Billionaire Stephen Mandel’s Long Term Stock Picks Include Priceline.com Inc (PCLN)

Lone Pine cut its stake in Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH) during the quarter but the $22 billion market cap IT consulting company remained one of the fund’s ten largest holdings. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH) recorded double-digit growth rates in both revenue and net income in the first quarter of 2013 versus a year earlier. While the trailing earnings multiple is 20, Wall Street analysts expect earnings growth to continue over the next several years with the result being a five-year PEG ratio just below 1. Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had 1.7 million shares in its portfolio according to its own 13F (find Griffin’s favorite stocks).

The fund has also been a long term investor in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). The tech stock is another company which has been growing nicely; in its most recent quarterly report, revenue and income from continuing operations rose about 20% compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. The trailing and forward earnings multiples are 17 and 13, respectively. QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) had been one of the most popular stocks among hedge funds in the first quarter of 2013 (review the full top ten list according to our data) and it does look to be growing enough to be worth investigating at the current price.

Mandel and his team owned over 3 million shares of Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) both in their most recent filing and in the one from two years prior. As with many apparel designers (as well as retailers) markets give Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) a fairly premium valuation- even in terms of forward estimates the P/E multiple is 18. While earnings have been up, revenue growth has been more modest and so we’d be concerned that future growth might not be sustainable if it continues to come from wider net margins alone. Bain Capital’s equity hedge fund Brookside Capital owned about 850,000 shares of Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) at the beginning of April.

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