Below we present the list of Top 5 Stocks Billionaire George Soros Just Bought. For more background on George Soros and some of his other top stock picks, please see Top 10 Stocks Billionaire George Soros Just Bought.
- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR)
The second-half of our list is kicked off with another merger-arb play, as Soros Fund Management bought 145,058 shares of Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) during Q3, a holding valued at $24.5 million at the end of September.
David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management owned by far the largest position in Varian at the end of Q2 among the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at just over $400 million. That set them up for a major payday after Varian jumped by over 21% following the August announcement that it would be acquired by Siemens Healthineers for $16.4 billion in cash.
- Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U)
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) went public in the middle of September and Soros Fund was quick to add the gaming software company to its 13F portfolio, buying 300,000 shares which were worth $26.18 million at the end of Q3. That purchase has proven to be a great one, as Unity Software has had a tremendous debut as a public company, gaining over 67% in two months and pushing its market cap past the $31 billion mark.
Unity Software provides one of the two dominant platforms which video games are built on, the other being Epic’s Unreal Engine. And while Unreal Engine may be the more celebrated of the two, Unity actually powers more games. The engine also has a big lead in the augmented reality (AR) realm, powering 90% of the games on Microsoft’s AR headset HoloLens. While AR has yet to take off, it (and Unity) are responsible for one of the most popular games ever created in the form of Pokemon Go. In addition to gaming, Unity’s software platform is increasingly being used across a wide range of other industries, including engineering, film & animation, automotive, and advertising.
- Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP)
Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) is the third and final chipmaker to make the list of top stocks bought by George Soros in Q3. The billionaire’s family office purchased 267,956 MCHP shares during the quarter, which were valued at $27.54 million at the end of September. Hedge funds piled into MCHP in droves in the second-half of 2019 but then fled the stock just as quickly once the pandemic hit.
In its Q4 2019 investor letter, Amana Funds praised Microchip Technology, which was one of its top performing stocks of 2019. It also anticipated strong future growth for the semiconductor industry, though it was uncertain of whether the rally would start in 2020 or 2021. MCHP shares have fully rebounded from their pandemic swoon, rising by 17% this year.
- Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU)
Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU) is another merger play that Soros Fund jumped at the chance to play during Q3, buying 384,096 shares during the quarter. That position was worth $32.66 million on September 30, ranking as the family office’s 25th most valuable 13F holding at that time.
Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) announced that it would acquire Immunomedics for $21 billion in cash, paying more than double what IMMU’s market value was before the announcement, a huge score for IMMU shareholders like Kurt Von Emster’s VenBio Select Advisor, which had over 18% exposure to IMMU as of June 30. In Tao Value’s Q3 investor letter, the Gilead shareholder expected the deal to be significantly accretive to Gilead’s bottom-line by 2023.
- Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR)
Topping the list of new stocks purchased by George Soros is another IPO in the form of Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR), which debuted right at the end of Q3 on September 30. Since then, shares have had a similarly meteoric rise as Unity Software’s, gaining 66% in six weeks. That was great news for Soros Fund, which opened a huge position of 18.45 million PLTR shares valued at over $175 million on September 30. Assuming the position hasn’t been altered since, Soros Fund has made a cool $115 million off the stock in just six weeks.
Investors are excited about the data analytics company’s burgeoning opportunities in the healthcare space, which includes being tagged by the U.S government to help deploy the Covid-19 vaccine and track health data. It’s also recently been awarded a $91 million contract from the U.S Army and had an existing anonymous aerospace customer renew a $300 million contract.
For more timely stock picks from the hedge fund world’s greatest investors, check out 10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy According To Billionaire Ken Fisher.
Disclosure: None.
