Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), founder and CEO of Maverick Capital, disclosed in a regulatory filing that his firm’s top five trades during the fourth quarter of 2022 included a reduction in its top holding Coupang Inc. (CPNG, Financial), new positions in CBRE Group Inc. (CBRE, Financial) and Catalent Inc. (CTLT, Financial) and boosts to its holdings of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL, Financial) and Meta Platforms Inc. (META, Financial).
Prior to founding the Dallas-based firm, Ainslie worked for the late Julian Robertson's Tiger Management (Trades, Portfolio). Maverick employs six industry experts to research opportunities across market sectors. Ainslie makes the final decision on the firm’s investments based on conversations and meetings with the industry experts.
As of December 2022, Maverick’s $4.22 billion 13F equity portfolio contains 377 stocks with a quarterly turnover ratio of 13%. The top four sectors in terms of weight are consumer cyclical, technology, health care and communication services, accounting for 37.52%, 17.97%, 13.34% and 10.83% of the equity portfolio.
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.
Coupang
Maverick sold 5,048,773 shares of Coupang (CPNG, Financial), trimming the position by 6.21% and its equity portfolio by 1.90%. Shares averaged $17.65 during the fourth quarter.
Despite the reduction, the stock remains the firm’s top holding with a weight of 26.54%.
Headquartered in Seattle, the South Korean e-commerce company sells apparel, electronics, footwear, food products, furniture and nutritional products. Coupang’s financial strength ranks 6 out of 10 on the back of a high Altman Z-score of 3.48 and a cash-to-debt ratio that outperforms approximately 70% of global competitors. Despite this, the company’s debt-to-Ebitda ratio of 14.55 underperforms more than 90% of global cyclical retail companies.
Although the company has good financial strength, Coupang’s profitability ranks 1 out of 10 on the back of profit margins and returns underperforming over 70% of global competitors. Additionally, the company does not have enough data to compute ranks for growth, GF Value and momentum and thus, the GF Score of 20 out of 100 may give an incomplete picture of the stock’s potential.
CBRE Group
The firm invested in 850,002 shares of CBRE Group (CBRE, Financial), giving the position 1.55% equity portfolio weight.
Shares of CBRE averaged $73.85 during the fourth quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.94 as of Thursday.
The Dallas-based real estate services company has a GF Score of 89 out of 100 based on a financial strength rank of 7 out of 10, a GF Value rank of 6 out of 10 and a rank of 8 out of 10 for momentum, profitability and growth.
CBRE’s financial strength ranks 7 out of 10 on the back of a high Altman Z-score of 3.73 and an interest coverage ratio that outperforms approximately 74% of global competitors despite cash-to-debt ratios outperforming just over 55% of global real estate companies.
Catalent
Maverick purchased 1,401,649 shares of Catalent (CTLT, Financial), giving the position 1.49% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $54.36 during the fourth quarter.
GuruFocus’ GF Value line labeled the Somerset, New Jersey-based drug manufacturing company a possible value trap based on the company’s low price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.65 as of Thursday and low momentum rank of 2 out of 10.
Despite the company having low momentum, Catalent’s GF Score of 83 out of 100 is driven by a GF Value rank of 10 out of 10, a growth rank of 9 out of 10, a profitability rank of 8 out of 10 and a financial strength rank of 5 out of 10.
Catalent’s growth ranks 9 out of 10 on the back of three-year revenue growth rates outperforming approximately 77% of global competitors and three-year earnings growth rates outperforming over 85% of global drug manufacturers.
Jones Lang LaSalle
Maverick added 374,689 shares of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL, Financial), expanding the position by 83.85% and its equity portfolio by 1.41%.
Shares of Jones Lang LaSalle averaged $159.44 during the fourth quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.90 as of Thursday.
The Chicago-based real estate services company has a GF Score of 86 out of 100 based on a rank of 7 out of 10 for momentum and growth, a profitability rank of 8 out of 10 and a rank of 6 out of 10 for financial strength and GF Value.
Meta Platforms
Maverick purchased 482,745 shares of Meta Platforms (META, Financial), boosting the position by 53.53% and its equity portfolio by 1.37%.
Shares of Meta averaged $117.43 during the fourth quarter; the stock is significantly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.48 as of Thursday.
The Menlo Park, California-based social media giant has a GF Score of 93 out of 100 based on a growth rank of 10 out of 10, a profitability rank of 9 out of 10, a momentum rank of 8 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 7 out of 10 and a GF Value rank of 4 out of 10.
Meta’s profitability ranks 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a three-star business predictability rank and an operating margin that outperforms approximately 86% of global competitors.
