Argentiere Capital’s Deepak Gulati Reshuffles His Top Picks; Goes Into Mastercard, AIG, Intel & More

Argentiere Capital is an alternative investment management firm, which was founded by Deepak Gulati, a former global equity proprietary trading at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In its latest 13F filing, Argentiere Capital revealed holding a total of 54 positions as of the end of the second quarter and the value of its equity portfolio amounted to $128.55 million at the end of June, down from $171.37 million a quarter earlier.

The equity portfolio also showed that Argentiere Capital made some significant changes to its portfolio and initiated stakes in 27 companies and closed 36 positions. In this article, we are going to take a look at Argentiere’s top five stock holdings, which are also its largest news positions. Particularly, we will discuss Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), and Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW).

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Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA)

– Shares Owned by Argentiere Capital (as of June 30): 109,050

– Value of Argentiere Capital’s holding (as of June 30): $9.60 million

Argentiere Capital’s Deepak Gulati created a new position in Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), having acquired 109,050 worth $9.60 million at the end of June. On August 8, the company announced that 80% of its U.S. consumers have chips on their credit cards, while chip card adoption rate is at 88%. Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) has stated that there is significant drop in spurious transactions ever since chip-based cards have been introduced. A total of 80 funds tracked by us had long positions in Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) worth $6.50 billion in aggregate at the end of June.

American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG)

– Shares Owned by Argentiere Capital (as of June 30): 132,118

– Value of Argentiere Capital’s holding (as of June 30): $6.99 million

The second new stock in Argentiere Capital’s portfolio is American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), in which the fund owns 132,118 shares valued at $6.99 million. In an effort to free up capital, American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) recently has sold its mortgage insurance company United Guaranty Corp to Arch Capital Group Ltd for $3.4 billion. As part of the deal, the buyer will pay $2.2 billion in cash and the remaining amount will be paid with shares of Arch Capital. The company will also hold back a  part of the mortgage business that it generated between 2014-2016. A total of 85 funds tracked by us were long American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) heading into the third quarter.

Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB)

– Shares Owned by Argentiere Capital (as of June 30): 64,898

– Value of Argentiere Capital’s holding (as of June 30): $5.13 million

Argentiere Capital also acquired a stake in Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), which contained 64,898 shares worth $5.13 million. The company has cut down on its operations in Venezuela and has laid off employees who are working at Maracaibo Lake to the Orinoco Belt. Rising debt, along with untimely payment from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), has been one of the main concerns for Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) of late. Among the funds tracked by us, 55 funds are long the stock as of the end of June.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)

– Shares Owned by Argentiere Capital (as of June 30): 150,537

– Value of Argentiere Capital’s holding (as of June 30): $4.94 million

In Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) the fund bought 150,537 shares worth $4.94 million during second quarter. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has been interested in selling its McAfee division and in July Bloomberg reported that  a number of firms, including Permira Holdings and Thoma Bravo, might be interested to buy it. Overall, 57 funds tracked by us held shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) with total value of $3.41 billion at the end of June.

Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW)

– Shares Owned by Argentiere Capital (as of June 30): 96,599

– Value of Argentiere Capital’s holding (as of June 30): $4.80 million

The last, but not least is Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW), in which Argentiere reported a $4.80 million stake that contains 96,599 shares. Recently, Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW) along with other companies like Monsanto, Bayer, DuPont, and Syngenta formed an alliance to protest against a proposal made by the Indian government, which states that foreign seed companies should share their genetically-modified crop technology with domestic companies. At the end of the second quarter, 48 funds tracked by us held shares of Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW) with an aggregate value of $2.54 billion.

Disclosure: None