Was Boardman Bay Capital Management Right To Reduce Exposure To Tableau Software (DATA), Applied Materials (AMAT) & Two Other Stocks?

Will Graves‘ Boardman Bay Capital Management is an equity long/short fund that focuses on investing in highly liquid sectors, mainly technology, media and telecom stocks. It is no wonder then, that tech stocks accounted for 77% of the fund’s equity portfolio at the end of the third quarter. The portfolio’s market value was estimated at $59.6 million, nearly half of the fund’s $120 million worth of assets under management it reportedly had at the end of March 2016.

At Insider Monkey, we have established our own metric for hedge fund performance: we look at the performance of fund’s stock picks that have a market cap of $1 billion and more. According to our data, 35 of Boardman Bay Capital Management’s positions for the third quarter qualified under our assumptions, generating a return of 15.06%, making it one of the best performers for the quarter. Since the fund is heavily invested in tech stocks, we’ll take a look at some of its top stock picks from this sector and how has Mr. Greaves has positioned his fund heading into the fourth quarter.

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First we’re going to take a peek at Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX). Will Graves chose to liquidate his fund’s position in Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX) during the third quarter, despite the stock ending the quarter up by 5.5%. At the end of the previous quarter, Boardman Bay Capital held 453,472 shares. At the end of the second quarter, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, down by 11% from the first quarter of 2016. More specifically, Prince Street Capital Management was the largest shareholder of Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX), with a stake worth $24.8 million reported as of the end of June. Trailing Prince Street Capital Management was Quentec Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $22 million. Garelick Capital Partners, Millennium Management, and Shannon River Fund Management also held valuable positions in the company.

Having made a big bullish bet on Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) during the second quarter, Boardman Bay Capital has decided to cash out, having dumped 72% of its holding during the third quarter amid a 29.9% gain registered by the stock. According to its latest 13F filing, at the end of September the fund held just 6,121 shares worth $975,000. At the end of the second quarter, a total of 37 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a drop of 12% from the previous quarter. Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW), which was worth $139 million at the end of the second quarter. On the second spot was Alyeska Investment Group which amassed $126.4 million worth of shares. Moreover, SRS Investment Management, Criterion Capital, and Tremblant Capital were also bullish on Palo Alto Networks.