Billionaire Julian Robertson is widely-known for creating and developing a highly-skilled group of hedge fund managers known as Tiger Cubs. Some of the most successful so-called Tiger Cubs include billionaires Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global, Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management, Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital, to name just a few. Renowned investor Robertson started his hedge fund Tiger Management in 1980 and managed to turn this firm into the world’s largest hedge fund during his career. However, the billionaire money manager returned outside capital back to investors in 2000 to focus on managing his own fortune. Although Tiger Management is not the hedge fund it used to be several decades ago, it might still pay off to catch a glimpse into Julian Robertson’s stock picks and investment ideas. The widely-known hedge fund vehicle oversees a public equity portfolio with a value of $775.18 million as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, as compared to $748.40 million registered at the end of September. It should also be mentioned that Julian Robertson’s 42 long positions in companies with a market capitalization above the $1 billion mark generated a weighted average return of 2.1% in 2015, and clearly his long term bets are worth close attention. Having said that, the following article will discuss some of the most prominent positions of Robertson at the end of 2015 and several noteworthy moves made during the final quarter of the year.
Out of thousands of stocks that are trading on the market every day, it can be difficult sometimes to pick the right investment that can deliver market-beating returns. Here’s where our research comes in. By analyzing the equity portfolios of 700+ top investors, we can see what stocks they are collectively bullish on and use this data to compile a portfolio that can outperform the market. We have determined through this process that the best strategy is to follow the 15 most popular small-cap picks among hedge funds, which have delivered an alpha of around 81 basis points per month in our backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see more details).
Follow Julian Robertson's Tiger Management
Let’s begin our discussion with Julian Robertson’s largest equity position, represented by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Tiger Management owns 68,865 Class C shares of Alphabet as of the end of the fourth quarter, up 2,260 units quarter-on-quarter. The upped stake was valued at $52.26 million at the end of 2015 and accounted for 6.74% of the fund’s equity portfolio. The shares of the Internet giant have advanced by at least 30% over the past 12 months, and may go even higher according to analysts’ opinions and their price targets. The core business of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) involves selling online advertising space and has grown at a steady pace over the years. The company also focuses on a wide portfolio of high-potential projects, some of which Alphabet has been shutting down due to underperformance. For instance, the tech giant recently revealed its plans to shut down the photo storage service called Picasa and focus its attention on the freshly-launched photo sharing service Google Photos. Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management reported owning 1.21 million Class C shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) through its 13F for the December quarter.
