Every quarter, fund managers have to disclose what they've bought and sold. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.
Today let's look at Lone Pine Capital, founded by Steve Mandel in 1997. Prior to that, Mandel was a managing director at Tiger Management. Lone Pine is one of the biggest hedge fund companies and reportedly beat the S&P 500 for 11 years in a row. Like many value investors, Mandel is known to dig deep into companies, aiming to buy undervalued ones.
Lone Pine Capital's stock portfolio totaled $13.9 billion in value as of Dec. 31, 2011, with 57 holdings. The fund's top three holdings, representing 17% of total assets, are Apple, Google, and priceline.com.
Interesting developments
So what does Lone Pine Capital's latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:
New holdings include Chinese search-engine giant Baidu
Among holdings in which Lone Pine increased its stake was Las Vegas Sands
Lone Pine reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Qualcomm
Finally, Lone Pine unloaded several companies, including Schlumberger
We should never blindly copy any investor's moves, no matter how talented the investor. But it can be useful to keep an eye on what smart folks are doing. 13F forms can be great places to find intriguing candidates for our portfolios.
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