Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), a founding partner of Viking Global, disclosed this week that his firm's top sells during the third quarter were in Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN, Financial), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, Financial), Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER, Financial) and JD.com Inc. (JD, Financial). The firm also disclosed a reduction of its Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. (ADPT, Financial) holding.
Prior to finding the Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm, Halvorsen worked as senior managing director and director of equities at Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio)'s Tiger Management. Viking mentions on its website that it employs a research-intensive, long-term investment approach and selects stocks across industries and geographies using fundamental analysis and a thorough investment of the companies' business models, management teams and industry trends.
Viking manages approximately $34 billion in total assets. As of third quarter-end, the firm's $27.68 billion equity portfolio contains 87 stocks, with 32 new positions and a turnover ratio of 33%. The top three sectors in terms of weight are health care, technology and financial services, representing 30.30%, 25.00% and 16.07% of the equity portfolio.
Amazon
Viking sold 340,614 shares of Amazon, trimming the position 55.58% and the equity portfolio 4.06%. Shares averaged $3,151.21 during the third quarter.
GuruFocus ranks the Seattle-based retail giant's financial strength and profitability 7 out of 10 on the back of a high Altman Z-score of 6.47, a debt-to-Ebitda ratio that outperforms 71.57% of global competitors and profit margins that are outperforming over 70% of global retail companies.
Gurus with large holdings in Amazon include Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) and Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio).
Comcast
Viking sold 18,478,611 shares of Comcast, trimming the stake 64.78% and the equity portfolio 3.12%. Shares averaged $43.43 during the third quarter.
GuruFocus ranks the Philadelphia-based media company's profitability 8 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a 3.5-star business predictability rank and profit margins that are outperforming over 83% of global competitors.
Uber
Viking sold 16,470,839 shares of Uber, trimming the equity portfolio 2.21%. Shares averaged $32.98 during the third quarter.
GuruFocus ranks the San Francisco-based rideshare company's financial strength 4 out of 10 on several warning signs, which include a low Altman Z-score of 1.43 and cash-to-debt and debt-to-equity ratios underperforming over 70% of global competitors.
JD
Viking sold 8,266,459 shares of JD, trimming the equity portfolio 2.15%. Shares averaged $69.52 during the third quarter.
GuruFocus ranks the Beijing-based retailer's financial strength 7 out of 10 on the heels of a high Piotroski F-score of 7, a strong Altman Z-score of 4.61 and debt ratios that are outperforming over 73% of global competitors.
Adaptive Biotechnologies
According to GuruFocus Real-Time Picks, a Premium feature, Viking sold 2.5 million shares of Adaptive Biotechnologies on Nov. 11, trimming the position 7.46%. The shares traded around $49.52 on the transaction date.
According to GuruFocus, the Seattle-based biotech company's cash-to-debt and debt-to-equity ratios are outperforming over 57% of global competitors, suggesting satisfactory financial strength.
Disclosure: No positions.
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