Hedge funds with roots in Julian Robertson Jr.’s Tiger Management continue to hitch their fortunes to roughly the same collection of Internet and media stocks.
The most popular stocks held by the so-called Tiger Cubs, Seeds and Grandcubs at year-end were roughly the same stocks that dominated these portfolios during the most recent quarter-end periods, according to New York–based Novus, a portfolio intelligence firm that, among other things, analyzes the quarterly filings of hedge funds. (Novus includes Tiger Management itself in these rankings.)
The biggest difference from this quarter to the previous period is the number of firms holding these same stocks. Several of these stocks had a greater number of investors among this group, while others had fewer.
Otherwise, the only other significant change to the firms’ portfolios is the sharp decline in the number of Tiger-related funds holding three key drug industry stocks.
Heading the list of the most popular Tiger stocks at year-end was cable giant Charter Communications, which had 18 Tiger-related firms among its shareholders at year-end. This is up from 16 three months earlier. Charter is trying to close its merger with rival Time Warner Cable. The stock was the third-largest holding of Blue Ridge Capital and Ratan Capital Management, both based in New York.
The next two stocks, with 17 investors each, are the nonvoting class-C shares of Alphabet — formerly known as Google — and Facebook. Alphabet is the largest holding of New York–based Coatue Management. Facebook is the largest holding of New York–based Tiger Eye Capital and the second-largest holding of Tiger Management.
On the other hand, Tiger funds lost their interest in the reeling health care sector in the fourth quarter. For example, the number of Tiger-related investors in drug giant Allergan, the most popular stock in this group at the end of the second and third quarters, fell from 20 to 15. Still, it ranks as the fourth-most-popular stock among the Tiger set, along with Amazon.com.
The number of Tiger funds with a position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International fell from 11 at the end of the third quarter to seven by year-end. The number of funds with a stake in drugstore giant Walgreens Boots Alliance fell from 11 to eight.
Otherwise, the ranking of the most popular Tiger stocks is roughly similar to prior periods.
Here is a ranking of the 19 most popular Tiger stocks as of year-end:
Charter Communications, 18 funds
Alphabet (C shares), 17
Facebook, 17
Allergan, 15
Amazon.com, 15
FleetCor Technologies, 14
JD.com, 13
Priceline.com, 13
Netflix, 11
TransDigm Group, 11
Alphabet (A shares), 10
Dollar Tree, 9
MasterCard, 9
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, 9
Kraft Heinz Co., 9
Liberty Global C, 9
Visa, 9
Aetna (new), 9
Constellation Brands, 9
