The stock of Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) also had a rally during the first quarter, gaining 17.33%, beating the specialty chemicals industry by around 10 percentage points. Mr. Burbank inched down his stake in the company by 2% to 2.76 million shares during the fourth quarter of 2014, the value of the stake amounting to $127.52 million. In addition to strong growth, Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)’s stock enjoys bullish sentiment from analysts, with Credit Suisse raising its price target to $61 from $57 with an ‘Outperform’ rating a couple of weeks ago, while Citigroup upgraded the rating to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ while upping the price target to $60 from $51. Passport Capital holds the largest stake in Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) among the funds that we track, with other investors having disclosed much smaller positions in their 13F filings, such as Alexander Roepers‘ Atlantic Investment Management, which held a stake of 425,000 shares, the next largest.
Now that we have discussed three stocks from Mr. Burbank’s equity portfolio that posted impressive gains, let’s take a look at some under-performers and we will start with Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), whose stock declined by 13.70% during the first quarter. Passport disclosed a new position in the investment back in its latest 13F, though it was not the first time it held shares of the company. Previously, the investor disclosed a new stake in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) in its 13F filing for the first quarter of 2013, but the position was sold off over the following three months. The previous round of 13F filings showed a decrease in popularity of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) among the funds that we track, as the number of investors declined to 94 from 101. Nevertheless, Bruce Berkowitz’s Fairholme and Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management maintained large positions in the company, even though they trimmed their exposure during the fourth quarter to 94.30 million shares and 41.93 million shares respectively.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is another interesting case, as its stock fell by 12% during the January-March period. Mr. Burbank cut his stake by 81% during the fourth quarter to 1.40 million shares worth $70.93 million as of the end of 2014. Mr. Burbank mentioned Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) as one of the stocks he likes in an interview in October, a month after the IPO of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), in which Yahoo owns a substantial position. Back then, the investor stated that Yahoo has a lot of intrinsic value in its equity investments in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan and that Marissa Mayer would eventually unlock this value in one way or another. Well, Mr. Burbank was right about that as Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced the spin-off of its stake in Alibaba in January and he was also right about cutting his stake in the company, judging from the first-quarter performance of the stock. On the other hand, James Dinan’s York Capital Management and Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group both initiated stakes during the fourth quarter that contained 9.40 million shares and 9.22 million shares respectively.
Disclosure: None
