James Melcher’s Balestra Capital recently filed a Form 13F with the SEC, disclosing his long equity positions as of June 30, 2014. The fund´s equity portfolio, which has a market value of more than $617 million, is mainly focused on financial companies (85%). Over the second quarter, the fund acquired seven new stocks, increased its stakes in 2 of its preexisting holdings, and sold out of 4 of them. Since most analysts focus on Balestra’s financial stock picks, but his tech stock picks are also quite interesting, let’s take a look at the funds favorite tech stocks for the second quarter of the year.
The first spot on the list is occupied by eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), the $66.5 billion market cap e-commerce platform provider. Despite a 51% decrease in Balestra’s position, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) now stands as the fund’s favorite tech stock. It now owns 195,000 shares of the company, with a market value of almost $10 million, which account for more than 1.5% of its total equity portfolio.
In addition to Mr. Melcher, other major fund managers seem to feel quite bullish about eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). Donald Yacktman slightly increased his exposure to the company over the second quarter and now owns about 8.23 million shares of the company, worth more than $412 million. Another famed investor betting on the tech company is Carl Icahn, who disclosed ownership of 27.8 million shares by the end of the first quarter.
Second in line is Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), the $36 billion market cap global technology company, which saw Balestra trim its stake as well over the second quarter. The fund reduced its exposure by 49%, and now owns 277,411 shares of the company, worth almost $10 million – same as in the previous case.
On the opposite, Patrik Brummer’s Zenit Asset Management Ab more than doubled its participation in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) over the second quarter. The fund declared holding 2.95 million shares of the company, worth about $103 million. Other investment gurus betting on this firm are Daniel S. Och, D. E. Shaw and Steven Cohen, who declared ownership of 11.6 million shares of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), 10.9 million shares, and 9.6 million shares, respectively (as of March, 31, 2014).
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the last company in this list –and needs no introduction, whatsoever. By the end of the first quarter, the fund owned 32,750 Class A shares of the company (worth $36.5 million), all of which were sold over the second quarter. In exchange, Balestra acquired 15,250 Class C shares, worth roughly $8.7 million.
Another fund that seems bullish about Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, which declared having started a new stake – worth more than $367 million- in the company over the second quarter. This position comprises 638,736 Class C shares. In addition, the fund owns 745,519 Class A shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), worth more than $435 million.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks or funds mentioned
