Rob Citrone founded Discovery Capital Management in 1999. Headquartered in South Norwalk, Connecticut, the hedge fund manages a number of pooled investment vehicles and invests primarily in the technology, services, basic materials and financial sectors. According to the latest 13F filing submitted to the SEC for the reporting period of March 31, Rob Citrone’s top tech stocks at the end of the first quarter are Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Universal Display Corp (NASDAQ:OLED).
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Discovery Capital Management’s largest tech holding is represented by Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), also the fund’s top overall pick. As of the end of March 2015, Citrone’s fund has 8.77 million shares of the Chinese online retailer and wholesaler, valued at $730.36 million. The financial results show Alibaba’s growth was strong during its fiscal fourth quarter of 2015, even factoring in the lofty expectations on the company. It posted a 45% increase in revenue year-over-year to $2.81 billion, while net cash from operating activities increased to $930 million, a 220% increase from the same quarter of fiscal 2014. Another hedge fund with a significant stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global, which added 3.24 million shares to its position, boosting it to 6.94 million shares valued at $578.07 million.
Mr. Citrone reduced his stake in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the first quarter by 41% from the previous quarter, leaving him with 4.65 million shares of the Cupertino-based tech giant, worth $579.08 million, and ranking the position as both the second-largest tech holding and overall pick of his equity portfolio. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently reached an agreement on a partnership between itself and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) to introduce its payment system Apple Pay into China. As China is Apple’s second-biggest market, this deal will Apple further expand into the country and grow its revenue there over the next couple of years. Among the funds we track, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Adage Capital Management, run by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, all have Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares in their equity portfolios.
Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) comes at number three in Discovery Capital Management’s equity portfolio, with the fund holding 1.75 million shares valued at $365.44 million as of the reporting period. Citrone expanded his stake by 45%, the most bullish move he made on any of his top tech stocks. Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) is a Chinese online search provider, which has been dubbed “the Chinese Google” owing to its dominant position in the Chinese search engine market. The company’s financial results for the first quarter of 2015 reported a 34% increase in revenue year-over-year to $2.05 billion. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported on Baidu’s partnership with Uber Technologies Inc. and Apax Partners Holdings Ltd. to acquire Here, Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) Map business, which has a market value of $4 billion. Other funds with significant positions in Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) are Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global.
Finally, Citrone reported no change to his fund’s position in Universal Display Corp (NASDAQ:OLED). Discovery Capital Management’s stake in the developer of high-resolution, full color, light weight Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology remains at 6.93 million shares, which were valued at $324.16 million on March 31. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion and a P/E ratio of 62.43. Besides Rob Citrone’s fund, both Eric Chen’s Antipodean Advisors and Donald Chiboucis’ Columbus Circle Investors are among the other funds we track with positions in Universal Display Corp (NASDAQ:OLED).
Disclosure: None
