Jeffrey Tannenbaum and Fir Tree’s Favorites: Aon PLC (AON), QUALCOMM, Inc. (QCOM)

Founded in 1994 by Jeffrey Tannenbaum, Fir Tree Partners is a hedge fund with a focus on distressed companies and it has over $5 billion in assets under management. At Insider Monkey we follow the moves of different hedge funds, including Fir Tree. Our premium strategies have helped retail investors beat the market by a double-digit margin over a long-term time frame. (Discover the details here).

As we have mentioned before, we track the activity of various hedge funds, and that’s why we suggest you take a look at the 10 top hedge funds in terms of equity returns.

But let’s get back to Fir Tree Partners. We consider that one of the most convenient ways to track the activity of a hedge fund is by looking at the 13F filings made quarterly with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In this piece we will discuss the top five picks from Fir Tree’s 13F portfolio in terms of stake value.

In Aon PLC (NYSE:AON), the hedge fund disclosed a $427.2 million stake, which comprises almost 7 million shares. During the first quarter of 2013, Fir Tree added to its stake in Aon PLC (NYSE:AON) by more than 3 million shares. Since the beginning of the year, the stock of Aon PLC (NYSE:AON) sports a P/E of 21.8x.

The next on the list is Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX), in which the hedge fund owns 1.4 million shares, worth $306.3 million. In the previous filing, Fir Tree disclosed a $306 million position, which involved 1.5 million shares. The stock of Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX) has returned about -13% since the beginning of the year.

The third-largest stake in Fir Tree’s equity portfolio is a $280.3 million position in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). The stake contains 4.2 million shares, and is a new position in the hedge fund’s portfolio. Aside from Fir Tree, more than 100 other hedge funds disclosed stakes in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) during the first three months of 2013.

We should also mention that Jeffrey Tannebaum’s hedge fund reported ownership of 6.2 million shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB). The value of the stake amounts to $233.6 million, up from $171 million reported as at the end of last year, when the hedge fund owned 5.2 million shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB).

Who’s last?

And the last on our list of picks is Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI), represented in Fir Tree’s equity portfolio by a $227 million stake, which contains 3.6 million shares, unchanged over the quarter. Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI)’s stock has a year-to-date return of about -1%.

In total, Fir Tree’s equity portfolio involves stakes in more than 50 companies. The value of the portfolio amounts to $5.4  billion, up from $3.9 billion reported as at the end of last year.

We should also mention some other hedge funds, whose top picks are important to be watched. Check out the top most valuable picks of Lance Helfert and Paul Orfalea’s West Coast Asset Management, Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, and Lisa Rapuano’s Lane Five Capital.

Disclosure: none