC, SOFI, COPX
- Top exits: XLF, ADBE, INDA, EWZ, ACIU, PCVX
- Boosted stakes in: BILL, BEAM, TMO, DELL, EWY, IBN, IAU, CRM, SNOW, AFRM
- Cut stakes in: WISH, IWM, BABA, MSFT, XLB, CTVA, DASH, RBLX
THIRD POINT
- Top new buys: S, SOFI, EDR, ZBH, PTON, RTPY, JWSM, ASZ, IACC, AUS
- Top exits: IAA, RACE, KMX, Z, SHOP, CVNA, ETRN, NYT, WISH, RKT
- Boosted stakes in: INTC, AMZN, DELL, CANO, EL, UBER, SU, RH, DD, AES
- Cut stakes in: CHTR, PCG, JD, IQV, DIS, RADI, APTV, BOAC, MTTR, TEL
TIGER GLOBAL
- Top new buys: PCOR, PATH, COIN, DV, BHG, DLO, APP, S, GRUB, KPLT
- Top exits: ASO
- Boosted stakes in: DASH, DOCU, ZM, SHOP, SE, SNOW, CVNA, PTON, YSG, RNG
- Cut stakes in: CRM, TAL, JD, EDU, RBLX, GDS, UBER, DESP, BABA, RDFN
Source: Bloomberg
