By Louis Goss
Hedge fund raises stake in Alphabet but cuts stakes in other Magnificent Seven stocks
Maverick Capital cut its stake in its top holding, Coupang, by 5.22% in the final quarter of 2023 and instead upped its stake in the South Korean e-commerce company’s main U.S. rival Amazon.com while also buying into a multitude of companies including Netflix, Ebay, and News Corp.
In the final three months of 2023, the Texan hedge fund lowered its stake in South Korean online shopping company Coupang (CPNG), which continues to be the money manager’s top stock in accounting for 24.39% of its entire portfolio, 13-F filings for the hedge funds show.
Maverick Capital, which was started by Lee S. Ainslie III in 1993, instead lifted its position in its second largest stock, Amazon.com (AMZN), which now accounts for 4.5% of its portfolio.
The hedge fund also upped its stake in Magnificent Seven tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL), raising its stake by 30.6% and bought into a multitude of well known U.S. companies, including a wide selection of airlines and energy firms.
The Dallas-headquartered investment fund meanwhile cut its positions in all of its other Magnificent Seven holdings, reducing its stakes in Meta (META), down 47%, Nvidia (NVDA), down 40.87%, and Microsoft (MSFT), down 39.02%.
In the final quarter of 2023, the fund lowered stakes in all of its top 10 stocks apart from three, which include Amazon.com, up 3.65%, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), up 107.74%, and the U.S.’ largest broker-dealer LPL Financial (LPLA) in which it bought a $110 million position.
Instead, Maverick reduced its positions in the remaining seven of its top ten stocks, including tobacco seller Philip Morris (PM), down 16.32%, payments processor Visa (V), down 0.27%, real estate company Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), down 1.78%, gene therapy developer Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT), down 28.35%, Brazilian fintech Nu Holdings (NU), down 1.61%, and social media company Meta, down 47.01%.
The fund meanwhile increased its positions in an array of other U.S. companies, including air transport companies Spirit Airlines (SAVE), up 518.29%, Southwest Airlines (LUV), up 80.17%, and widely known players such as FedEx (FDX), up 121.62%, Starbucks (SBUX), up 103.66%, and Lyft (LYFT), up 93.32%.
Maverick also bought stakes in a variety of top American companies including Netflix (NFLX), Ebay (EBAY), Walmart (WMT), Kraft Heinz (KHC), Campbell Soup (CPB), Delta Air Llines (DAL), Alaska Air Group (ALK), and News Corp (NWSA).
The money manager’s new investments also included purchases of stakes in a multitude of U.S. energy and utility companies, including Southwest Gas Holdings (SWX), NextEra Energy (NEE), TC Energy (CA:TRP), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), and Golar LNG (GLNG).
-Louis Goss
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02-15-24 0650ET
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