Billionaire Ken Griffin Betting Big On These 5 Stocks

Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group has filed its latest 13F with the SEC, revealing a U.S equity portfolio worth $103.8 billion for the reporting period of September 30. Citadel has been very busy during the third quarter, with the fund opening new positions in over 110 stocks. Furthermore, the investor increased its positions in more than 3,700 companies, while reducing its holdings in more than 4,000 companies. Mr. Griffin is a self-made billionaire and Citadel, which he founded in November 1990, is now is one of the largest funds in the world. Citadel’s main funds are Kensington and Wellington and these funds returned almost 25% in 2012 and 19.4% in 2013. In this article, we are going to take a look at Citadel’s top holdings, in terms of value, following the third quarter.

We pay attention to hedge funds’ moves because our research has shown that hedge funds are extremely talented at picking stocks on the long side of their portfolios. It is true that hedge fund investors have been underperforming the market in recent years. However, this was mainly because hedge funds’ short stock picks lost a ton of money during the bull market that started in March 2009. Hedge fund investors also paid an arm and a leg for the services that they received. We have been tracking the performance of hedge funds’ 15 most popular small-cap stock picks in real time since the end of August 2012. These stocks have returned 102% since then and outperformed the S&P 500 Index by around 53 percentage points (see the details here). That’s why we believe it is important to pay attention to hedge fund sentiment; we also don’t like paying huge fees.

#5 Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 5.76 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $457.62 million

Citadel boosted its stake in U.S data storage company Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) by over 160% during the third quarter. As part of its efforts to increase its market share in solid state drives (SSDs), Western Digital agreed to acquire SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) last month, for about $19 billion, or $86.50 per share. Many analysts believe that Western Digital is paying too much money for the acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016. Last week, Western Digital announced that it is forming a joint venture with Unisplendour Corporation Limited to offer data center storage systems in China. The joint venture will be owned 51% by Unis and its Unissoft (Wuxi) Group subsidiary, while Western Digital will hold 49% ownership. Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock has been declining since the beginning of the year and year-to-date is trading down by 43.77%. David E. Shaw’s D. E. Shaw holds 3.09 million shares of the company as of the end of September.

#4 Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 803,793

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $513.12 million

Citadel added 299,150 more class A shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to its portfolio during the third quarter. Alphabet Inc reported impressive financial results for the third quarter, with its revenue increasing to $18.7 billion, compared to $16.5 billion in 2014. The company had profit of nearly $4 billion, which represented a significant increase compared to $2.7 billion in a year-ago period. There are rumors that Alphabet is working to redesign Google Glass and may be developing as many as three new Glass models, one of them without a screen. Shares of Alphabet’s stock have gained 37.78% year-to-date. Mason Hawkins‘ Southeastern Asset Management disclosed owning 1.27 million class C shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) its most recent 13F.

On the next page, you’ll learn about Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) and two other top stock picks of Citadel Advisors.

#3 Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 9.0 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $543.79 million

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) is a $31.60 billion exploration and production company, in which Citadel raised its stake by 2.02 million shares over the quarter. Anadarko has been hit hard by the falling crude oil prices, as the company swung to a loss of $2.24 billion in the third quarter, compared to a profit of $1.09 billion a year ago. Its revenue fell to $1.69 billion during the quarter, from $5.01 billion a year ago. Shares of the company have been on a consistent decline since May and have lost 25.89% year-to-date. Another investor betting big on Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) is Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management, which holds 2.98 million shares of the company as of the end of the third quarter.

#2 Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 1.07 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $549.15 million shares

Griffin increased his position in Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by around 10% during the third quarter. Amazon reported solid financial results for the third quarter, posting profit of $79 million, or $0.17 per share, compared to a loss of $437 million, or $0.95 per share, in the same period last year. The company was able to increase sales by 23% to $25.4 billion. The performance has made a good impression on investors, who have sent Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock up by 107.28% year-to-date. Amazon is also a favorite stock of billionaire Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, which holds 3.19 million shares worth $1.63 billion as of the end of September.

#1 Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB)

 – Shares held (as of September 30): 8.50 million

 – Total Value (as of September 30): $586.45 million

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) is represented as Citadel’s top holding, with the investor increasing its position in the stock by 5.04 million shares. Schlumberger, a $98.24-billion oilfield services company, reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter. The company’s profit was $989 million, or $0.78 per share, down from $1.95 billion, or $1.49 per share, in the same period last year, while revenue dropped by 33% to $8.5 billion. Shares of Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) have declined by 10.15% year-to-date. During the third quarter, Schlumberger agreed to acquire Cameron International Corporation (NYSE:CAM) in a cash-and-stock transaction. Under the agreement, Cameron will merge with an indirect subsidiary of Schlumberger. Another investor that loves Schlumberger is John A. Zaro’s Bourgeon Capital, which increased its holding in the company by 30% to 69,325 shares in the third quarter.

Disclosure: None