Guru Lee Ainslie Buys Stake in Google in Fourth Quarter

Feb 20, 2015

Guru Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio)’s quarterly investment activity is worth observing.

Ainslie founded Dallas-based Maverick Capital with $38 million in 1993. Today, it is worth $10 billion. He also learned from Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio) at Tiger Management so he has plenty of knowledge and experience. In addition to that, though, he has the input of six industry experts employed at Maverick Capital with whom he consults on a daily basis.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Ainslie bought stock in 12 companies that are new to his portfolio – Google Inc (GOOG, Financial), CommScope Holding Co Inc (COMM, Financial), Priceline Group Inc (PCLN, Financial), Halliburton Co (HAL, Financial), Avago Technologies Ltd (AVGO, Financial), Universal Health Services Inc (UHS), Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA), Team Health Holdings Inc (TMH, Financial), zulily Inc (ZU, Financial), JD.com Inc (JD, Financial), Delphi Automotive PLC (DLPH, Financial) and Restaurant Brands International Inc (QSR, Financial).

He bought 659,237 shares of Google, a California-based Internet-related services and products company, for an average price of $538.02 per share. The transaction had a 5.4% impact on his portfolio.

Mariko Gordon (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) and Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in Google in the second half of 2014.

Ainslie bought 7,059,452 shares of CommScope Holding, a North Carolina-based telecommunications company, for an average price of $22.34 per share. The purchase had a 2.5% impact on his portfolio.

Gurus Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have CommScope Holding in their portfolios. Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio) and George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the fourth quarter. Jana Partners (Trades, Portfolio) sold its stake in the third quarter.

Ainslie acquired 111,000 shares of Priceline Group, a provider of online travel and related services based in Connecticut, for an average price of $1,129.84 per share. The transaction had a 2% impact on his portfolio.

He added to existing holdings in seven companies – Vulcan Materials Co (VMC, Financial), Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc (SC, Financial), Crown Castle International Corp (CCI), AerCap Holdings NV (AER), Novartis AG (NVS), Northstar Realty Finance Corp (NRF) and PTC Inc (PTC).

Ainslie added 2,188,492 shares to his stake in Vulcan Materials, an Alabama-based construction materials company, for an average price of $63.23 per share. The purchase had a 2.25% impact on his portfolio.

Seven gurus – Dodge & Cox, Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Brian Rogers (Trades, Portfolio) and Jean-Marie Eveillard (Trades, Portfolio) – have stakes in Vulcan Materials. Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the fourth quarter.

Divestitures and reductions

Ainslie sold 10 of the stakes in his portfolio – AbbVie Inc (ABBV), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH), Ashland Inc (ASH), Martin Marietta Materials Inc (MLM), AMC Networks Inc (AMCX), Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW), Fortinet Inc (FTNT), Baidu Inc (BIDU) and Nokia Oyj (NOK).

He sold his 1,488,445-share stake in AbbVie, a research-based biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Illinois, for an average price of $5.56 per share. The sale had a -4% impact on Ainslie’s portfolio.

Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio), Jana Partners (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio) and George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the fourth quarter.

Ainslie sold his 5,280,500-share stake in Twenty-First Century Fox, a New York-based mass media company, for an average price of $34.62 per share. The deal had a -2.6% impact on his portfolio.

He reduced his holdings in 21 companies – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA), Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE), McKesson Corp (MCK), Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (ALSN), Columbia Property Trust, Inc. (CXP), Community Health Systems Inc (CYH), Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BUD), HCA Holdings Inc (HCA), SolarWinds Inc (SWI), Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA), Dollar General Corp (DG), Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (QIHU), Radian Group Inc (RDN), CBS Corp (CBS), TransDigm Group Inc (TDG), Calpine Corp (CPN), Qlik Technologies Inc (QLIK), MGIC Investment Corp (MTG), Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX), Liberty Global PLC (LBTYK) and Fleetcor Technologies, Inc. (FLT).

He sold 1,950,000 shares of Alibaba, a Chinese ecommerce company, for an average price of $102.84 per share. The sale had a -2.57% impact on his portfolio.

Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Eric Mindich (Trades, Portfolio), David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio), Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio), Mariko Gordon (Trades, Portfolio), Jana Partners (Trades, Portfolio) and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) sold their stakes in the fourth quarter.

Ainslie sold 2,087,037 shares of Adobe, a computer software company in San Jose, California, for an average price of $70.21 per share. The transaction had a 2.12% impact on his portfolio.

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