Steven Owsley’s Madison Street Partners recently made public its long equity positions as of September 30 2014. The fund disclosed an equity portfolio worth more than $160 million, mainly focused on information technology stocks (44.5% of its total equity portfolio’s value), and consumer discretionary stocks (24.9%). Following the purchase of 11 new stocks, the closing of 33 preexisting positions, and the increase in 9 of them, Madison Street Partners holds 29 stocks. Let’s take a look at its three picks for the third quarter of the year: Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE), Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK), Liberty Global plc – Class C Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:LBTYK), and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO).
Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE) is first in this list. Madison Street Partners disclosed a 9% increase in its stake in the company over the third quarter of the year, and now owns about 1.87 million shares of Common Stock, worth more than $7.3 million. This position accounts for roughly 4.5% of the fund’s equity portfolio’s total value.
Another major fund betting on this $187 million market cap biopharmaceutical company is Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management. On early-September, the fund disclosed ownership of 4.64 million shares of Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTIE), up from 4.47 million held by the end of the second quarter.
Second in line is Liberty, an international media, communications and entertainment group of companies. Madison Street Partners holds two big stakes in these businesses: one with 96,478 shares in Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK), and one with 130,373 shares in Liberty Global plc – Class C Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:LBTYK). Both these positions are worth about $5.3 million (each) in the market. However, the fund started its position in Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK) over the third quarter, while it trimmed its exposure to Liberty Global plc – Class C Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:LBTYK) by 12% over the period.
In addition to Mr. Owsley, Warren Buffett also seems quite bullish about Liberty. Berkshire Hathaway last acknowledged holding 4 million Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCK) shares, and 9.86 million Liberty Global plc – Class C Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:LBTYK).
Finally, there’s Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO), a $19.46 billion market cap provider of credit ratings; credit, capital markets and economic related research, data and analytical tools; software solutions and related risk management services; quantitative credit risk measures, financial services training and certification services, and outsourced research and analytical services to institutional customers. According to its latest 13F filing, Madison Street Partners boosted its participation in the company by 2%, and now owns 37,083 shares of Common Stock, worth about $3.5 million.
Once again, Warren Buffett is involved in the company. His fund is the largest institutional shareholder, amongst those we track, with 24.66 million shares, worth more than $2.1 billion.
Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any stocks or funds mentioned
Let Warren Buffett, David Einhorn, George Soros, and David Tepper WORK FOR YOU. If you want to beat the low cost index funds by an average of 6 percentage points per year look no further than Warren Buffett’s stock picks. That’s the margin Buffett’s stock picks outperformed the market since 2008. In this free report, Insider Monkey’s market beating research team identified 7 stocks Warren Buffett and 12 other billionaires are crazy about. CLICK HERE NOW for all the details.
