Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Stock Picks For 2016

#3 Visa Inc (NYSE:V)

– Shares Owned by Fisher Asset Management (as of December 31): 14.79 million

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $1.15 billion

Visa Inc (NYSE:V) is one of Mr. Fisher’s favorite stocks. During the first quarter of 2015, Fisher Asset Management increased its stake in Visa Inc (NYSE: V) threefold and every quarter since then it has acquired more shares, including 157,137 shares added during the fourth quarter of 2015. On January 28, Visa reported its fiscal 2016 first quarter numbers, declaring EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $3.57 billion versus analysts’ expectation of EPS of $0.68 on revenue of $3.63 billion. Following the earnings release, analysts at RBC Capital reiterated their ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock, but lowered their price target to $87 from $91. Even though Visa currently is trading at a trailing P/E multiple of 25.75, considerably higher than most of its peers. Mr. Fisher believes that the stock will continue to have a ‘smooth ride’ in 2016.  Columbus Circle Investors was one of the funds that trimmed its stake in Visa during the October-December period; it held nearly 3.34 million shares of the company at the end of the last quarter.

#2 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

– Shares Owned by Fisher Asset Management (as of December 31): 11.28 million

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $1.19 billion

Since mid-July, we have seen Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) loose 40% of its market capitalization, but there are still a lot of investors that continue to remain bullish on the company. Fisher Asset Management inched up its holding in the company by 1% in the last three months of 2015. The company recently has reported its fiscal 2016 first quarter earnings, but even after declaring record profits, which beat the estimates, its stock nosedived after it guided the current quarter revenue to be lower by 11% year-over-year. According to its quarterly report, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) currently has $216 billion cash and equivalents on its books, which amounts to nearly 42.5% of its current market capitalization. If that cash balance is taken out, Apple currently trades at an astonishingly low trailing price-to-earnings multiple of close to 6.0 and a forward price-to-earnings multiple of almost 7.0. Hari Hariharan‘s Nwi Management sold 15,000 shares of the Apple during the fourth quarter, thereby reducing its stake in the company to 1.01 million shares at the end of that period.

#1 Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

– Shares Owned by Fisher Asset Management (as of December 31): 2.5 million

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $1.69 billion

Even though Fisher Asset Management sold only 916 shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the fourth quarter, it’s the only stock among the fund’s top 20 equity holdings in which it reduced its stake during the fourth quarter. Though 2015 turned out to be fantastic for the e-commerce giant with its stock having more than doubled during that period, in 2016 it has emerged as one of the worst performing tech stocks, losing over 25% year-to-date. A major chunk of that decline came in after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter numbers on January 28. The Street had estimated Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to report EPS of $1.56 on revenue of $35.99 billion, but the company delivered EPS of $1.00 on revenue of $35.75 billion. Despite the weak earnings, most analysts remained optimistic on the stock, citing the strong sales growth rate of the company and its dominance in different verticals. Interestingly, for the first time in its annual report Amazon listed major logistics company as its potential competitors, adding fuel to the rumors that it is going to strengthen its logistics capabilities to reduce its reliance on companies that provide fulfillment and logistics services. Joseph Mathias‘ Concourse Capital Management reduced its stake in Amazon.com by 35% to 17,386 shares during the fourth quarter of 2015.

Disclosure: None