The 5 Stocks That Account for 78.95% of Varenne Capital’s 13F Portfolio

4. KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Value of Varenne Capital Partners‘ 13F Position: $23.1 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 52

Varenne’s stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) accounts for 6.4% of its $361 million 13F portfolio after the fund trimmed its position by 5% during Q2 to 72,361 shares. Hedge fund ownership of KLA has risen during five of the past six quarters, jumping by 58% during that time.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC), which provides process-monitoring systems for the semiconductor industry, reported strong fiscal Q4 results in late July, which were powered by its foundry and logic segments. The company’s $2.49 billion in revenue and $5.81 in adjusted EPS beat estimates, even in the face of ongoing supply chain headwinds. Deutsche Bank analyst Sidney Ho has a ‘Buy’ rating and $400 price target on KLAC shares, with the price target being raised from $385 earlier this month.

Vltava Fund had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to buy KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) shares and found it recently, as it detailed in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“We then used the money freed up to, among other things, open three new positions. The stock price declines during the Russian invasion brought a lot of good prices to the market. Out of all the possibilities we considered, we picked the stock of KLA Corporation (KLAC).

KLA Corporation develops leading-edge equipment and services that enable innovation throughout the electronics industry. It specialises in process management and control in semiconductor manufacturing and the related nanoelectronics industries. During manufacturing processes, products must be inspected for defects and correct critical dimensions in order to identify and eliminate possible sources of problems. As customers continue to enforce Moore’s Law, smaller chips must meet more precise specifications, which in turn increases the need for advanced inspection and diagnostic tools. This is a key step within the entire manufacturing process and one in which the company has built a very strong, and in places dominant, global position. We have been watching and waiting for an opportunity to acquire this stock for some time already, and this year’s drop in its price finally prompted us to buy.”