Invest Like a Pro

Imitation is the best form of flattery, right? Well, when you're learning a new skill, imitation can also be a great way to hone your craft.

If you're learning guitar, you might pick up a book of Jimi Hendrix's licks or download the chords to a couple of Bob Dylan's songs. When you're trying to become a better investor it only makes sense to take a peek at what the professional investors are up to.

For Fools who don't have the time or inclination to pick individual stocks on their own, Shannon Zimmerman at the Fool's Champion Funds newsletter has put together a buffet of mutual funds that have collectively outperformed their benchmarks by 15 percentage points. (Take a taste and see all the ingredients with a free 30-day trial.) For the rest of us, we can tune in directly to what some of the major funds are holding.

You see, the SEC requires institutional investment managers who manage $100 million or more to show their cards via quarterly 13-F filings. This week, I've dug in to look at some of the moves that hedge fund Glenview Capital Management has been making and, to make things even more interesting, I cross-referenced its stocks against the opinions of the Fool's CAPS community.

Below are three stocks that Glenview bought more of between its March and June filings ...

... and three in which the firm lightened its position.

Now, before you make any hasty moves, remember that we're looking at what Glenview has done in the past. For all we know, since the last 13-F filing the firm has drastically changed its holdings in any or all of the above stocks. With that in mind, here are some thoughts to kick off your research.

Though Glenview is a hedge fund like SAC Capital, that doesn't mean the firm has to invest like SAC. In fact, while Steve Cohen, who runs SAC, is known primarily as a trader, heading up Glenview is Larry Robbins, who is known as a value-oriented stock picker.

The big increase in Glenview's position in Yahoo! is what jumped out most at me. Yahoo!'s stock has had a rocky ride over the past couple of years, falling nearly 50% between early 2006 and August of this year. The company has seen growth slow as competition from the likes of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) increases and its offerings seem somewhat less relevant in the face of hot new areas such as social networking.

But many have stuck by Yahoo!. The stock isn't cheap at all by P/E standards -- it's trading around 51 times forward earnings -- but there have been glimmers of hope for those betting on the company. After prior management proved incapable, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang stepped back in as CEO over the summer. The stock has also benefited from recent analyst reports that the pieces of Yahoo! are more valuable than the price tag on the entire company.

I wouldn't say that CAPS is a Yahoo! fan club, but there are 3,121 players who think Yahoo!'s stock will best the S&P. TheGarcipian and carstenjansing, two of CAPS' top players, are among those believers. TheGarcipian noted that Yahoo! has proven over time that it can monetize the eyeballs that it gets, but that it needs to get "its financial house completely in order." Carstenjansing, meanwhile, thinks that the re-entry of Jerry Yang will help bring Yahoo! back to glory.

So, has Glenview highlighted some winners here for us? Hop on over to CAPS and start interacting with the 65,000-plus members. It's free. While you're weighing in on these stocks, you can also find out more about the more than 5,000 other stocks that are rated on CAPS.