Robert Citrone of Discovery Capital Management is a big player in the hedge fund industry. With around $9.71 billion in equities, Discovery holds a diversified portfolio, with the largest share of it invested in tech stocks. His latest 13F filing showed that the majority of the largest positions from his fund’s equity portfolio are represented by technology companies, while the fund also invests in finance and consumer stocks. In this article we will look into Mr. Citrone’s largest tech bets, which include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU), SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU).
With a lot of exposure towards emerging markets, Mr. Citrone managed to achieve annualized returns as high as 19% since his fund’s inception in 1999. Discovery Capital Management was founded with seed money from two billionaire investors, George Soros and Julian Robertson, the latter being the former boss of Mr. Citrone. Moreover, since its inception, the only year when Discovery’s flagship fund posted a negative return was in 2008, when the fund lost more than 30% amid a big market downturn.
At the end of 2014, the largest position in Discovery Capital Management’s equity portfolio was represented by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA). Mr. Citrone initiated a stake at the end of the third quarter as the company went public and in the last three months of 2014, he sold around 1.14 million shares, remaining with 9.25 million shares, valued at $961.71 million. It was a good call to take some profits, as the stock of the Chinese e-commerce giant gained around 17% during the fourth quarter. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) was a highly anticipated IPO last year and the company quickly gained popularity among investors, but at the end of the fourth quarter, 90 funds reported holding shares of the company, versus 110 funds in the previous quarter. Moreover, the value of the stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) held by the funds that we track fell to $7.10 billion, from $7.69 billion a quarter earlier, despite the stock’s strong appreciation of 17.12% during that period.
Nevertheless, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) remains one of the favorite picks of many great investors, including Dan Loeb of Third Point, who increased his stake by 39% to 10.0 million shares worth $1.04 billion as of the end of 2014, and Chase Coleman‘s Tiger Global Management, which initiated a $604.48 million position that contained 5.82 million shares.
Mr. Citrone also trimmed his stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the fourth quarter, disposing around 593,100 shares. His fund held a $877.88 million position that contained 7.95 million shares. For years Apple has been one of the most favored stocks among investors. The company has strong financial results, and a solid cash position which it plans to use to return money to investors, among other things. All in all, Apple is one of the companies that is a must-buy for every investor that is betting on the technology sector.
In addition, one of the top shareholders of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is activist billionaire Carl Icahn, who has previously pushed for more money to be returned to shareholders, and is still doing so. In the latest 13F filing, Carl Icahn disclosed ownership of 52.76 million shares, with a total value of $5.82 billion. Billionaire Stephen Mandel added Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to his equity portfolio during the fourth quarter and disclosed holding 2.18 million shares as of the end of last year.
