Matt Perreault
The third quarter 13F filings revealed that several high-profile hedge fund managers have increased their stakes in the media company Netflix and the financial services company PayPal.
Viking Global investors bought 4.5 million additional shares of Netflix and Tiger Global Management purchased 15.43 million shares for a grand total of 18 million. Soros has bets placed on Netflix worth $32.79 million, or 317,534 shares as of September 30.
Many investors are building up their stake in Netflix as a hedge against the tottering cable industry. Cable television is facing a threat to their incomes as more consumers make the switch to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. The trend is so prevalent that it has triggered the nickname “cord cutting.”
PayPal has also become beloved of investors from July to September. Baupost Group added 10.9 million shares. Soros dived in with a purchase of 4.43 million shares worth a cool $137.5 million.
Carl Icahn seems to have lost his faith in eBay, selling his entire stake in the on-line e-commerce site.
Investors are interested in the information from 13F filings as a broad picture of what the hedge funds have been up to. However it should be noted that the information is not made public until 45 days after the end of each quarter so are not “real time” expressions of the actions of these high-profile investors. These filings also do not reveal short positions, and are not therefore a complete picture of what the managers did more than 6 weeks ago.