The firm founded by international financier George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) reported its second-quarter portfolio Thursday, revealing that it purchased 28 new exchange-traded funds and stocks, including sizable stakes in several popular tech companies.
Soros Fund Management, which Soros started in 1997 and converted to a private family office in 2011, ended the quarter with 133 long positions in its equity portfolio, valued at $3.88 billion. Its largest purchases were: PowerShares QQQ Trust Ser 1 (QQQ, Financial), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, Financial), eBay Inc. (EBAY, Financial), Symantec Corp. (SYMC, Financial) and Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC). Notably, the firm also started positions in tech businesses Slack Technologies Inc. (WORK, Financial) and Tableau Software Inc. (DATA, Financial).
In addition to its portfolio of equity positions, the New York firm invests in private equity and manages venture capital funds.
Soros’ investing philosophy emphasizes the macro environment and, in particular, the psychological factors of the market participants. In an interview, his former business partner Stanley Druckenmiller (Trades, Portfolio) summarized his approach as “… It’s not whether you’re right or wrong. You just have to have the maximum when you’re right.”
But Soros Fund Management has been helmed by Chief Investment Officer Dawn Fitzpatrick in 2017. Formerly the global head of investments for UBS Asset Management, Fitzpatrick oversaw a variety of equity and fixed-income portfolios. At Soros, she has been cutting back on macro investments due to fewer opportunities, Bloomberg reported in December.
At second quarter-end, the equity portfolio’s largest allocation was 20.09% to communication services, followed by 14.84% to financial services and 12.61% to real estate. As its largest positions, it had a 19.49% weighting in Liberty Broadband Corp. (LBRDK, Financial) and 11.68% weighting in VICI Properties Inc. (VICI, Financial).
Largest new buys
PowerShares QQQ Trust Ser 1 (QQQ, Financial)
Soros Fund Management purchased 1,165,350 shares of PowerShares QQQ Trust Ser 1, giving it 5.61% portfolio weight. Its second-quarter price averaged $184 per share.
PowerShares QQQ Trust Ser 1 has a market cap of $73.34 billion; its shares were traded around $186.97 Tuesday with a price-earnings ratio of 24.25. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of PowerShares QQQ Trust Ser 1 is 0.79%.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, Financial)
Soros Fund Management purchased 65,750 shares of Alphabet Inc., giving it 1.84% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $1,159.
Alphabet Inc. has a market cap of $819.98 billion; its shares were traded around $1,183.53 Tuesday with a price-earnings ratio of 23.85 and price-sales ratio of 5.65. Alphabet Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 15.90% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Alphabet Inc. the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
Soros purchased 1.065 million shares of eBay Inc., giving it 1.09% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $38.
eBay Inc. has a market cap of $33.58 billion; its shares were traded around $40.03 with a price-earnings ratio of 15.60 and P/S ratio of 3.40. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of eBay Inc. is 0.69%. The forward dividend yield of eBay Inc. is 1.39%. eBay Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 5.50% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated eBay Inc. the business predictability rank of 2.5-star.
Symantec Corp. (SYMC, Financial)
Soros purchased 1,854,400 shares of Symantec Corp., giving it 1.04% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $22.
Symantec Corp. has a market cap of $14.68 billion; its shares were traded around $23.76 Tuesday with a price-earnings ratio of 131.99 and price-sales ratio of 3.28. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Symantec Corp. is 1.28%. The forward dividend yield of Symantec Corp. is 1.26%. Symantec Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 16.20% over the past five years.
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC)
Soros purchased 230,000 shares of Vulcan Materials Co., giving it 0.81% portfolio weight. The stock’s second-quarter share price averaged $128.
Vulcan Materials Co. has a market cap of $18.78 billion; its shares were traded around $141.95 Tuesday with a price-earnings ratio of 33.56 and price-sales ratio of 4.07. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Vulcan Materials Co. is 0.83%. The forward dividend yield of Vulcan Materials Co. is 0.87%. Vulcan Materials Co. had an annual average earnings growth of 7.8% over the past 10 years.
See George Soros (Trades, Portfolio)’ portfolio here.
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