The latest round of 13F filings is complete and our Insider Monkey team is busy pouring over the hundreds of filings from some of Wall Street’s most influential and talented investors, with several quarterly reports on overall hedge fund activity forthcoming. In the meantime, let’s take a look at the top picks of billionaire Michael Price of MFP Investors, a New York-based fund he founded in 1998. Price got his start in finance when he was hired by Max Heine right after he graduated from college at the University of Oklahoma. He was making $200-a-week as a research assistant. After the death of Max Heine, he took control of the firm and increased the value of its funds to more than $17 billion before selling the business to Franklin Securities in 1996 for $670 million. Considered an expert in value investing, Price also developed a reputation as an activist investor when he was in control of the larger funds. Since then, Price has returned to a smaller family office fund and to a simpler methodology of value investing. Price’s net worth is currently estimated to be $1.4 billion.
Why do we follow Michael Price? One of the most common objections to incorporating 13F filings into an investment strategy is that the information in these filings is a bit out of date; the most recent round of filings discloses hedge funds’ long equity positions as of the end of March. However, we’ve found in our research that the most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds earn an average return of 18 percentage points per year regardless. This is especially true of value investors like Price, as even though their 13F filings are delayed, we can compare them to those from years ago to see which stocks these investors have liked over a longer time frame and therefore are still likely to own. Here are three stocks which Michael Price’s MFP Investors owned at least a $10 million position in as of its latest filing. Price hasn’t adjusted the positions of any of these three stocks since the previous filing, underscoring our point.
At the end of the first quarter, Price and his team continue to hold 1.85 million shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), with their total value amounting to $57.85 million. Price has been involved in this stock for quite some time, dating back to the fourth quarter of 2011. Out of the funds we track, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management are the largest holders of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has had a tough start so far this year, with shares falling by over 9% year-to-date. Nonetheless, investors remain bullish on the company, as the global demand for its chips should continue to increase as the number of electronic devices increases globally.
Price and his team held 642,500 shares of Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) with a value of $43.61 million. Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) has also been a long term pick of the firm, with the holding dating back to the first quarter of 2013. Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) has also had a tough 2015 so far with the year-to-date performance of its shares at -5.6%. Paul Singer’s Elliott Management is the largest shareholder of Hess among the firms we track, followed by Fir Tree, founded by Jeffrey Tannenbaum. Regardless of the tough quarter, investors still like the stock as long as crude remains above $40.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) is another long term pick of Price. The firm continued to hold 1.98 million shares of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX), with them valued at $35.15 million. The position dates back to the first quarter of 2012. Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX)’s shares have done well this year, surging almost 35% year-to-date. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital has the largest holding in the company among the firms we track. Adage Capital Management, run by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, ranks second. Conan Laughlin’s North Tide Capital was another shareholder of BSX, whom we profiled last month.
Disclosure: None
