Here's What This Market Doubler Has Been Buying
By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool
Posted 1:12PM 05/22/12 Posted under: Investing
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Every quarter, many money 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 investing giant John Paulson. Founded in 1994 and owned by its employees, Paulson & Co. has specialized in merger arbitrage, among other things, profiting when one company buys or merges with another (or merely announces plans to do so). It has grown into one of the largest hedge fund companies in the world.
Is Paulson really worth paying attention to, though? Very much so. According to the folks at GuruFocus.com, Paulson gained about 263% over the past 15 full years, compared with just 124% for the S&P 500. He more than doubled the market's return over the past five and 10 years, as well. That certainly gets my attention.
Paulson's latest quarterly 13F filing shows that as of March 31, 2012, his top holdings, making up roughly 30% of his portfolio, were the gold ETF SPDR Gold Shares, Delphi Automotive, and AngloGold Ashanti. Overall, the portfolio was valued at $14.8 billion, with 82 holdings.
Interesting developments
So what does Paulson's latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:
New holdings include Ireland-based Covidien (NYS: COV) , the company formerly known as Tyco Healthcare. It offers operational diversification right now, dividing its attention between medical and imaging devices, pharmaceuticals, and other health-care products, but it plans to split its device and pharmaceuticals units. The company sports double-digit recent revenue and earnings growth, along with solid (and rising) net margins above 15%.
Among holdings in which Paulson increased its stake were InterDigital (NAS: IDCC) and NovaGold Resources (NYS: NG) . InterDigital disappointed some investors by deciding not to put itself on the block, and it seems poised to sell off some of its valuable patents. That could generate some much-needed cash for the company, but it's not a great long-term business model. Meanwhile, the company has authorized a $100 million stock buyback, which could benefit shareholders, as well...
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/22/heres-what-this-market-doubler-has-been-buying/
"The world is a dangerous place to live�not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." �Albert Einstein
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