Viking Global Investors Betting On Credit Cards (V, IVZ, MA, BAC, ESRX)

Viking Global Investors is one of the largest hedge funds in the world with assets under management of around $12.4 billion. The firm was founded by three former "Tiger Cubs," who worked at Julian Robertson's Tiger Management before striking off on their own. A look at Viking's portfolio as of 12/31/2009, reveals that the fund was betting heavily on shares of credit card companies at the beginning of 2010. Viking's largest position was in Visa V, valued at nearly $700 million. Between 9/30/2009 and 12/31/2009, however, the fund sold 4,621,873 shares. Year to date, Visa (V) has declined 1.98% and is currently trading at $85.73. The fund's second largest holding was in Invesco Ltd. IVZ. Viking held 27,353,200 shares valued at $642,526,662 as of the beginning of 2010. Year to date, the stock has fallen 7.11%. Viking also had a huge position in MasterCard MA which was valued at $527,560,948. MasterCard (MA) has fallen 9.25% to $232.31 year to date. Like many hedge funds, Viking also had a substantial number of Bank of America BAC preferred shares, which were purchased between 9/30/2009 and 12/31/2009. Another company which Viking was betting on is Express Scripts ESRX, another popular stock in the hedge fund world. The ESRX holding was valued at $352,275,481. Express Scripts (ESRX) has been a nice winner in 2010, gaining 20% to $103.66.