Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) tops Goldman Sachs’ list of “Very Important Positions” again this time around. The four stocks that round out the firm’s list of the top five are Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), and Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN).
Goldman Sachs’ Very Important Positions
In their Hedge Fund Trend Monitor report dated Nov. 20, analyst Ben Snider and his team said their list of the 50 stocks that show up the most often in the top ten holdings of “fundamentally-driven hedge fund portfolios.” They report that the list has outperformed the S&P 500 by 60 basis points so far year to date, coming in at a 13.5% outperformance compared to the S&P’s 12.9%.
The VIP list outperformed through the third quarter but began to lag in the current quarter.
Apple tops list of most important stocks
As Apple is at the list of Goldman Sachs’ Very Important Positions list, it also tops the list of what the firm’s analysts say is the 50 stocks that “matter most” to hedge funds. In their latest report, they said that as of the end of September, there were 92 funds with 10 to 200 positions owning Apple stock.
As of the end of the quarter, there were 58 funds in their review with Apple as a top ten holding. On average, Apple had an 8% weight in hedge fund portfolios in which it was among the top ten holdings. Total year to date return from Apple is 45%, according to Goldman Sachs’ analysis.
Here’s the full list of the top 50 most important stocks. Chart is courtesy Goldman Sachs.
New additions to the VIP list outperform deletions
During the quarter, the firm’s analysts added and deleted several stocks from their Very Important Positions list. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) was found to be the top new position for hedge funds during the quarter, according to data from FactSet. For Goldman Sachs analysts, Alibaba was third on their list of added companies, trailing behind Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL).
Here’s the full list of the stocks they added and dropped from their hedge fund Very Important Positions List:
The Goldman Sachs team found that turnover across positions continued to be at record low levels, hitting a new low rate of 27% for position turnover.