David Tepper's Q1 Moves: Apple, Valeant And Much More

Appaloosa, the investment firm managed by David Tepper, filed its 13F for the first quarter of 2016. After initiating 11 new stakes, increasing its exposure to 17 more companies, trimming its participation in 16 stocks, and selling out of 14, the firm’s equity portfolio’s value rose from $5.01 billion to $5.65 billion over the January to March period.

The fund disclosed its equity portfolio as of March 31, which included 49 long positions, with a slight focus on finance and energy stocks, which accounted for 23 percent and 18 percent of the portfolio’s value, respectively.

Despite a 10 percent reduction in its exposure, Appaloosa’s largest stake continued to be placed in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY call options. Its 2.7 million SPY calls were valued at more than $555 million by the end of the quarter, and accounted for roughly 9.8 percent of its portfolio.

Completing the podium were:

• Energy Transfer Partners LP ETP, which saw the fund more than triple its exposure over the first quarter, to 16,165,914 shares, worth more than $522 million by March 31.
• Alphabet Inc GOOG, which witnessed a 12 percent surge in the fund’s stake, to 600,550 Class C shares over the quarter.

The filing showed a new 945,000 position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX. However, CNBC reported shortly afterward that this stake has already been sold.

Among the positions that Appaloosa closed out were:

• Priceline Group Inc PCLN, of which the firm held 110,010 shares by December 31.
• Apple Inc. AAPL, which accounted for 2.65 percent of its Q4 portfolio – the fund owned 1,264,000 shares.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE, which saw Tepper sell 3,660,641 shares over the quarter.
• Mylan NV MYL, which witnessed the sale of Appaloosa’s 853,749 shares stake between January and March, inclusive.

The firm’s largest new position was Facebook Inc FB. Over the first quarter of 2016, the firm opened a new stake in the company, comprising 1,627,950 shares, worth roughly $185 million.

Another notable new stake was the one initiated in Bank of America Corp BAC. After acquiring 6,986,100 shares of the company, Appaloosa held more than $94 million in the bank’s stock.