Viking Global Investors LP, the firm founded by Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), disclosed in regulatory filings that it entered a new holding in Cazoo Group Ltd. (CZOO, Financial) in February according to GuruFocus Real-Time Picks, a Premium feature.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm also boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH, Financial) and established new holdings in CSX Corp. (CSX, Financial), Fortinet Inc. (FTNT, Financial) and Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX, Financial).
Firm background
Prior to founding Viking Global Investors, Halvorsen worked as senior managing director and director of equities at the late Julian Robertson's Tiger Management (Trades, Portfolio). Viking invests in public and private equity investments through a research-intensive assessment of company business models and fundamentals, quality of management teams and cyclical and secular industry trends.
As of December 2022, the firm’s $19.90 billion 13F equity portfolio contains 76 stocks, with 13 new positions and a quarterly turnover ratio of 19%. The top four sectors in terms of weight include health care, financial services, technology and industrials, representing 38.75%, 22.18%, 17.51% and 8.64% of the equit portfolio.
Investors should be aware 13F filings do not give a complete picture of a firm’s holdings as the reports only include its positions in U.S. stocks and American depository receipts, but they can still provide valuable information. Further, the reports only reflect trades and holdings as of the most-recent portfolio filing date, which may or may not be held by the reporting firm today or even when this article was published.
Cazoo Group
Viking purchased 3 million shares of Cazoo Group (CZOO, Financial), giving the position 0.04% equity portfolio weight. Shares traded around $2.37 on the Feb. 27 transaction date.
Investors should also be aware the above trade is not part of Viking’s fourth-quarter 13F portfolio update, but a real-time pick that the firm made during the first quarter. If a guru makes a trade in a company he or she has more than 5% of the total shares outstanding, the guru must file a Schedule 13D / 13G filing within 10 business days of the trade.
The U.K.-based company aims to facilitate the car buying and selling experience across the U.K. and Europe by allowing customers to purchase, finance and subscribe to cars entirely online for either delivery or collection in less time. The company’s financial strength ranks 3 out of 10 on several warning signs, which include a low Piotroski F-score of 2 out of 9 and a cash-to-debt ratio that underperforms more than half of global competitors.
Despite having low ratings for financial strength and profitability, Cazoo does not have enough data to compute ranks for growth, GF Value and momentum and thus, the GF Score of 16 out of 100 may give an incomplete picture of the stock’s potential.
UnitedHealth Group
Viking added 919,153 shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH, Financial), boosting the position by 263.71% and its equity portfolio by 2.45%. Shares of UnitedHealth Group averaged $529.71 during the fourth quarter.
GuruFocus’ GF Value Line labeled the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based health insurance company fairly valued based on the stock’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.92 as of Friday.
UnitedHealth Group has a GF Score of 94 out of 100 based on a growth rank of 10 out of 10, a profitability rank of 9 out of 10, a momentum rank of 8 out of 10 and a rank of 6 out of 10 for financial strength and GF Value.
The company’s profitability ranks 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a five-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 7 out of 9 and an operating margin that has increased by approximately 3% per year over the past five years.
CSX Corp
The firm purchased 15,548,123 shares of CSX Corp. (CSX, Financial), giving the position 2.42% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $30.07 during the fourth quarter.
GuruFocus’ GF Value Line labeled the Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad company modestly undervalued based on the stock’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.76 as of Friday.
CSX has a GF Score of 91 out of 100 based on a GF Value rank of 10 out of 10, a profitability rank of 9 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 5 out of 10 and a rank of 8 out of 10 for momentum and growth.
The company has a profitability rank of 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a return on equity that outperforms approximately 85% of global competitors and an operating margin that has increased by approximately 2.8% per year on average over the past five years.
Fortinet
The firm invested in 7,126,827 shares of Fortinet (FTNT, Financial), giving the stake 1.75% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $52.11 during the fourth quarter.
GuruFocus’ GF Value Line labeled the Sunnyvale, California-based cybersecurity company fairly valued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.92 as of Friday.
Fortinet has a GF Score of 95 out of 100 based on a growth rank of 10 out of 10, a profitability rank of 9 out of 10 and a rank of 7 out of 10 for financial strength, GF Value and momentum.
The company’s profitability ranks 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a return on assets that outperforms approximately 91% of global competitors and an operating margin that has increased by approximately 21% per year on average over the past five years.
Seagate Technology
Viking purchased 6,198,933 shares of Seagate Technology (STX, Financial), giving the position 1.64% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged $53.16 during the fourth quarter.
GuruFocus’ GF Value Line labeled the Irish hard-disk drive supplies company fairly valued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of approximately 1 on Friday.
Seagate Technology has a GF Score of 75 out of 100 based on a profitability rank of 8 out of 10, a growth rank of 7 out of 10, a GF Value rank of 5 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 4 out of 10 and a momentum rank of 2 out of 10.
