Billionaire ‘Tiger Cub’ John Griffin’s Favorite Stock Picks For Q4

#3 Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN)

 – Shares Owned by Blue Ridge Capital (as of September 30): 263,900

 – Value of Holding (as of September 30): $326.41 Million

Moving on, Blue Ridge Capital sold off 9% of its stake in Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) during the third quarter, when the stock of the company registered gains of 7.4%. Recently, shares of Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) have declined by more than 10% after the company came out with its third quarter results and fourth quarter earnings guidance. While the EPS of $25.35 on revenue of $3.10 billion that the company reported for the third quarter was better than the Street’s estimates, the adjusted EPS guidance that it provided for the fourth quarter of between $11.10 and $11.90 was below analyst estimates of adjusted EPS of $12.42. Following the earnings release, analysts at RBC Capital reiterated their ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock, but lowered their price target on it to $1,700 from $1,725. Even after decreasing its stake in the company by 17% to under 1.0 million shares during the third quarter, fellow ‘Tiger Cub’ Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital remained the company’s largest shareholder among the money managers covered by Insider Monkey.

#2 Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR)

 – Shares Owned by Blue Ridge Capital (as of September 30): 2.42 Million

 – Value of Holding (as of September 30): $424.68 Million

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) was one of the few companies in which Blue Ridge Capital reduced its stake significantly during the third quarter, selling 525,000 shares of the company during that period. After witnessing a rally during February and March, shares of Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) have mostly remained range-bound since and currently trade up by 12.38% year-to-date. In May Charter announced that it would be buying larger rival Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) in a $78.7 billion cash-and-stock deal. However, recent reports suggest that this deal may suffer the same fate as the failed Time Warner Cable/Comcast merger, and that even if it does go through, it won’t be completed until the second half of next year. After increasing its stake in the company by 43% during the second quarter, Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway added an additional 21% to its holding of Charter Communications, Inc. during the July-to-September period.

#1 Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN)

 – Shares Owned by Blue Ridge Capital (as of September 30): 1.63 Million

 – Value of Holding (as of September 30): $443.28 Million

Finally, even though Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN)’s [formerly Actavis, Plc] stock declined by 10.42% during the third quarter, the 11% bump to its position made it Blue Ridge Capital’s top stock, overtaking Charter Communications, Inc. In late October, shares of Allergan PLC (NYSE:AGN) rallied after the news that pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is in talks to acquire with the company became public. On November 23 Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) formally announced that it would acquire Allergan PLC in a $160 billion deal. However, the deal has been receiving a lot of flak from U.S. regulators and lawmakers because of the tax savings Pfizer will enjoy in the future if the deal goes through. Shareholders of both companies also don’t seem to be too excited about the deal, as shares of the respective companies failed to take off after the formal announcement was made. Richard Gerson and Navroz D. Udwadia‘s Falcon Edge Capital  increased its stake in Allergan PLC to 592,542 shares during the third quarter.

Disclosure: None