Billionaire Kerr Neilson’s Tech Picks Include Google Inc (GOOG)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was another of Neilson’s top picks with the filing disclosing ownership of almost 13 million shares- a small increase from three months earlier. Cisco carries trailing and forward P/Es of 12 and 10, respectively, and in its most recent quarter the company experienced growth in both revenue and earnings compared to the same period in the previous year. As such it is a candidate for value status. Yacktman Asset Management, managed by Donald Yacktman, had over $1 billion invested in Cisco as of the beginning of January (check out Yacktman’s stock picks).

According to the 13F, Platinum added shares of $3.2 billion market cap Chinese advertising and Web services company Sina Corp (NASDAQ:SINA) and at 4.8 million shares the company was the fund’s fifth largest holding by market value. Sina’s share price is down 26% in the last year, and in the fourth quarter of 2012 earnings were down strongly versus a year earlier (sales were up, but only slightly). With the forward earnings multiple being 31, we’d worry that the stock is overvalued. Tiger Cub Robert Karr’s Joho Capital was the next largest shareholder of Sina which we track in our database of filings.

Neilson and his team initiated a position of 1.3 million shares in Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) between October and December. Baidu has been reporting high growth rates of both revenue and earnings, but the market has turned skeptical with the price down 40% in the last year and now the stock trading at only 18 times trailing earnings. We would guess that investors are worried about Chinese macro and the pattern of accounting fraud at several Chinese companies in the past few years. Tiger Global Management owned 2.2 million shares of Baidu according to its own 13F (research more stocks Tiger Global owns).

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.