Abrams Capital Management Loves These 5 Stocks

#3 Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC)

– Shares held (as of September 30): 2.77 Million

– Total Value (as of September 30): $142.2 Million

– Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 10.18%

Abrams Capital’s stake in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) remained unchanged over the course of the third quarter. The company’s stock is trading down by 0.47% year-to-date, and with a forward P/E of 12.3 and a 2.75% dividend yield, Wells Fargo looks like an attractive stock. At the end of the second quarter, a total of 91 hedge funds among those that we track were holding stakes in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC). This represented a significant increase from 72 funds long Wells Fargo at the end of the first quarter. The total value of these investments also rose to $34.13 billion, compared to $32.81 billion at the end of March. Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) reported third quarter income of $5.8 billion, or $1.05 per common share, compared to $5.7 billion, or $1.02 per share, a year earlier. Tom Russo’s Gardner Russo & Gardner, in its most recent 13F, revealed owning 14.58 million shares of Wells Fargo as of the end of September.

#2 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

– Shares held (as of September 30): 4.98 Million

– Total Value (as of September 30): $220.42 Million

– Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 15.78%

Abrams Capital also did not make changes to its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the third quarter. Microsoft saw an overwhelming response for its latest operating system, Windows 10, which includes some great updates. Windows 10, being offered as a free download to people using Windows 7 or Windows 8, is expected to greatly benefit the company in the long-term. For the third quarter, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted EPS of $0.67 on revenues of $21.7 billion, beating estimates by $0.08 per share. For full-year 2016, the company has increased its earnings expectations to a range of $2.49-to-$2.54 per share. Another investor that sees value in Microsoft is Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management, which holds 17.11 million shares of the company as of the end of September.

#1 The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU)

– Shares held (as of September 30): 21.61 Million

– Total Value (as of September 30): $396.74 Million

– Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 28.40%

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is represented as Abrams Capital’s top holding. As with Wells Fargo and Microsoft, the investor did not alter its position in Western Union during the third quarter. Western Union is a dominating and growing player in the global payments market. To survive in the digital financial age, Western Union Company has been working on different plans and services. Recently, the company launched a new service, WU Connect, to allow money transfers through social and mobile networks. For the third quarter, The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) reported revenues of $1.40 billion, down from $1.44 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Shares of the company are trading up by 3.57% year-to-date. Ariel Investments, led by John W. Rogers, holds 10.54 million Western Union shares as of the end of the third quarter.

Disclosure: None