Deccan Value Investors is an employee-owned hedge fund founded by Vinit Bodas in February 2010, after Deccan Value Advisors closed in 2009 following the departure of one of its co-founders. Vinit Bodas’ hedge fund currently manages roughly $2 billion in assets under management and oversees a concentrated, long-only portfolio. The investment firm has recently filed its 13F quarterly report and it appears that Vinit Bodas didn’t reshuffle his holdings during the quarter at all. As the filing indicates, Deccan Value Investors manages a public equity portfolio worth $355.32 million as of June 30. As the fund’s positions were unchanged, we can see from its increase in value from the $323.37 million the same positions were worth at the end of the first quarter, that the fund’s picks had a strong collective performance in the second quarter, returning over 10%. In this article we’ll take a closer look at Vinit Bodas’ biggest positions in the second quarter, which include the following companies: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NASDAQ:FOXA).
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Let’s start out by looking into Deccan Value Investors’ most valuable holding, which is represented by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). As already mentioned, Vinit Bodas’ holding in Microsoft was unchanged at 2.26 million shares, valued at $99.67 million as of June 30. The shares of Microsoft, which is one of the biggest software companies in the World, are currently trading at relatively the same level as they were trading at the beginning of the year, gaining slightly over 1% year-to-date. Just recently, analyst Brad Reback from Stifel Nicolaus, one of the premier financial services firms in the U.S., has raised his rating on Microsoft to “Buy” from “Hold” and established a price target of $55. The analyst believes that the company’s margins in devices and its consumer division can strengthen in the upcoming quarters. Microsoft’s much-admired release of Windows 10 has come at the right time, as personal computer sales suffered their sharpest decline in two years during the most recent quarter. At the same time, Brad Reback asserted that Microsoft has undergone positive changes under the stewardship of CEO Satya Nadella, which is a clear sign that the company is moving in the right direction. Harris Associates, which makes the list of over 700 hedge funds that we track, is among the massive number of shareholders of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), owning a stake of 21.96 million shares as of June 30.
Moving on the second-largest holding of Deccan Value Investors, the fund reported owning 1.04 million shares of MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), which are valued at $97.06 million as of June 30. The shares of MasterCard are currently trading near their all-time high, gaining over 13% since the beginning of the current year. The technology company, which provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services has recently posted its financial results for the second quarter of this year, which might have assisted the strong performance of the stock. MasterCard posted earnings per diluted share of $0.85 for the quarter, up by 6% from the same quarter a year ago. At the same time, the company reported net revenue of $2.4 billion, marking an increase of 1% year-over-year. To sum up, MasterCard has managed to perform quite well lately despite facing foreign exchange headwinds. From the hedge funds within our database that have already filed their 13F reports for the current period, Steven Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital is among the largest shareholders of MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), holding a 9.73 million-share position as of June 30.
The position of third-largest holding of Deccan Value Investors is occupied by Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NASDAQ:FOXA). The investment firm holds an ownership stake of 2.49 million shares valued at $80.97 million as of June 30. The shares of the diversified media and entertainment company have lost over 21% since the beginning of the year, partly owing to the lower-than-expected financial results it posted for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2015 that ended June 30. Twenty-First Century Fox posted quarterly revenues of $6.21 billion, marking a substantial decrease of $2.22 billion year-over-year. The company’s quarterly income from continuing operations came to $116 million or $0.06 per share, compared to the $966 million or $0.43 per share reported a year ago. At the same time, the entertainment company has recently undertaken a management overhaul, with Lachlan Murdoch appointed as Executive Chairman and James Murdoch named Chief Executive Officer. Yacktman Asset Management, founded and overseen by Donald Yacktman, is one of the largest shareholders of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NASDAQ:FOXA) with nearly 38.18 million shares as of June 30.
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