Appaloosa Management founder David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio) disclosed on Thursday the expanded his positions in five companies during fourth-quarter 2017: PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ, Financial), Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial), Micron Technology Inc. (MU, Financial), Facebook Inc. (FB, Financial) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial).
PowerShares QQQ Trust
Tepper added 4.37 million shares of PowerShares QQQ Trust for an average price of $152.37 per unit. With this transaction, the guru increased his portfolio 6.4%.
According to Invesco.com, the PowerShares QQQ Trust seeks to replicate the Nasdaq-100 Index, which consists of the top 100 U.S. companies based on market cap. The exchange-traded fund has a 14-day RSI of approximately 50.985, suggesting it is neither overbought nor oversold.
Apple
Tepper added 3,226,852 shares of Apple for an average price of $167.07 per share. The guru increased his portfolio 5.13% with this transaction.
Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned the company had broad-based growth during the quarter, including “the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup.” Even though the company’s business predictability ranks just 2.5 stars, Apple still has good growth potential: the Cupertino, California-based company’s profitability ranks 8 due to profit margins outperforming over 95% of global competitors.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) CEO Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) increased his Apple stake to 165,333,962 shares during the quarter, up 31,241,180 shares from the previous quarter.
Micron Technology
Tepper added 10,446,001 shares of Micron Technology for an average price of $43.09 per share. With this transaction, the guru increased his portfolio 4.04%.
Micron Technology markets various memory and storage technologies such as DRAM, NAND, NOR and 3D XPoint Memory. The company’s profitability ranks 8 out of 10 primarily due to expanding operating margins and a strong Piotroski F-score of 8. Additionally, the company’s return on equity is near a 10-year high and outperforms 98% of global competitors.
Tepper added 2,229,441 shares of Facebook for an average price of $176.73 per share. The guru increased his portfolio 3.7% with this transaction.
Facebook has six positive investing signs, ranging from expanding operating margins to a strong Piotroski F-score of 8. Additionally, Facebook has no debt, i.e., infinite interest coverage.
Bank of America
Tepper added 10,820,596 shares of Bank of America for an average price of $27.56. With this transaction, the guru increased his portfolio 3%.
Bank of America’s profitability ranks a poor 3 out of 10, primarily due to weak returns on equity and a three-year revenue growth rate of -0.70%. Both of these metrics underperform approximately 70% of global competitors.
Disclosure: I do not have positions in the stocks mentioned.
