Richard Driehaus is a legendary hedge fund manager with the motto: “Everyone wants to be rich, but few want to work for it.” The manager and founder of Driehaus Capital, Richar Driehaus entered the world of stocks at the age of just 13. Recently, Driehaus Capital filed its 13F form with the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing all of its equities as of the end of the second quarter.
Why should we pay attention to 13F filings of a hedge fund? The answer is simple: this gives us the possibility to see the hedge fund’s sentiment, which can lead to market-beating opportunities. As follows, let’s take a look at the top picks in terms of stake 
LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) was a new company in Driehaus Capital’s equity portfolio. As of the end of the second quarter of 2013, Driehaus Capital disclosed ownership of over 540,000 shares of LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB), the value of the stake amounting $35.8 million. With this acquisition, Richard Driehaus joined Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global, the manager of Millennium Management, Israel Englander, and Donald Chiboucis of Columbus Circle Investment among other “hedgies” that are bullish on LyondellBasell.
The next two positions from our list include Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM) and New Oriental Education & Tech Grp (ADR) (NYSE:EDU), represented in Driehaus’ equity portfolio by 1.8 million and 1.4 million shares respectively. The hedge fund’s position in Taiwan Semiconductor increased by over 200,000 shares over the quarter, while New Oriental represents a new position. The value of the stakes amounts to $32.5 million and $31.4 million respectively. The stock of Taiwan Semiconductor has returned -7% since the beginning of the year, while New Oriental’s YTD return amounts to more than 18%.
In General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Driehaus’ stake is valued at $24.9 million, and includes 746,845 shares. The stake remained unchanged since the end of the first quarter, with its value increasing from the previous value of $20.8 million. GM shares sport a year-to-date return above 21%, and a forward P/E of 7.8x with a PEG slightly above 0.7. There’s still obvious value here.
In fifth is CONN’S, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN), in which the hedge fund disclosed a stake containing almost 416,000 shares. The value of the stake amounts to $21.5 million, up from the first-quarter value of $11.4 million, when Driehaus’ stake included 317,313 shares. Trading with a forward P.E of 12.4x, the stock of CONN’S, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN) more than doubled since the beginning of the year, with its YTD return amounting to about 117%.
In total, the equity portfolio of Driehaus Capital includes over 400 positions and its market value amounts to about $2.82 billion, above the previous quarter’s value of $2.36 billion.
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Disclosure: none
