The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was the largest of the fifty-one new purchases by Bridgewater. The company has faced some slow top-line growth and a weaker position amongst competitors in the past few years. However, PG beat the market by a few percentage points looking back twelve months, and the high dividend yield of 2.9% added income to investors’ pockets along the way. The company currently has plans to increase its footprint abroad by investing over a billion dollars in China going into the next five years. Billionaire Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management has nearly half a billion dollars invested in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) (read more about his positions here).
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) received about $15.7mm of the fund’s assets under management, making it the second largest purchase of Bridgewater’s last quarter. The tire manufacturer gave a mostly flat performance for 2012 but has depreciated by 6.5% since the start of this year. Analysts on Wall Street are giving The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) bullish valuations a year out, allowing a possible growth of 28% if their mean price targets materialize. The company announced last month that it will be closing a tire plant in France; workers reacted by setting off flares and throwing paint bombs at the plan. Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors pushed his investment up to $95mm in the stock last quarter (see his top plays here).
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has been giving great earnings performance after great earnings performance lately, with its most recent announcement in January of this year leading to a 6.7% beat over analysts’ predictions. INTC saw a slight decline in popularity amongst the hedge funds we track going into the end of the 2012 but still remains a moderate favorite, with more than 10% holding the tech giant. Intel continues to strike deals to make chips for clients like Cisco and Altera; talks have supposedly been held with Apple as well but nothing definitive announced. Billionaire Daniel S. Och of OZ Management has an equity position in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) that roughly matches Bridgewaters (view his favorite stocks here).
Continue reading to see which other stocks made it into Bridgewater’s portfolio.
Marriot International Inc (NYSE:MAR) received more attention from hedge funds this past quarter than in Q3 2012; funds like D. E. Shaw and Winton Capital Management initiated new positions in the hospitality company, as did Bridgewater. Marriot announced this week that it will assist Swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea in opening about 50 budget hotels across Europe in the next five years. This positive news is in addition to the year-over-year increases in earnings and revenue that came with Marriot’s quarterly earnings announcement last month. Billionaire Israel Englander of Millennium Management saw his position increase by 32% last quarter (check out the fund’s top five picks here).
Finally, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT) rounds out our list of Bridgewater’s new purchases, receiving an allotment of $8.8mm from the fund, similar to Marriot. The $46bn company manufactures devices used in medical therapy and serves hospitals, physicians, and patients globally. MDT’s most recent earnings announcement last month revealed an earnings beat and guidance that projected revenue growth in the range of 3-4%. Income investors should take note of the 2.3% dividend yield. Billionaire Michael Hintze of CQS Cayman LP has a debt investment in MDT amounting to $84mm (read about his other holdings here).
Disclosure: I do not own shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.
