Hedge fund Menta Capital disclosed an equity portfolio valued at $612.3 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2015. The equity portfolio is mainly invested in finance (20%), technology (19%) and consumer discretionary (14%) stocks.Ă‚
In this article, we will look into the top three picks held at the end of Q2. Of the 10 largest holdings from Menta Capital’s equity portfolio (which comprise 5.47% of the total portfolio value), the three top are: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA, Financial), NICE Systems Ltd. (NICE, Financial) and Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (MLNX, Financial).
In Teva Pharmaceutical, Menta Capital holds 73,200 shares, up by 41% from the previous quarter. The value of the stake amounts to $4.3 million. It is important to mention that the stock lost 5.14% during the quarter.
The firm is the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer and also has the scale to minimize the threat of competitors in emerging markets. It plans to reduce costs by $2 billion to support profitability. Earlier this year, Teva´s buyout of rival Mylan generated doubts among investors. However, we believe that expanding the business into emerging markets should boost revenues. One of the largest shareholders of the company is Jean-Marie Eveillard, who reduced his stake by 11% during the quarter to 3.76 million shares held as of the end of the Q2 2015.
Gurus like Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio), John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio) and George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) have initiated new positions in the stock with 2,844,400; 2,030,500 and 423,308 shares, respectively.
NICE Systems, the Israeli tech company, represents the second most valuable investment in the fund’s portfolio. After a 6% increase in the company’s stake during the second quarter, the holding amounted to about 65,600 shares valued at $4.17 million. The stock has surged by 4.4% in the second quarter. Although CFO Dafna Gruber left the firm, management has demonstrated good execution skills with high levels of leadership. George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) is the largest shareholder with 1.03 million shares valued at about $65.29 million.
Next in line is Mellanox Technologies. The fund held about 85,183 shares valued at $4.14 million at the end of the second quarter of 2015. With a market cap of $1.9 billion, the stock is up by 7% in the second quarter. Hedge fund Scopia Capital held a stake of 1.88 million shares valued at $91.34 million.
Disclosure: As of this writing, Omar Venerio did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.
