>>> Consensus New Buys
- Altimeter Growth Corp 2 (AGCB): This particular vehicle is the second SPAC raised by Brad Gerstner’s
Altimeter Capital, a big player in venture capital and noted tech investor. Altimeter’s first SPAC (AGC)
recently announced a merger with Grab of Southeast Asia, a ridehailing and food delivery company that also
has expanded into payments and aims to become a ‘superapp’ of the region. Funds that acquired shares of the
second SPAC AGCB are essentially betting on the jockey here and think Altimeter will find another solid
company to bring public. Altimeter is building its Altimeter Capital Markets Platform using SPAC vehicles as
a means for world-class technology companies to go public instead of via IPO or direct listing. Funds that
acquired shares of AGCB include Baupost Group, Tiger Global, Appaloosa, Maverick Capital, Third Point,
Pennant Investors, and Greenlight Capital.
- Thoma Bravo Advantage (TBA): This particular SPAC has already announced its acquisition: ironSource.
The company is a platform for the app economy and enables developers to monetize and analyze their apps.
Funds that built stakes in TBA include Glenview Capital, Farallon Capital, Baupost Group, Tiger Global, and
Maverick Capital. At the recent virtual Sohn Conference, Larry Robbins of Glenview pitched the company as
one of his favorite SPACs.
- Reinvent Technology Partners Y (RTPY): This is the third SPAC from partners Reid Hoffman (co-founder
of LinkedIn) and Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga (ZNGA)), and Michael Thompson of BHR Capital. While
this entity has not announced an acquisition yet, two of their other vehicles already have. Their first SPAC
(RTP) has an agreement with electric aircraft developer Joby Aviation and their second (RTPZ) has an
agreement with home insurance provider Hippo. Hedge funds that have acquired shares of the third SPAC
include Hound Partners, Greenlight Capital, Third Point, and Baupost Group.
- Dragoneer Growth Opps III (DGNU): This is the third SPAC vehicle from Dragoneer Investment Group.
Shares were bought by the likes of Farallon, Hound, Third Point, Baupost, and Maverick.
>>> Consensus Increased Positions :
- Microsoft (MSFT): This is the fourth consecutive quarter that hedge funds were adding to their existing
MSFT stakes. Funds that increased their exposure include Pennant Investors, Glenview, Tiger Management,
Third Point, Farallon, Lone Pine Capital, and Tiger Global. While institutional investors have seemingly
moved away from big tech recently per prime broker statistics, many funds in this issue have done the opposite
as you’ll see throughout the issue.
- Facebook (FB): Shares of the social media giant were bought by Hound, Glenview, Baupost, Farallon,
Viking, Tiger, Sequoia Fund, and Lone Pine. While the company has been caught in the crosshairs of an
antitrust lawsuit, Facebook has been on a bit of a PR blitz recently regarding their virtual reality (VR) and
augmented reality (AR) research and development. Their Oculus Quest 2 device is viewed as a big
improvement over previous iterations and they also revealed their neural bracelet development, which allows a
user to control gestures in AR/VR. The company has also been building out its ‘shops’ platform on Instagram
to enable more e-commerce.
- Unitedhealth Group (UNH): Shares of the largest health insurer in the US were acquired by Brave Warrior
Advisors, Appaloosa, Third Point, Sequoia Fund, and Viking during the first quarter. Over time, more
investors have seemingly come to appreciate the company’s moat. After all, the healthcare system is a
massive, complex beast. One example bulls point to is the fact that the Haven joint venture between JPMorgan
Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, and Amazon recently disbanded. The group was initially formed to try and use
their combined scale to reduce healthcare costs for employees. So the argument is that if all that scale, money,
and brainpower couldn’t come up with a viable collective solution, what’s going to impede UNH?
>>> Consensus Sold Positions :
- Walt Disney (DIS): This quarter, shares of DIS land on both the consensus sell and consensus decrease list.
So needless to say, funds were reducing exposure in a sizable manner. While the company suffered from
having its theme parks closed for long periods during COVID, they also saw a surge of subscribers for their
Disney+ streaming service as more people looked for entertainment at home. Funds that exited shares in Q1
include Duquesne Family Office, Tiger Management, and Viking Global.
- Expedia (EXPE): This online travel agency has been a way for funds to get more cyclical recovery exposure.
Obviously, the travel sector was one of the hardest hit during COVID. And in times of crisis, stocks in
embattled industries often sell-off the most at the onset and then rebound furiously at any sign of recovery as
the situation eases from ‘really bad’ to simply ‘less bad’ and so on. Coatue Management, Glenview, and Third
Point all sold out of their positions in the first quarter.
- Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ): Shares of the resource giant were dumped by Duquesne, Fairholme,
and Maverick in Q1.
- Workday (WDAY): Shares of the HR platform company saw notable volatility in the first quarter as they
started out around $220, surged to a high of $282, only to round-trip back down to $222. Hedge funds that no
longer show stakes include Duquesne, Maverick, and Viking.
>>> Consensus Decreased Positions :
- Amazon (AMZN): This is the fourth quarter in a row that hedge funds have trimmed AMZN exposure. And,
like previous quarters, it might simply be a case of taking some profits and reducing position sizes that have
swelled after shares of the e-commerce giant were up over 70% last year. The company obviously has benefited
from the pandemic as more people stayed home more and shopped online rather than in-person. Not to
mention, the company’s cloud computing division (AWS) benefited from the work-from-home trend and online
business shift. Some other recent company news could have also weighed on funds’ decisions to reduce
exposure: founder Jeff Bezos recently stepped down from the CEO role and transitioned to Chairman and
previous AWS head Andy Jassy took the helm. Hedge funds that reduced AMZN exposure include Appaloosa,
Viking, Third Point, Duquesne, Omega Advisors, and Sequoia.
- Walt Disney (DIS): This quarter, shares of DIS land on both the consensus sell and consensus decrease list.
So needless to say, funds were reducing exposure in a sizable manner. While the company suffered from
having its theme parks closed for long periods during COVID, they also saw a surge of subscribers for their
Disney+ streaming service as more people looked for entertainment at home. Funds that trimmed their stakes
include Pennant, Appaloosa, Sequoia Fund, Third Point, and Coatue.
- HCA (HCA): Position sizes in the for-profit hospital operator were reduced by hedge funds including
Maverick, Hound, Appaloosa, Glenview, Brave Warrior, and Viking. Of these, Glenview is the longest tenured
shareholder, as they originally got involved back in 2011. During the quarter they trimmed their stake by 17%
but it’s still their 8th largest holding.