Before he founded Blue Ridge Capital in 1996, hedge fund manager John Griffin (Trades, Portfolio) was a protégé of Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio) and his Tiger Funds and, as such, is known as a “Tiger Cub.” In fact, Griffin is remembered as Robertson’s “right-hand man” from their days together at Tiger Funds.
Griffin has said his investment philosophy comes down to this: He focuses on stocks that can produce a superior return over a three- to five-year period and shorts stocks that will underperform in one or two years.
Griffin’s most significant deals in the first quarter could best be termed “all or nothing.” His top two transactions were sales of stakes in his portfolio, followed by the additions of three stakes to that portfolio.
Griffin sold his stakes in SanDisk Corp (SNDK, Financial), a Silicon Valley-based designer, developer and manufacturer of flash memory storage solutions and software, and Yandex NV (YNDX, Financial), an Internet company that operates the largest search engine in Russia.
He sold his 1,700,000-share stake in SanDisk for an average price of $81.26 per share. That deal had a -2% impact on his portfolio. He sold his 8,900,000-share stake in Yandex for an average price of $16.08 per share. The transaction had a -1.9% impact on his portfolio.
SanDisk has a market cap of $13.52 billion and an enterprise value of $13.61 billion. It has a P/E of 20.0, a Price/Book of 2.4 and a Price/Sales of 2.4. PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Scott Black (Trades, Portfolio), Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio) and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of SanDisk in their portfolios.
Yandex has a market cap of $5.17 billion and an enterprise value of $5.34 billion. It has a P/E of 19.1, a Price/Book of 5.5 and a Price/Sales of 5.3. Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Howard Marks (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Yandex in their portfolios.
The price of a share of Yandex stock has been dropping for the last week as Russia’s parliament considers an Internet privacy bill that could impose regulatory costs on Yandex. The price closed at $15.83 on Tuesday.
Griffin also sold his stakes in Google Inc (GOOG, Financial), Tribune Publishing Co (TPUB, Financial) and Mobileye NV (MBLY, Financial).
Griffin bought a stake in Kraft Foods Group Inc (KRFT, Financial), an Illinois-based grocery manufacturing and processing conglomerate. He acquired 1,900,000 shares for an average price of $66.01 per share. The purchase had a 1.89% impact on his portfolio.
Kraft has a market cap of $51.88 billion and an enterprise value of $60.91 billion. It has a P/E of 55.45, a Price/Book of 11.4 and a Price/Sales of 2.9. Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), John Burbank (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio), Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio) and First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Kraft in their portfolios.
Griffin also acquired a stake in Fleetcor Technologies, Inc. (FLT, Financial), a Georgia-based provider of fuel cards and workforce payment products and services. Griffin purchased 1,058,000 shares for an average price of $147.98 per share. The deal had a 1.82% impact on his portfolio.
Fleetcor has a market cap of $14.89 billion and an enterprise value of $16.69 billion. It has a P/E of 37.5, a Price/Book of 5.3 and a Price/Sales of 10.6. Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio), Chase Coleman (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Daniel Loeb (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Fleetcor in their portfolios.
Griffin purchased a stake in CDK Global Inc (CDK, Financial), an Illinois-based provider of integrated technology solutions to auto, truck, motorcycle, marine, recreational vehicle and heavy equipment dealers. He bought 3,060,000 shares for an average price of $45.6 per share. The transaction had a 1.63% impact on his portfolio.
CDK has a market cap of $8.89 billion and an enterprise value of $9.55 billion. It has a P/E of 65.4, a Price/Book of 12.0 and a Price/Sales of 4.3. Paul Singer (Trades, Portfolio), Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Eric Mindich (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of CDK in their portfolios.
Other new stakes in Griffin’s portfolio are HD Supply Holdings Inc (HDS, Financial) and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp (TKMR, Financial).
Griffin reduced his existing stake in Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC, Financial), an Ohio-based oil refining, marketing and pipeline transport company, by nearly half. He sold 1,405,000 shares for an average price of $48.02 per share. The sale had a -1.56% impact on his portfolio.
Marathon has a market cap of $28.29 billion and an enterprise value of $33.6 billion. It has a P/E of 9.1, a Price/Book of 2.5 and a Price/Sales of 0.3. James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio), Alan Fournier (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), T Boone Pickens (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), John Burbank (Trades, Portfolio), Bernard Horn (Trades, Portfolio), John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Marathon in their portfolios.
Griffin also reduced his stakes in American Homes 4 Rent (AMH), Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrances Inc (ULTA), Allergan PLC (AGN), American Airlines Group Inc (AAL), Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL), Workday Inc (WDAY), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO) and Facebook Inc (FB).
Griffin added to existing stakes in Air Products & Chemicals Inc (APD), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc (ALNY), Endo International PLC (ENDP), IHS Inc (IHS), Charter Communications Inc (CHTR), GoPro Inc (GPRO), Post Holdings Inc (POST), LendingClub Corp (LC) and Platform Specialty Products Corp (PAH).
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