Billionaire David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio), one of the world’s most successful investors, announced Tuesday evening that he sold his stake in Apple (AAPL, Financial) and picked up shares of Wells Fargo (WFC, Financial) and UBS (UBS, Financial), along with several semiconductor positions in the first quarter.
Tepper is a former Goldman Sachs credit analyst who founded hedge fund Appaloosa Management in 1993. His first-quarter long portfolio listed 52 stocks, 14 of which were new buys. Despite his parting with Apple, the guru appeared most bullish on technology, weighting 38% of the portfolio in the sector, up from 31% last quarter.
Tepper has traded Apple aggressively in recent years. He owned the stock before 2012 (the latest records), sold out in 2014 and repurchased again in second-quarter 2015. He sold that stake in the first quarter of 2016, only to become a buyer again in the third quarter that year. His most recent purchase, the largest in years, occurred in the fourth quarter of 2017, when he amassed 3.23 million shares, only to sever the entire 4.59 million-share stake, his fourth largest, in the first quarter.
His first-quarter sale puts him in the opposite camp of Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), who heaped 74.23 million additional shares onto his Apple position in the first quarter, for a total stockpile of 239.67 million shares. At quarter-end, Apple was Buffett’s largest holding.
Increases to his top holdings, semiconductor company Micron Technology and media giant Facebook, also boosted his technology positioning. Together the holdings reign over more than a third of the portfolio.
Tepper also expanded his tech holdings with three additions in the semiconductor space: Lam Research (LRCX, Financial), Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT, Financial) and the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH, Financial).
In January, Tepper told CNBC he foresaw further growth in the overall market, boosted by low inflation, global growth and President Donald Trump’s lowering of the corporate tax rate.
Tepper jumpstarted his fortune in 2009 when he made a prescient bet that the U.S. government would not let banks such as Bank of America and Citigroup fail during the financial crisis. He earned approximately $7 billion for his firm and $2.5 billion for his personal wealth that year.
The new buys
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX, Financial)
Tepper purchased 1,295,586 shares of Lam Research Corp., giving it 2.73% portfolio space. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged $198.
Lam Research Corp has a market cap of $33.96 billion; its shares were traded around $207.01 with a P/E ratio of 20.06 and P/S ratio of 3.56. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Lam Research Corp. stocks is 0.94%. The forward dividend yield of Lam Research Corp. stocks is 0.99%. Lam Research Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 36.60% over the past five years.
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC, Financial)
Tepper purchased 2,937,615 shares of Wells Fargo & Co., giving it 1.6% portfolio space. The first-quarter share price averaged $59.
Wells Fargo & Co. has a market cap of $268.35 billion; its shares were traded around $55.07 with a P/E ratio of 13.58 and P/S ratio of 3.17. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Wells Fargo & Co. stocks is 2.83%. The forward dividend yield of Wells Fargo & Co. stocks is 2.85%.
Tepper purchased 6,955,399 shares of UBS Group AG, giving it 1.27% portfolio weight. The stock’s price averaged $19 in the first quarter.
UBS Group AG has a market cap of $62.37 billion; its shares were traded around $16.08 with a P/E ratio of 50.55 and P/S ratio of 2.13. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of UBS Group AG stocks is 4.04%. The forward dividend yield of UBS Group AG stocks is 4.01%.
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT, Financial)
Tepper purchased 1.57 million shares of Applied Materials, giving it 0.91% portfolio weight. The stock’s price averaged $56 in the first quarter.
Applied Materials Inc has a market cap of $57.97 billion; its shares were traded around $55.17 with a P/E ratio of 20.81 and P/S ratio of 3.85. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Applied Materials Inc stocks is 0.72%. The forward dividend yield of Applied Materials Inc stocks is 0.92%. Applied Materials Inc had an annual average earnings growth of 43.80% over the past five years.
VanEck Semiconductor (SMH, Financial)
Tepper purchased 737,000 shares of VanEck Semiconductor, giving it 0.8% portfolio weight. The stock’s price averaged $105 in the first quarter.
Vaneck Vectors Semiconductor has a market cap of $1.36 billion; its shares were traded around $106.53 with a P/E ratio of 20.70. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Vaneck Vectors Semiconductor stocks is 1.32%.
Tepper sold 4,587,852 shares of Apple in the first quarter, when its share price averaged $172.
Apple Inc. has a market cap of $924.93 billion; its shares were traded around $188.18 with a P/E ratio of 18.16 and P/S ratio of 3.92. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Apple Inc. stocks is 1.40%. The forward dividend yield of Apple Inc stocks is 1.57%. Apple Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 34.60% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Apple Inc. the business predictability rank of 2.5-star.
