Apple Inc. (AAPL), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) & More: Should You Follow Convector Capital’s Top Picks?

Investors are growing bearish on hedge funds due to sloppy performance and high fees, but our research proves that long sides of the smart money’s portfolio always return optimistic gains.  For example, in the third quarter, 627 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey which had 5 long positions in companies valued at $1 billion or more returned 8.3% on average, a full 5.0 percentage points more than S&P 500 ETFs. We believe that investors should pay attention to hedge funds’ top picks for a chance to beat the market, and will share four such picks today, courtesy of the 13F portfolio of Convector Capital. These stocks include Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL),  Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) and Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL). 

Convector Capital is a New York-based investment firm founded by Emmanuel Ferreira. The fund has an equity portfolio worth $54.46 as of the end of September, down from $72.46 million at the end of June.

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Convector Capital sold 38% of its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) during the third quarter, ending the period with 42,928 shares of the company valued at $3.40 million. The move was made as the stock lost 4.6% in the third quarter. At the end of the second quarter, a total of 85 funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, down by 9% sequentially. Among these funds, Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors had the number one position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), worth close to $256.3 million. The second most bullish fund was Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management, with a $237.8 million position. Some other members of the smart money that held long positions included Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Convector Capital had sold 41% of its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the second quarter and further cut it by 45% in the following three months amid an 18.9% gain registered by the stock. In this way, the fund held 30,200 shares worth $3.41 million at the end of September. At the end of June, 116 funds from our database were bullish on Apple, down by 24% from the previous quarter. More specifically, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had the number one position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), worth close to $1.46 billion. On Berkshire Hathaway’s heels was Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, with a $1.0973 billion position. Some other members of the smart money that owned shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) included Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, and Eric W. Mandelblatt’s Soroban Capital Partners.

Convector Capital also sold shares of Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) in the last two quarter, as it had unloaded 20% in the second quarter and another 36% between July and September, ending the period with a total of 46,663 shares valued at $2.60 million. Meanwhile, the stock returned 0.9% during the third quarter. During the second quarter, the number of funds tracked by us long Qorvo inched up by 5% to 22. Among these funds, Roystone Capital Partners held the most valuable stake in Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO), which was worth $68.6 million at the end of the second quarter. On the second spot was Fisher Asset Management which amassed $63.9 million worth of shares. Moreover, Southpoint Capital Advisors, Nokota Management, and Citadel Investment Group were also bullish on Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO).

There were 142,630 shares of  Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) worth $2.81 million in Convector Capital’s portfolio at the end of September, down from 244,000 shares worth $3.76 million at the end of June. The stock advanced by 27.6% during the third quarter. At the end of June, 12 investors followed by our team were bullish on this stock, down by 14% from the end of March. More specifically, D E Shaw was the largest shareholder of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL), with a stake worth $8.9 million reported as of the end of June. Trailing D E Shaw was Ariel Investments, which amassed a stake valued at $8 million. Selz Capital, Convector Capital, and PAR Capital Management also held valuable positions in the company.

Disclosure: none