Visa Inc (V), Alliance Data Systems Corporation (ADS) & More: Navellier & Associates’ Top Portfolio Holdings

Related Tickers: Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS), Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX), Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC), Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB)

With roughly $2.5bn in assets under management, Navellier & Associates is a team of about twelve investment professionals that use quantitative and fundamental analysis to employ its investors’ capital. Headed up by market veteran and educator Louis Navellier, the fund recently released its 13F filing for Q1 2013, outlining its latest holdings and market moves. We have used these filings to discern a small-cap strategy that has returned 37% to investors since its debut in September 2013 (read more about it here). Let’s take a look at Navellier’s top five equity holdings as indicated by its 13F.

Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS) takes the number one spot in the hedge fund’s portfolio, receiving an $82mm commitment from Navellier and his team. The Texas-based marketing solutions provider reported earnings on the eighteenth of April, delivering a small beat, managing to keep its streak of consistently surprising analysts to the positive. ADS recent business pairings with Facebook and other data marketers have helped to propel the stock price up almost 15% year-to-date and up nearly 28% from a year ago. Billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group has almost $70mm devoted to Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS) (read about his fund’s top stocks here).

Visa Inc (NYSE:V) nears the top of Navellier’s portfolio, commanding a $77mm, 450,000 share investment from the hedge fund. The payment giant has fallen slightly out of fashion with Wall Street lately, as analysts from firms like Sterne Agee, BNP Paribas, and Argus have all rated the stock Neutral or Hold since the beginning of March. Increased competition in the sector seems to be the drive for the tepid ratings. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) recently strengthened its e-commerce checkout business by adding online retail giant Overstock.com to its list of clients. Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global has over half a billion dollars invested in Visa (check out his portfolio’s make-up here).

Credit: Visa Inc (NYSE:V)

Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX) is another business data/IT solutions provider in Navellier’s top five; EQIX, however, focuses on data centers, colocation, and cloud services. Equinix started last month by refinancing $1.5bn worth of notes after being upgraded to BB by the S&P. FBN Securities and Stephens were soon to follow with Outperform and Overweight ratings, respectively. The company reported Q1 earnings on the 24^th of this month, delivering misses in both EPS and revenue. Billionaire Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital keeps nearly 2.8mm shares in his portfolio (view the fund’s top five picks here).

Where else has Navellier decided to allocate its capital?