In this article, we discuss the 5 stocks that billionaire George Soros is buying. If you want to read our detailed analysis of these stocks, go directly to Billionaire George Soros Is Buying These 10 Stocks.
5. IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 61
Percentage Increase in Stake During Q3: 81%
IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) provides research and consulting services. Regulatory filings show that Soros Fund Management owned 2.4 million shares in the company at the end of the third quarter of 2021 worth over $284 million, representing 5.25% of the portfolio.
Deutsche Bank analyst Sameer Kalucha has a Buy rating on IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) stock with a price target of $127. The analyst recently appreciated the merger of the company with S&P Global, another market research firm.
At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 61 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $5.9 billion in IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO), up from 54 in the previous quarter worth $4 billion.
In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Artisan Partners, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“We ended our campaign in IHS Markit. IHS Markit is a global provider of information services to the financial services, automotive and energy sectors. Since beginning our investment campaign in 2009, we have been attracted to the company’s position relative to the meaningful secular tailwind driving demand for data and analytics to help guide business decisions. The company announced in Q4 it is merging with S&P Global, one of the largest credit ratings agencies globally and a provider of benchmarks, data and analytics to the global capital and commodities markets. We believe the combination provides a good level of cost and revenue synergies which will help drive profit growth, and S&P Global has a solid track record of acquiring and integrating new businesses. However, we exited our position as the combined entity will be well beyond our mid-cap market cap mandate.”
4. Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72
Percentage Increase in Stake During Q3: 112%
Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) provides artificial intelligence services. Software giant Microsoft purchased the company back in June for $20 billion and has filed for European approval in this regard as well. Microsoft is one of the largest holdings of Soros and this is perhaps why the investor increased stake in Nuance ahead of the completion of the purchase.
According to the latest data, Soros Fund Management owned 2.8 million shares in Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) at the end of September 2021 worth $156 million, representing 2.9% of the portfolio.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, New York-based firm Coatue Management is a leading shareholder in Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) with 13 million shares worth more than $732 million.
In its Q2 2021 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“In general, improving growth companies are taking specific actions to enhance their growth profiles going forward, whether through a restructuring, business model change, new management team or more productive use of assets. Another recent example is Nuance Communications, which was simplified and reorganized under new leadership in 2018 and subsequently acquired by Microsoft for a significant premium this quarter. This continues the Strategy’s long track record of positioning successfully to benefit from consolidation, with more than 80 companies having been acquired since inception.”
3. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67
Percentage Increase in Stake During Q3: 140%
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) markets athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. Securities filings show that Soros Fund Management owned 72,000 shares in the company at the end of the third quarter of 2021 worth $10.4 million, representing 0.19% of the portfolio.
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has an impressive dividend history and recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.305 per share, an increase of close to 11% from the previous dividend of $0.275. The forward yield was 0.71%.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, London-based investment firm Fundsmith LLP is a leading shareholder in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) with 8.7 million shares worth more than $1.3 billion.
In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Dynamo Cougar, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Nike used to have a very traditional IT infrastructure, which was the starting point for their transformation. Back in 2013 the company had most of their IT in one data center and two distinct IT and software development teams. The infrastructure was organized in a way that all IT solutions, such as Nike.com and Nike apps, were running on the same servers and databases. The result was that any change had to be approved and then deployed with the next release. It was a very manual process, depended on a number of different vendors, and had to be approved by a waterfall process involving both the software and the IT teams. As of 2018, the company has four AWS regions, 150 software engineers, three development locations, and multiple data center locations. In the process, the company decided that they would not just lift and shift their existing applications from their own servers to the public cloud, but instead decided to rethink every single component of their IT organization. The results show that this transformation worked. The organization went from one software deployment every two months to 2.6 deployments per day. Nike went from 90% manual software testing to 100% automated testing, which freed up a lot of developer time. They managed to reduce the time to make small changes on the website and apps from 3 hours to 5 seconds, which means they could react to sports and similar live events. In the past it took more than six months to add a new experience to their digital services, and today it takes one day. In the past they would have a 3-month lead time for new hardware and today they can scale and deploy without any lead time.5 The IT infrastructure now supports 50+ commerce countries versus 6 in 2012, supports 25 languages versus 7, and enables the e-commerce site to access the inventory of 500+ retail stores.
The early move to the cloud and the willingness to adapt to the new environment also allowed Nike to benefit from some significant learnings. For instance, the company first used the Cassandra database when they moved to the cloud. However, due to many technical limitations, it would not allow them to scale for peak demand. Peak demand was becoming a big problem because the Nike SNKRS App would launch products with very limited availability, which meant that millions of people would access the app at the same time. Nike then decided to move to the AWS DynamoDB database (a platform offering), which allowed them to scale up prior to these launches, and thereby spend 98% less than with Cassandra, while offering the same service. In addition, they managed to monitor the launches in real time, which allowed them to react to problems and error messages within seconds. The vast amount of data that is generated within this very short period is now analyzed with machine learning techniques to improve the stability, reliability, and optimization of future launches. The company is working on a number of other efforts that benefit from the cloud environment, such as the implementation of RFID whose data output is managed through the AWS IoT offering.
The benefits of this transformation to the consumer are clear. Nike can now deal with higher demand, deal with sudden spikes in orders, offer better product recommendations, offer more customization, provide better product fulfillment, and more. In addition, the company benefits from a leaner and more efficient IT organization, better product conversion, more feedback data from customers, social integration into products, and ultimately a more satisfied costumer. We think Nike’s continued investment into their modern IT stack will be a key differentiator for their competitive positioning.”
2. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 100
Percentage Increase in Stake During Q3: 145%
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides online travel and restaurant reservation services. The company recently posted earnings for the third quarter, reporting earnings per share of $37.70, beating estimates by $4.67. The revenue over the period was $4.6 billion, up 77% year-on-year.
Soros Fund Management owned 4,404 shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) at the end of September 2021 worth $10.45 million, representing 0.19% of the portfolio.
At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 100 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $6.9 billion in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), down from 103 in the previous quarter worth $6.8 billion.
In its Q2 2021 investor letter, Nelson Capital Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“In the consumer discretionary sector, we trimmed pandemic winners in favor of companies we believe will outperform in a recovery period. Pent-up travel demand is another investment theme we believe will flourish, prompting us to buy a position in Booking Holdings (tkr: BKNG, see Featured Equity).”
1. Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 48
Percentage Increase in Stake During Q3: 215%
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) provides audio streaming services. At the end of the third quarter of 2021, Soros Fund Management owned 31,500 shares in the company worth $7 million, representing 0.13% of the portfolio.
On October 28, investment advisory KeyBanc maintained an Overweight rating on Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) stock and raised the price target to $365 from $340, noting that ad-supported revenue and podcast trends for the firm were improving.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management LLC is a leading shareholder in Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) with 3.1 shares worth more than $870 million.
In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Guardian Fund, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“At the current share price, Spotify basically only represents a fraction of the value they will be able to unlock in the growing market of audio entertainment. The key for Spotify is to change a variable cost base into a fixed cost base just like Netflix has. As the market share of the big labels, measured by the daily hours of engagement of the big labels, is declining, Spotify will be able to adjust its business model and create enormous operational leverage meaning that profitability will grow faster than expenses.
The music catalogue is not the business model. The value lies in the machine learning that drives discovery and engagement, the original content from people like Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, and Joe Rogan, the data analytics and distribution for artists, the direct and social relations artists can have with fans through music and videos. We believe that Spotify will be worth at least five times more in 2030.”
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