George Soros Buys Carl Icahn's CVR Energy, Suntrust Banks, Consumer Staples SPDR

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May 17, 2012
George Soros’ $25 billion Soros Fund Management LLC bought 84 new stocks in the first quarter. The billionaire investor seemed particularly interested in oil and gas producers — eight of his top 15 stocks were from the sector. He is also taking advantage of the corporate takeover of one of his colleagues, Carl Icahn.


Soros’ top new selections were: CVR Energy Inc. (CVI, Financial), Suntrust Banks (STI, Financial), Chevron Corp (CVX, Financial), Macy’s Inc. (M, Financial) and Select Sector SPDR Consumer Staples (XLP, Financial).


CVR Energy (CVI), a refiner and marketer of petroleum fuels, is what fellow guru investor John Paulson calls, “a gift from Carl Icahn.” In April, Icahn won a $30 per share bid to purchase CVR Energy, when 55% of shareholders agreed to tender their shares after a hostile takeover campaign. If Icahn is able to sell the company, Icahn has said shareholders may receive an additional $7 per share.


Soros’s other top oil and gas producer stock was Chevron, his third largest new buy. He bought 682,000 shares of the company. Chevron pushed to 52 week highs in the first quarter.


Soros also increased his sector weighting in financials from 3.3% of his portfolio to 5.2%, its highest representation in his portfolio in a year. The largest bank position he bought was Suntrust Banks, with 3,188,000 shares.


Macy’s, a department store and furniture gallery retailer with $26.4 billion in fiscal 2011 sales, was Soros’ fourth largest buy. He purchased 1,445,000 shares in the first quarter.


His fifth largest buy was 1,104,000 shares of Select Sector SPDR Consumer Staples (XLP). The Consumers Staples SPDR contains consumer products companies that make things like food and drugs, food products, tobacco, household products and personal products. Top stocks include Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, Philip Morris and Coca-Cola. In the last year it returned 11.6%.


See more of George Soros’ newly updated portfolio here. Also check out the Undervalued Stocks, Top Growth Companies and High Yield stocks of George Soros.