Billionaire Ray Dalio Sells Off Major Gold Stock Position, Loads Up On Intel, Apple, Microsoft

Bridgewater Associates held 1.5 million shares in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) valued at $57 million as per the latest 13F filing. That’s up over half a million shares from the end of Q2. Bulls like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) because it sports a high gross margin in excess of 60% due to its unique technology, vertical integration, and dominant position in PC/servers. The company has also entered the Internet of Things (IOT) and other growth areas. While its stock hasn’t wowed year-to-date like AMD’s, Intel pays a respectable 3% yield at current prices. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 68 funds owned $4.88 billion of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and accounted for 2.20% of the float on September 30, versus 57 funds and $3.41 billion respectively on June 30.

Bridgewater Associates raised its stake in Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) by 185% in the third quarter, giving it 346,600 shares, good for a market value of $39 million at the end of Q3. Although it makes up a small part of the company’s total revenues, demand for the Apple watch is strong, as CEO Tim Cook recently disclosed in an email that: “in fact, during the first week of holiday shopping, our sell-through of Apple Watch was greater than any week in the product’s history. And as we expected, we’re on track for the best quarter ever for Apple Watch”. Bulls hope that Apple will launch other non-iPhone products that can make a dent in Apple’s bottom line in the future. 145 elite funds were long Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of September, up 29 funds from the previous quarter.

Dalio was a fan of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), as his fund more than doubled its holdings during Q3 in the software giant to 623,548 shares, worth $35.91 million at the end of September. Although the PC sector is still shrinking, Microsoft has successfully maintained its growth outlook by bulking up in the cloud space. Of the 30 analysts covering the stock, 20 rate it as a buy while only 1 analyst rates it as a sell. The company earned $2.67 per share last year and analysts expect it to report an EPS of $2.96 per share this year. 126 elite funds had a bullish position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of September, down 5 funds from the previous quarter.

As per Bridgewater’s last 13F filing, the fund sold its position in Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) during the third quarter. It was one of the top sells of the fund for the quarter ending September. The fund’s sale turned out to be fortuitious as gold front month contract prices have dipped well below the $1,200 per oz mark on the back of anticipation that Trump’s potential pro-inflationary fiscal policies might cause the Fed to raise rates faster. Of the 27 analysts covering this stock, 12 have rated it as a buy while 12 have rated it as a hold. More than 15% of the company’s float as of September 30th was held by 45 elite funds from our database.

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