Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (BUD), QUALCOMM, Inc. (QCOM): New Stock Plays from First Eagle Investment Management

Now that first quarter earnings season has died down, analysts get the opportunity to get a closer look at many hedge funds’ 13F filings, which disclose institutional managers’ positions quarter by quarter. First Eagle Investment Management, a firm that recently released its 13F outlining its holdings from Q1 2013. We use this information as the basis of our small-cap portfolio strategy, a system that has returned over 38% since we made it public in September 2012; discover the details here. Let’s take a look at the hedge fund’s newest stock plays.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD)

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) tops our list as the biggest initiation made by First Eagle so far in 2013. The firm saw fit to buy over a million shares of the beverage maker, amounting to a market value north of $106mm. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) has also had the most dramatic upward performance of the stocks on our list, registering a 42% gain for those who bought in this time last year. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) was met with some tepid remarks from analysts at the end of April — Rabobank, Bernstein, and Canaccord Genuity all downgraded the beverage maker to a neutral rating at that time (an earnings beat on April 30^th followed shortly after). Billionaire Daniel S. Och of OZ Management recently purchased 1.4mm shares as well; read about his portfolio’s make-up here.

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) grabs the second spot, receiving a $92mm allocation by the fund, or a little under 1.4mm shares. The $110bn telecom giant has lagged the market in the past year, clocking in a gain that is fifteen percentage points less than the market’s 26.4% return. Goldman recently recognized QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) as being in the top 20 in terms of stocks that appear most frequently in hedge fund top 10 holdings. Wall Street is quite bullish on QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), with thirty-seven brokers weighing in to tabulate a mean one-year price target that indicates a near-17% gain from current levels. Billionaire Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management owns nearly 9mm shares of the stock; take a look at the fund’s top five positions here.

National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV)

National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV) saw a 1.3mm share position built by First Eagle, rounding out to $90.7mm in market value at the time of the 13F’s reporting. The drilling equipment supplier recently doubled its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.26, so income investors take note. The stock is well positioned to appreciate with increased demand for oil and gas going forward, says Edward Jones’ analyst Kate Warne. Year-to-date performance has been underwhelming thus far, with a single-digit gain under 5%. Billionaire Israel Englander of Millennium Management nearly tripled his position from 12Q4 to 13Q1.