The Top Tech Picks from Jonathon Jacobson’s $11 Billion Equity Portfolio

#3 eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)

– Shares Owned by Highfields Capital Management (as of September 30): 6.55 Million

– Value of Holding (as of September 30): $160 Million

Unlike Icahn, Highfields Capital became more bullish on the core business of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) after the PayPal spin-off than it was earlier. Whereas the number of hedge funds covered by us that owned a stake in eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) fell to 83 from 99 during the third quarter, Highfields increased its stake in the company by 45% during the same period. Like PayPal, shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) have also remained largely range-bound since the split. Most analysts that cover eBay Inc are apprehensive about the future growth of the company and remain neutral on the stock. On November 19, analysts at Cowen and Company reiterated their ‘Market Perform’ rating and $27 price target on the stock. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global was one of the funds that initiated a stake in eBay Inc during the third quarter; it held nearly 7.26 million shares of the company as of September 30.

#2 Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)

– Shares Owned by Highfields Capital Management (as of September 30): 362,956

– Value of Holding (as of September 30): $220.83 Million

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

– Shares Owned by Highfields Capital Management (as of September 30): 284,300

– Value of Holding (as of September 30): $181.5 Million

While Highfields reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s class C stock by 25,000 shares during the third quarter, it kept its stake in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s class A stock constant during the same period. Each class of Alphabet Inc’s stock has enjoyed a terrific bull run since the start of the second-half of the year, and currently trade up by more than 44% year-to-date. According to recent reports, Alphabet Inc will soon re-launch Google Glass for enterprise customers, but analysts and tech experts are skeptical whether it will find any takers, especially after the first version of Google Glass failed to take off. The venture capital arm of the company, Google Ventures (GV), is reportedly looking to reduce its exposure to early-stage companies and cut down on seed funding. Ken Griffin‘s Citadel Investment Group increased its stake in the company’s class A shares by 60% to 803,793 shares during the third quarter.

 #1 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

– Shares Owned by Highfields Capital Management (as of September 30): 15.54 Million

– Value of Holding (as of September 30): $688 Million

Finally, the decision of Highfields Capital Management to increase its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 48% during the third quarter has paid off handsomely. Shares of the tech giant have climbed by over 20% during the fourth quarter, with most of those gains coming after Microsoft reported its fiscal year 2016 first quarter results on October 22. For the quarter, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported EPS of $0.67 on revenue of $21.66 billion, while analysts had expected it to report EPS of $0.58 on revenue of $21 billion. Highfields was not the only hedge fund that became increasingly bullish on the company during the third quarter. 113 of the more than 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported owning a stake in the company as of the end of September, compared to 107 as of the end of June. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management also increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation during the third quarter and held over 30 million shares of the company at the end of September.

Disclosure: None