Billionaire Julian Robertson Bets Big on Technology Sector With These Stocks

Robertson added Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) to its equity portfolio by having acquired 285,600 shares worth $21.1 million at the end of December. Another major hedge fund that initiated a position in Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) was  Steve Cohen‘s Point72 Asset Management, which held 667,600 shares heading into 2017. The company develops software for various industries, such as manufacturing, architecture, media, and engineering. Since the beginning of the year, the company’s stock has gained 17%. Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) recently announced that its CEO Carl Bass would step down, while reiterating its full year fiscal 2017 revenues and net subscription additions to be at the high end of its previously-announced guidance of $2,012-$2,032 million  and 515,000-525,000, respectively. A total of 46 investors tracked by us held shares of Autodesk at the end of 2016, up from 38 funds a quarter earlier.

Tiger Management started a new position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by buying 171,000 shares worth $19.8 million at the end of December. Sharing the same sentiment, billionaire Warren Buffet‘s Berkshire Hathaway boosted its stake by 42.13 million shares to 57.36 million shares at the end of December. For the fiscal first quarter 2017, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported earnings of $3.36 per share which was same as Wall Street expectations. Revenues of $78.35 billion was above analyst estimate of $77.28 billion. During the October-December period, the company reported selling 78.3 million iPhones above the estimated 76 million units and representing an increase of 5% year-over-year. CEO Tim Cook recently said that he thinks Augmented Reality as a fundamental, revolutionary technology similar to the smartphone. He views it like the silicon used in the iPhone’s chips, in other words as a “core technology” and “not a product per se”. At the end of the fourth quarter, shares worth $16.5 billion were held by 113 funds that we track, declining from 145 funds in the quarter earlier.

Julian Robertson sold his entire stake of 400,800 shares in pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) during the fourth quarter. In contrast, Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners initiated a new position by buying 3.87 million shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) during the same time period. The drug giant’s stock has performed poorly so far this year, falling by 6.5% as the entire stock market has rallied to new all-time highs. Robertson’s decision was smart considering that Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) posted poor quarterly results for the last quarter. Earnings for the fourth quarter came at $0.63 per share, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.67 per share. Though the top-line of $5.24 billion beat the analyst estimate of $5.12 billion, its results were received poorly by the market. The company is facing competition for several of its strategic products. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) expects earnings between $2.70 and $2.90 per share in 2017. The number of funds from our database bullish on Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) inched down by one to 58 during the October-December period.

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