Jim Simons' (Trades, Portfolio) Renaissance Technologies disclosed an equity portfolio valued at $41.91 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2015. The equity portfolio is mainly invested in Technology (17%), Health Care (14%) and Consumer Discretionary (12%) stocks.
The top holdings in each sector at the end of the quarter were VeriSign Inc. (VRSN, Financial), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO, Financial) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG, Financial).
In VeriSign, the fund holds 5.04 million shares, down by 1% on the quarter. The value of the stake amounts to $353.8 million. In that period, the stock gained 14.32% and 35% since then. On a year-to-date basis, the stock has returned 58%.
The company has good intangible assets and what matters most is the ability to grow faster. The firm manages primary Internet root servers. Contracts are essential in this industry, and VeriSign has always been able to make renewals. In fact, there are renewals until Nov. 30, 2018. We can see it has good pricing power as it can raise .net prices every year.Â
The largest shareholder among the gurus is Warren Buffett with 12.99 million shares, valued at $916.2 million as of the end of Q3 2015.
Novo Nordisk A/S represents the most valuable investment in the health care sector. After a 7% reduction in the stake during the third quarter, the holding amounted to about 13.2 million shares valued at $714.4 million. The stock was in red by 0.82% in the third quarter but managed to return positive returns since then, achieving 3.6%.
Further, the stock’s total return is at 32.8% on a year-to-date basis, compared to roughly 4% for for competitor Pfizer Inc. (PFE, Financial). The company is a leader in operations in the last 85 years in the diabetes market. Obesity and pricier insulin offerings should create a significant insulin market, which should be increasing by more than 6% annually.
At the end of the period, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio)'s Fisher Asset Management held a large number of the company's shares with 11.66 million shares valued at about $632 million.
Lastly, Chipotle Mexican Grill is a great player in the domestic fast-casual Mexican category. This restaurant offers higher-quality ingredients than others in the industry and has lower prices that make it attractive. Although the company faces increased competition, mainly from quick-service chains, Chipotle Mexican is holding its own.
Simons' fund held about 479,400 shares valued at $345.3 million at the end of the quarter. With a market cap of $16.91 billion, the stock was up by 19.05% during the third quarter, but it has since dropped by 18.6%.
Disclosure: As of this writing, Omar Venerio did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.
