Li Lu (Trades, Portfolio), manager of Himalaya Capital Management, disclosed in a regulatory filing that its top trades during the second quarter included a new holding in Alphabet Inc.’s Class A shares (GOOGL, Financial), a boost to its holding in Alphabet’s Class C shares (GOOG, Financial) and the closure of its holding in Meta Platforms Inc. (META, Financial).
Born and raised in China, Li received a bachelor of arts degree, a juris doctor degree and an MBA at Columbia University. His firm embraces the value investing principles of Benjamin Graham and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) co-managers Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) and Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio). Li gave an example of his firm’s philosophy using a baseball analogy: divide the strike zone into many cells and swing only at “the best” cells.
While the firm primarily focuses on Chinese investments, Himalaya has resumed filing 13Fs for its U.S.-based holdings. As of June, the $2.38 billion equity portfolio contains six stocks.
Investors should be aware 13F filings do not give a complete picture of a firm’s holdings as the reports only include its positions in U.S. stocks and American depository receipts, but they can still provide valuable information. Further, the reports only reflect trades and holdings as of the most-recent portfolio filing date, which may or may not be held by the reporting firm today or even when this article was published.
Alphabet
Himalaya purchased 948,000 Class A shares of Alphabet (GOOGL, Financial), giving the position 5.51% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $118.07 during the second quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.89.
The firm also added 1.326 million Class C shares of Alphabet (GOOG, Financial), expanding the position by 77.18% and its equity portfolio by 7.74%.
Class C shares of Alphabet averaged $118.50 during the second quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.89.
The Mountain View, California-based online search giant has a GF Score of 97 out of 100 based on a growth rank of 10 out of 10, a rank of 9 out of 10 for financial strength and profitability, a momentum rank of 8 out of 10 and a GF Value rank of 7 out of 10.
Other gurus with holdings in Alphabet include Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio)’s Fisher Investments and PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio).
Meta Platforms
The firm sold all 876,200 shares of Meta Platforms (META, Financial), trimming 8.19% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of the company formerly known as Facebook averaged $193.38 during the second quarter; the stock is significantly undervalued based on Tuesday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.47.
The Menlo Park, California-based social media giant has a GF Score of 92 out of 100, driven by a rank of 10 out of 10 for profitability and growth and a financial strength rank of 8 out of 10 despite momentum and GF Value ranking just 4 out of 10.
Gurus with holdings in Meta include Dodge & Cox, Fisher Investments and Baillie Gifford (Trades, Portfolio).
Other holdings summary
Himalaya’s equity portfolio also includes holdings in Micron Technology Inc. (MU, Financial), Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial), Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B, Financial) and Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial), with weights of 37.57%, 25.27%, 13.32% and 5.57%.
