Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Virgin Media Inc. (VMED): Here’s What This 758% Gainer Has Been Buying

Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let’s look at investing giant Daniel Loeb, founder of the Third Point LLC hedge fund. Loeb is a well-known activist investor, famous for publicly airing his opinions about companies in which he invests and not mincing words when he’s displeased. Loeb was instrumental in pointing out discrepancies in former Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO Scott Thompson’s biography — paving the way for Yahoo!’s new CEO, Marissa Mayer. More recently, he’s looking to break up Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE).

His activity bears watching, because the guy seems to know a thing or two about investing. According to the folks at GuruFocus.com, over the 15 recent years ending in 2012, Loeb racked up a cumulative gain of 758%,  compared with just 94% for the S&P 500.

The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $5.3 billion in value as of March 31, 2013.

Interesting developments
So what does Third Point’s latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:

The biggest new holdings are Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ:VMED) and Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF). Other new holdings of interest include Tibco Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TIBX), a Big Data operator that posted mixed results recently as it invests in a more cloud-computing-oriented future. It’s been adding recurring-revenue contracts and some speculate that it may end up acquired by another.

Third Point reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) Among holdings in which it increased its stake were AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) and Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA). AbbVie was split off from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and kept the pharmaceutical business. Detractors don’t like its heavy debt or the impending patent expiration of its rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, which is expected to generate more than $10 billion in annual sales. It has other drugs on the market and in its pipeline, tackling Hepatitis C, among other conditions. (A Hep C treatment just received FDA breakthrough designation.) It also sports a 3.5% dividend yield, and its chief scientific officer is retiring, which should interest investors.

Credit: Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)

Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) received FDA approval for its leukemia drug Iclusig, though its launch hasn’t been as strong as some had hoped. The company’s bone-tumor drug ridaforolimus was rejected in Europe, but it might still prove effective against other cancers. ARIAD needs some more success from its pipeline. Investors are hoping for European approval for Iclusig and eventual approvals for other treatments.