Iridian Asset Management Loads Up On Top Picks: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW), Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN), Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), More

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) was the fourth-largest position held by Iridian Asset Management on December 31, with a total value of $416 million. The fund bought 943,331 shares of the company during the quarter, lifting its holding to 6.7 million shares. Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) is one of the largest meat retailers in the country, with a market value of $23.8 billion. Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) has fallen by 11% over the last month and trades near the mid-point of its 52-week price range. The company performed well in the early part of 2016 but the stock fell sharply in November after it delivered poor results and its CEO stepped down. Analysts have an average target price of $69 on Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), which is just 5% above the current market price. The number of hedge funds in our system long the stock fell to 35 at the end of September from 40 at the end of June.

Iridian Asset Management made Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) its top technology holding by purchasing 730,813 shares in the fourth quarter, taking its position to 9.69 million shares worth $374 million. The company now accounts for 3.46% of the fund’s 13F portfolio and ranks as its sixth-biggest holding. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) was embroiled in controversy after a major security breach of its user data came to light, putting its sale to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in jeopardy. Despite the spate of bad news, the stock has increased by 8.5% in the last 3 months and currently trades near the top of its 52-week range at $45. The reason behind the surge was good quarterly results in which the company beat analyst expectations on both the top- and bottom-lines. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) reported revenue of $1.47 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.25, while analysts had muted expectations of just $907 million in revenue and $0.21 in EPS. The number of hedge funds in our system bullish on the stock increased to 90 at the end of September from 81 at the end of June.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was another stock in which Iridian Asset Management added substantially to its position during Q4, buying 938,501 shares to lift its holding to 4.8 million shares valued at $256 million. The stock has given a flat performance over the last 5 years, though it has seen an increase of 14% over the last year. Most analysts are bullish on Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) however, with 12 analysts rating it as a ‘Buy’, while 10 have rated it as a ‘Hold’. The mean target price is $60, which implies a 20% gain from the current price. The company missed Q4 expectations with revenue of $3.08 billion and EPS of $0.64 falling slightly short of the $3.11 billion in revenue and $0.66 in EPS that analysts had predicted. Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) recently reached a settlement with the Justice Department to pay $6.96 million over a criminal matter related to improper financial dealings in China. The number of hedge funds in our system long LVS increased sharply during the third quarter, to 31 at the end of September from 23 at the end of June, with their combined holdings also growing to $6.5 billion in value from just $2.8 billion.

Disclosure: None