Horseman Capital Management Emerging as One of the Best Performing Funds; Here Are Its Notable Q4 Moves

Moving on, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the largest new purchase of Horseman Capital Management during the fourth quarter. The fund purchased 120,000 shares of the tech giant during that period, worth $12.63 million as of December 31. Shares of the company have fallen by over 30% since July of last year due to a number of factors, including a downturn in the economy of its second-biggest market, China. Despite reporting record first quarter numbers for fiscal year 2016 on January 26, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock fell significantly due to its guidance of a 9.14% year-over-year decline in fiscal second quarter revenue. While it is clear that the company’s hardware sales are in a phase of decline at the moment, several analysts continue to be bullish on the company, citing its ability to innovate and launch new products. On February 9, analysts at Piper Jaffray reiterated their ‘Overweight’ rating and $172 price target on Apple’s stock. Billionaire Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management increased its holding in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1% to 11.28 million shares during the fourth quarter.

Banking has long been one of the favorite sectors of Horseman Capital Management, hence it’s not a surprise that the fund increased its stake in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) by 147% to over 1.67 million shares during the fourth quarter. However, this bet doesn’t seem to be panning out well for the fund at the present juncture, given that Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) has lost 34% of its market cap this year. Though there are a number of reasons for this fall, the most notable among them is the flattening of the yield curve for government bonds after the recent rate hike, while looming fears of a recession in the U.S are also prominent. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) is currently trading at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 6.64 and price-to-book multiple of only 0.53, which makes it significantly cheaper than its peers and several analysts believe it is a great value buy at these prices. Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management reduced its stake in the company by 4% to 28.66 million shares during the fourth quarter.

Finally, the 11.7% rise in its stock price coupled with Horseman Capital Management increasing its stake in the company by 32% during the fourth quarter, helped push Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) up three spots quarter-over-quarter to become the fund’s fifth-largest holding at the end of December. Horseman Capital Management now owns 208,800 shares of the company, worth $33.72 million as of the end of December. Due to the slump in the broader market, shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) have fallen by 9.2% this year. On February 3, the company reported that its net sales grew by 2% year-over-year in January, to $8.32 billion and excluding currency volatility and the effect of gasoline prices, its comparable store sales increased by 4%. David Harding‘s Winton Capital Management was one of the hedge funds that reduced its stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) substantially during the fourth quarter, by 87%.

Disclosure: None