Liberty Broadband (LBRDK) & Activision Blizzard (ATVI) Among George Soros’ Soros Fund Management’s Top New Picks

Soros Bets On Communications Infrastructure

Soros Fund Management’s team was also looking for investment opportunities in the real estate business and identified Communications Sales & Leasing Inc (NASDAQ:CSAL) as a good bet. By the end of June, the fund managed to acquire 730,898 shares reportedly worth $21.1 million. Communications Sales & Leasing Inc (NASDAQ:CSAL) engages in the construction and maintenance of communications infrastructure. The company has a market cap of $4.84 billion and pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share, providing shareholders with a nice 7.84% yield. For the second quarter, Communications Sales & Leasing posted $84.5 million in funds from operations, or $0.56 per share, which is a key metric in the industry. The company also reported a loss of $2.9 million or $0.02 per share on the back of $188.6 million in revenue. Communications Sales & Leasing Inc (NASDAQ:CSAL) gained a boost of popularity among the funds in our database, with 24 of them having reported a position as of the end of June, up from 15 registered three months earlier. Among the funds followed by Insider Monkey, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group held the largest stake in Communications Sales & Leasing. According to its latest 13F filing, the fund held 3.16 million shares, up by 439% from the previous quarter.

Betting On The Underdog

TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:ROVI) is another major bet George Soros’ underlings decided to undertake during the second quarter. As reported in its latest 13F filing, Soros Fund Management held 4.07 million shares of the video technology software company, a position valued at $63.6 million. In general, hedge fund interest in TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:ROVI) faded a bit during the quarter, as the number of funds invested in the company dropped to 22 from 24 at the end of the first quarter. Richard Driehaus is also optimistic about the prospects of the company, having also established a new position that amounted to 3.02 million shares at the end of June. TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:ROVI) is the product of the merger between TiVo Inc and Rovi Corporation. At the end of April, Rovi announced a $1.1 billion deal to take over TiVo, with the combined company holding more than 6,000 pending and registered patents. The companies decided to join forces as the latest trend sees consumers switching from traditional TV viewing habits to cloud-based services like Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Liberty Broadband Sparked Great Interest

George Soros’ number one new equity position at the end of the second quarter was in Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDK). Valued at $533 million, Soros Fund Management’s stake amounted to 8.89 million shares and was also its largest equity position at the end of the quarter. During the second quarter, the number of hedge funds holding Class C shares of Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDK) increased to 43 from 39 recorded a quarter before. Barry Rosenstein‘s JANA Partners made a big bullish bet on Liberty Broadband, having acquired 9.21 million Class C shares valued at $552 million at the end of June. Valued at $12.8 billion, Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDK) has two main assets: a stake in Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR) and its wholly-owned subsidiary TruePosition, which offers positioning and location intelligence solutions. So far this year, the stock has been mainly in an uptrend, advancing nearly 38% through Friday’s closing price of $70.23 per share.

Disclosure: none.