Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio)' Sands Capital Management manages a $41.32 billion equity portfolio composed of 77 stocks as of the quarter's end. The firm sold shares of the following stocks during the second quarter of 2020.

Alibaba

The fund trimmed its position in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) by 20.58%. The trade had an impact of -1.17% on the portfolio.

The Chinese online and mobile commerce company has a market cap of $690.20 billion and an enterprise value of $675.85 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating

For years, big brands led the market higher. Whether it was Procter & Gamble (PG), Nike (NKE), Nestle (XSWS:NESN) or Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), investors flocked to these blue-chip stocks.

The rise of big brands makes sense given the historical paradigm. For decades, distribution, stocking and promotion were expensive activities. Only the biggest were able to compete. And the bigger a brand got, the stronger it became.

Let's use Procter & Gamble's Tide detergent as an example. Consumers love this brand. Since 1949, it's been the leading detergent in the U.S. This isn't necessarily because Tide

Although the world was still processing the full extent of the COVID-19 virus and its economic impact early in the quarter, equity markets quickly began to rebound from their March lows. Through April, May and the beginning of June, markets climbed the proverbial “wall of worry”, as lockdowns eased, and some positive economic data provided optimism for a “V”-shaped recovery. Aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus, including central bank asset purchases, added a further boost to equities and other risk assets. However, in the final few weeks of the quarter, sentiment turned negative after a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases in

Key Takeaways

• While current stimulus measures have proved to be an analgesic for economies and markets suffering from the impact of Covid-19, it’s hard to believe that the imbalances built up over a 10-year-plus expansion could be corrected within a single quarter.
• We think the fight against Covid-19 is the key issue investors need to consider at this point. Though financial markets are acting as if the pandemic’s impact has reached an inflection point, epidemiological data would suggest otherwise. The emergence of Covid-19 has produced the greatest blow to demand in a generation, and permanent economic scarring seems likely.

The growth vs. value debate is heating up once again as investors try to determine the best strategy to navigate the current economic crisis.

The challenging macro-economic conditions are revealing flaws in both these strategies. For instance, a few companies that were considered to be safe and sound investments for value investors, notably the leading banks in the U.S., are reeling from the recession, and the sector performance has lagged the broad market by a considerable margin. On the other hand, some high-growth companies are finding it difficult to remain solvent as the policy of using massive cash burn and

In early February, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) bought $549 million worth of stock in The Kroger Co. (KR). Whether through luck or skill (we presume more of the latter than the former), he had found a business that would help preserve his and his shareholders’ capital through the current pandemic and economic crisis.

Not that he would have given much attention to the short-term situation, but as a company that would provide ongoing returns for many years.

Kroger is the largest of the traditional supermarket chains, a survivor of the

Facebook Inc. (FB), the largest player in the global social media industry, is one of the few companies that have weathered the recent storm in global capital markets. According to data from GuruFocus, shares are up 5% this year, which is not a bad outcome considering the turmoil in U.S. equity markets that saw shares of some companies shedding more than 50% of their market value.

This performance was fueled by the strong financial performance in the first quarter, but Wall Street analysts are expecting the second quarter to be one of the worst periods in recent memory for Facebook.

On Feb. 14, GuruFocus contributor Robert Stephens wrote that he saw further upside for Shopify Inc. (SHOP), even though its share price had risen 200% in 2019.

How right he was. Exactly three months later, with the stock trading around $750, it is up 41% from the Valentine's Day price of $533. This chart shows prices since the company went public in 2015:

Shopify provides a platform for individuals and companies who want to start or manage a retail store online. In its 10-K for 2019, it offered

Just three months ago, when we wrote to you on the outlook for your portfolio going into 2020, we felt that valuations were reasonable, given low interest rates and a calming of trade wars, but we knew that valuations were not cheap. We maintained a neutral asset mix positioning in our Balanced Fund, having reduced our overweight to equities earlier in 2019 as we became more cautious. We also highlighted that the companies we hold would weather any future economic storm and noted these were inevitable, although we could not predict when. Little did we know that in incredibly short

Shopify Inc. (SHOP) is the third largest cloud-based software provider offering an operating system for multi-channel commerce in the U.S. The company has over one million merchants that have processed over $60 billion in sales during the last year. Shares of Shopify outperformed during the period held in the quarter due to the company’s position in e-commerce, a more resilient segment to COVID-19-related challenges. We believe Shopify has created a platform enabling it to disproportionally benefit from the growth in e-commerce penetration as it further expands its market share over time.

From [url=https://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Ron+Baron]Ron Baron[/url] ([url=https://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Ron+Baron]Trades[/url], [url=https://www.gurufocus.com/holdings.php?GuruName=Ron+Baron]Portfolio[/url])'s Baron Partners

Dear Baron Partners Fund Shareholder:

Performance

The first quarter of 2020 was an extremely difficult period for global health and the economy. Most financial markets declined substantially, and Baron Partners Fund (the “Fund”) was also significantly impacted. The Fund fell 20.70% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter. That result was relatively similar to many of its comparable benchmarks and peers. The Russell Midcap Growth Index fell 20.04%. The Morningstar US Fund Mid-Cap Growth Category Average and the S&P 500 Index declined 20.64% and 19.60%, respectively.

The historic bull market for the last 11 years came to an abrupt halt as COVID-19

Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA) is a leading specialty retailer in the United States. The company, which was founded in 1990, offers a mix of prestige and mass beauty products through 1,257 stores, as well as online through its website and mobile app (e-commerce accounted for 12% of Ulta's sales in 2019). The company also offers a full service salon in its stores, which meets a need for some customers and can drive business to the other side of the house (selling beauty products). As shown below, the unit count has nearly quadrupled over the past decade – during a period

Shopify Inc (SHOP) has further upside, in my view, after its 200% gain in the past year.

The e-commerce services business is introducing innovative new products, increasing its investment in international markets and expanding its shipping services.

Shipping services

Shopify’s launch of its Fulfilment Network in fiscal 2019 could catalyze its financial performance. Its Fulfilment Network offers affordable shipping services to the merchants that use the company’s other services through leveraging Shopify’s size and scale.

The company reported in its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter results that its Fulfilment Network has resonated with merchants. It could

According to GuruFocus list of 52-week highs, these Guru stocks have reached their 52-Week Highs.

The Western Union Co. reached the 52-week high of $27.77

The Western Union Co. (WU) provides domestic and international money transfers through its global network of about 500,000 outside agents, making it the largest money transfer company in the world and one of only two companies with a truly global agent network.

The price of The Western Union Co. shares has reached $27.77, which is 0.8% off the 52-week high of $28.00. The Western Union Co. has a market

Spiros Segalas (Trades, Portfolio), manager of the Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund, disclosed four new positions when he released his fourth-quarter 2019 portfolio earlier this week.

Part of Chicago-based Harbor Funds, the guru’s fund primarily invests in companies with market caps of at least $1 billion at the time of purchase. He focuses on companies that have strong balance sheets and earnings performance, good sales momentum and growth outlook, a history of high profitability, a unique market position and a capable, committed management team.

Based on these criteria, Segalas established holdings in Shopify Inc. (SHOP), Dexcom Inc. (DXCM),

The financial strength criterion of Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, tells that if investors go for stocks whose current ratio exceeds 2 and which have more working capital than long-term debt, their search will likely uncover high-quality companies to add to their portfolios.

The current ratio indicates whether the balance sheet provides the company with sufficient margins to pay off its short-term creditors. The ratio is a quotient where total current assets are the numerator and total current liabilities are the denominator.

When the difference between total current assets and total current liabilities (aka working capital) exceeds the

Stanley Druckenmiller (Trades, Portfolio), CEO of the Duquesne Family Office, disclosed in November that his top four buys in the third quarter included increased bets in ServiceNow Inc. (NOW) and General Electric Co. (GE) as well as new positions in Shopify Inc. (SHOP) and Anaplan Inc. (PLAN).

Druckenmiller, who managed money for George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) in the late 1990s as the lead portfolio manager of the Quantum Fund, turned his Duquesne hedge fund into a family office in 2010. The guru takes a macroeconomic approach to investing.

Shopify Inc. (SHOP) has had a terrific year so far. The stock price of the online platform has more than doubled this year, despite the company failing to meet expectations in its recent quarter. Amidst its aggressive push to develop its fulfillment centers, Shopify sees itself tripling its company-defined operating profits by year-end.

The market has treated Shopify as one of its darlings so far this year. On the back of consecutive earnings estimates beats, Shopify has rallied strong until its recent earnings report. The stock is down 1.6% following the third quarter after missing earnings estimates for the first

When you look at the numbers, it's hard not to see the disconnect between value and price in Shopify Inc. (SHOP).

While Shopify's surging revenue continues to impress investors with 55% year-over-year growth, the company is losing more money every year. Granted, it has plenty of cash ($2 billion) and very little debt ($100 million), so the company is not at risk of growing itself out of business. Maybe it can use the Amazon method, but more than likely, one slip up and the tide rushes back out.

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that makes it easier for small businesses

Shares of creative software giant Adobe Inc. (ADBE) are up 30% since Dec. 24, as the stock continues to mirror the general market trend while also presenting investors with a unique value proposition.

Adobe is the world’s largest creative software company dominating the market from the individual and SMBs levels all the way to multinational enterprises. The company manages to maintain its strong business moat in creative software by offering different products that attract different customers.

• The company’s creative cloud is quickly becoming one of the main growth drivers because of its subscription-based revenue model and the adaptability to