Alan Fournier and Pennant Capital’s Bullish Stock Picks

Alan Fournier founded Pennant Capital, a long/short equity hedge fund, in 2001. Previously he was working at David Tepper’s Appaloosa managing global equity investments. He graduated in 1983 from Wentworth Institute of Technology’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program.

Alan Fournier disclosed his stock holdings at the end of March. He made four new stock purchases and significantly increased several of his existing positions. Here are his largest bullish bets:

NVR Inc (NVR): Pennant initiated a $104 Million position in homebuilder NVR. David Einhorn and John Griffin had NVR in their portfolios at the end of December. Einhorn’s holdings didn’t change during the first quarter but John Griffin added nearly 14% to his holdings. Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset, John Lykouretzos’ Hoplite Capital, Lee Hobson’s Highside, and Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital were among the other holders of NVR.

Range Resources Corp (RRC): Fournier initiated a $100+ Million position in RRC as well. John Griffin had $174 Million in RRC at the end of December, but he dramatically increased his bet to $335 Million. Robert Pitts’ Steadfast Capital and Chris Shumway’s Shumway Capital were among the other holders of RRC.

Dollar General (DG): Alan Fournier started a $44 Million DG position during the first quarter. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital had the two largest positions (among the 300+ funds we track) in DG at the end of December. Mandel’s position increased by 19% in dollar terms during the first quarter whereas Ainslie’s position is almost unchanged.

Alan Fournier had $128 Million in CSCO and $56 Million in CVS at the end of December. He completely sold all his shares in these two companies. Here is a table summarizing Fournier’s portfolio activity during the first quarter of 2011: