John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio), founder of New York-based hedge fund Paulson & Co., bought seven new stocks in the second quarter, he reported Tuesday.
Paulson’s firm has struggled in recent years as it made bad bets on health care, including a 6% stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals, now Bausch Health Companies Inc. (BCH), on which he has a loss estimated around 79%. The investor also lost about 70% on his Paulson Enhanced fund, which focuses on merger arbitrage strategies, over four years, according to Bloomberg.
In September, Paulson took on the gold mining industry in a presentation that criticized CEOs of the companies for plunging share prices and prioritizing pay over shareholder interests as his investments in the sector lost money.
As of March, Paulson’s assets under management have dwindled to $9 billion from a peak of $38 billion in 2011, Financial Times reported. The manager’s troubles come after he rose to fame during the financial crisis, reaping one of the largest paydays in the industry’s history. In 2010, Paulson made $5 billion in profits, beating a previous record of $4 billion he set in 2007 by betting against subprime mortgages.
In the second quarter, the majority of Paulson’s buys came from the communication services sector: AT&T (T, Financial), Mitel Networks Corp. (MITL, Financial), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, Financial) and Altice USA Inc. (ATUS, Financial). At 13% of his holdings, communications services is the second largest sector represented in his $4.9 billion portfolio.
He also purchased Akorn Inc. (AKRX, Financial), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (FOXA, Financial) and LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO, Financial).
Second quarter buys
Paulson purchased 2,377,981 shares of AT&T, giving it 1.56% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $33.
AT&T Inc. has a market cap of $235.8 billion; its shares were traded around $32.47 with a P/E ratio of 6.37 and P/S ratio of 1.28. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of AT&T Inc. stocks is 6.10%. The forward dividend yield of AT&T Inc. stocks is 6.20%. AT&T Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 1.60% over the past 10 years.
Mitel Networks Corp. (MITL, Financial)
Paulson purchased 4 million shares of the company, giving it 0.9% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $11.
Mitel Networks Corp. has a market cap of $1.34 billion; its shares were traded around $10.95 with and P/S ratio of 1.11.
Paulson purchased 1.76 million shares of the company, giving it 0.6% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $15.
Akorn Inc. has a market cap of $2.42 billion; its shares were traded around $19.31 with and P/S ratio of 3.18. Akorn Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 9.0% over the past five years.
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, Financial)
Paulson purchased 655,000 shares of the company, giving it 0.44% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $33.
Comcast Corp. has a market cap of $160.23 billion; its shares were traded around $34.97 with a P/E ratio of 6.92 and P/S ratio of 1.89. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Comcast Corp. stocks is 1.98%. The forward dividend yield of Comcast Corp. stocks is 2.15%. Comcast Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 12.10% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Comcast Corp. the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
Altice USA Inc. (ATUS, Financial)
Paulson purchased 173,185 shares of the company, giving it 0.06% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $18.
Altice USA Inc. has a market cap of $12.79 billion; its shares were traded around $17.35 with a P/E ratio of 8.19 and P/S ratio of 1.34.
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (FOXA, Financial)
Paulson purchased 40,000 shares of the company, giving it 0.04% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $40.
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. has a market cap of $83.59 billion; its shares were traded around $45.34 with a P/E ratio of 21.40 and P/S ratio of 2.78. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. stocks is 0.79%. The forward dividend yield of Twenty-Ffirst Century Fox Inc. stocks is 0.79%.
LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO, Financial)
Paulson purchased 35,987 shares of the company, giving it 0.03% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $32.
LaSalle Hotel Properties has a market cap of $3.78 billion; its shares were traded around $34.26 with a P/E ratio of 62.28 and P/S ratio of 3.68. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of LaSalle Hotel Properties stocks is 4.61%. The forward dividend yield of LaSalle Hotel Properties stocks is 2.62%. LaSalle Hotel Properties had an annual average earnings growth of 0.80% over the past five years.
See John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio here.
