Passport Capital, the hedge fund operated by John Burbank, filed its 13F for the three months through September 2013 today. There were a couple of major trends running through the manager’s portfolio. Burbank is a big fan of Asian internet companies, and he seems to like the U.S. TV industry. Burbank spoke about some of those companies in his letter to investors, which we obtained yesterday.
Passport’s long positions were worth $3,091,780,000 at the end of the third quarter, up from $3,037,430,000 at the end of the second quarter. The fund was quite busy during the period. It added 70 new stocks in the three months and sold out of 63 stocks.
Asian internet stocks and Passport Capital
Some of the biggest holdings in the Passport Capital portfolio are in internet stocks from Japan and the United States. Passport had big holdings in Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU), Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU), and SouFun Holdings Limited (NYSE:SFUN) at the end of the third quarter and disclosed a 11.8% stake in 58.com Inc (NYSE:WUBA) before this 13-F was filed.
Passport Capital was not bullish on all of these stocks during the third quarter, however. The company sold 30% of its stake in Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd (NYSE:QIHU) during the period, leaving that stake worth just over $90 million and 47% of its stake in Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU), leaving that holding at $72,689,000.
Passport Capital is also invested quite heavily in American internet stocks. The hedge fund owns 1,071,840 shares in Yelp Inc (NASDAQ:YELP) at the end of the third quarter, down 51% from three months before, and 205,415 shares in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). That stake was cut by 17% during the period.
Television at Passport Capital
The biggest single addition to the Passport Capital portfolio in the third quarter was a buy into DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV). Passport bought $95,709,000 worth of shares in the company, or 1.6 million units of common stock in DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV). That wasn’t the only TV-related purchase Passport made during the third quarter of 2013.
Passport also bought 83,453 shares in TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO) in the third quarter. Passport Capital seems to think that there are opportunities in the US television industry, though its preferred investment appears to be Asian internet stocks right now.
