Apple Inc. (AAPL) Remains Blue Ridge Capital’s Top Pick

Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) is another one of Blue Ridge’s top picks that happens to be a tech company. Blue Ridge had 5.4% of its 13F invested in the online travel booking company at the end of 3Q. The recent acquisition of Kayak will further help with customer expansion, namely due to Kayak’s mobile presence. Priceline receives over half of its bookings from international markets, and is extremely reliant on Europe, so this is a situation worth monitoring. The travel company is now looking to expand into Asia. Revenues are expected to be up 20% this year, and 15% in 2013 as Priceline continues to gain valuable market share.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) is the fifth largest Blue Ridge holding, worth 5.4% of its 13F portfolio. Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury ended its ownership of AIG after selling some 34 million shares. The insurer is focusing on realigning operations, including the sales of up to 90% of its airline-leasing unit and the 13.7% stake of its Asia-based life insurer. AIG trades well below other major financial companies at 0.5x book value with a tangible book value around $55, far below its $35 trading range. Billionaire George Soros added AIG to his portfolio last quarter, making him one of the bank’s top shareholders (see all of George Soros’ big bets).

In short, we believe that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and AIG are two of the top value plays in Blue Ridge Capital’s portfolio, with PEGs of 0.6 and 0.1, respectively. The best high-growth stock of the five is Amazon, but we remain cautious on its high valuation. Priceline is a key travel stock, trading at 23x earnings with a solid EPS CAGR of 20% over the next half-decade.

For more coverage, continue reading below:

Is Apple is a good stock for 2013?

Amazon: the bull’s take

Stephen Mandel loves Google and Priceline