Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Portfolio: 5 New Stock Picks

4. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) 

Viking Global’s Stake Value: $569,179,000

Percentage of Viking Global’s 13F Portfolio: 1.57%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), a Pennsylvania-based multinational telecommunications conglomerate, posted a Q3 EPS of $0.87 on October 28, beating estimates by $0.12. The quarterly revenue amounted to $30.3 billion, up 18.67% year-over-year, exceeding estimates by almost $425 million. 

Viking Global purchased 10.17 million shares in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the third quarter, worth $569.1 million, representing 1.57% of the fund’s total investments. 

One of the leading Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) stakeholders from Q3 is Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management, with 28.86 million shares valued at $1.61 billion. Overall, 75 hedge funds reported owning stakes in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) at the end of September, down from 84 funds in the preceding quarter. 

On November 22, Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould assumed coverage of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and lowered the price target to $67 from $71, and kept a Buy rating on the shares. 

Here is what ClearBridge Investments has to say about Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in its Q2 2021 investor letter:

“We funded the shift primarily with trims in Comcast following big gains in this name. Comcast is a long-term holding that has been and remains a core holding. During the quarter, however, we took gains and resized the positions to reflect their current risk-reward post strong increases in the stocks.

Comcast, like Blackstone, has been a meaningful long-term holding whose stock performance has at times lagged its robust fundamental performance. Over the last nine months the stock price caught up some with the fundamentals and looked like it had more room to run. Our thesis on the name evolved, however, following the May 17 announcement that competitor Discovery was merging its operations with Time Warner. This deal positions the new company as a credible competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Disney, and results in Comcast being left without the proverbial dance partner in the evolving pay TV/DTC landscape. While we continue to believe Comcast’s cable systems business is well-positioned and that NBCUniversal remains valuable, the competitive dynamic for NBCUniversal has stiffened. Our reduced position size reflects both our continued enthusiasm for many parts of the franchise and emerging concerns given the evolving pay TV/DTC landscape.”