D.E. Shaw Stock Portfolio: 5 Top Stock Picks

1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 300

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a Washington-based technology company. Latest 13F filings show that DE Shaw owned over 7.7 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of September 2023 worth $2.4 billion, representing 2.56% of the portfolio.

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Texas-based investment firm Fisher Asset Management is a leading shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)  with 24 million shares worth more than $7.8 billion.

In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Jackson Peak Capital, an investment management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“The Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)/Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) merger arbitrage came to a successful conclusion with the court denying the FTC’s preliminary injunction request. The deal subsequently received approval from the UK CMA and closed in October. The ATVI position was an example of “staying around the hoop” of a significant arb opportunity. At first, the position led to a small loss in Q2 when the UK CMA initially blocked the deal in April, but we stayed close to the case, analyzed the FTC trial and scaled up the ATVI position as it became apparent FTC had a weak case, meaning the probability of the deal going through was mispriced by the market since the companies would likely find a solution to work with the UK CMA (only global regulator who had an issue) if the FTC lost.”

You can also take a peek at 15 Biggest Lumber Companies in the World and 15 Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchanges in the World.