How Investments in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA), Facebook Inc (FB) & Other Stocks Affected Symmetry Peak Management’s Returns?

Symmetry Peak Management, LLC is a Pennsylvania-based investment fund founded by Frank Slattery in 2003. The fund is an employee-owned hedge fund sponsor. The fund’s portfolio is valued at $598.84 million, as of the end of June. Symmetry Peak posted a return of 19.21% from its 34 long positions in companies which have a market capitalization of $1 billion or more. This shows that focusing on the right hedge funds could help beat the market. Our research has shown that hedge funds with over five long positions in companies whose market cap is $1 billion or more return positive returns most of the times. In the third quarter, 95% of about 660 hedge funds we track posted positive returns from their long side of holdings in companies with a market valuation of $1 billion and above. Symmetry Peak Management is one of those hedge funds.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at some of Symmetry Peak’s top holdings as of the end of June, which include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT). 

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Symmetry Peak decreased its position in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) by 52% to 47,500 shares in the second quarter and reported a stake worth $3.78 million in the Chinese eCommerce giant. The stock advanced by 33% during the third quarter. At the end of the second quarter, a total of 69 funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, up by 3% from one quarter earlier. Among these funds, Silver Lake Partners, managed by Jim Davidson’s Dave RouxáandáGlenn Hutchins, held the biggest position in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA). Silver Lake Partners had a $1.30 billion position in the stock, comprising 27.2% of its 13F portfolio at the end of June. The second most bullish fund manager was Viking Global, led by Andreas Halvorsen, which amassed a $320.6 million position. Some other professional money managers that are bullish included Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

At the end of the second quarter, Symmetry Peak owned 36,790 shares of salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), which had a total value of $2.92 million. According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, held the biggest position in salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), which was worth $225.9 million at the end of June. The second most bullish fund manager was Tybourne Capital Management, led by Eashwar Krishnan, which reported $187.7 million worth of stoc. Some other members of the smart money with similar optimism included Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management. Overall, 60 funds tracked by us were long this stock at the end of June, down by 5% on the quarter. The stock lost 10.2% during the third quarter.

Symmetry Peak boosted its stake in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) by 140% in the second quarter, ending the period with 25,000 shares worth $2.86 million. During the second quarter, the number of funds tracked by us long Facebook, slid to 148 from 164, while the largest stake was held by Viking Global, which reported holding $2.30 billion worth of shares. It was followed by Lone Pine Capital with a $1.25 billion position. Other investors bullish on the company included Arrowstreet Capital, Egerton Capital Limited, and Lansdowne Partners. These funds saw Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s shares gain 12.2% during the third quarter.

Symmetry Peak reported ownership of 90,000 shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) as of the end of June. The position was increased by 71% during the second quarter and was worth $2.16 million at the end of the period. In the following three months, the company’s shares advanced by 26.2%, lifting the returns of 47 funds from our database that were bullish on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) at the end of June, compared to 39 funds a quarter earlier. The largest stake was held by D. E. Shaw & Co. which reported a $314 million position. It was followed by Israel Englander’s Millennium Management with a $205.4 million holding.  Other hedge funds and institutional investors that amassed shares of Applied Materials included John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, and John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies.

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Disclosure: none