Julian Robertson’s Key Chinese Stock Moves: MOMO, JD, BABA

Billionaire hedge fund legend Julian Robertson has made some strategic moves to his fund portfolio according to the latest 13-F filings. For the third quarter, the hedge fund initiated holdings in China-based companies, Momo Inc. (Nasdaq: MOMO) and JD.Com Inc. (Nasdaq: JD), while pulling back from Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA).

Julian Robertson helped pioneer the modern-day hedge fund industry when he launched Tiger Management in 1989. He has seeded several funds started by his disciples who are dubbed “Tiger Cubs”. Robertson had worked at the Webster Management Corporation from 1974 to 1978 before founding Tiger Management. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill in 1955 and served two years in the Navy after graduation. In 2008, Robertson was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha’s Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame. As per TipRanks, the $552.72 million Tiger Management L.L.C. owned by Robertson has consistently outperformed the Average Hedge Fund Portfolio.

A known philanthropist, Robertson and late wife Josie established The Robertson Foundation in 1996 to help others through grants for education, the environment, and medical research. He supports a litany of environmental organizations, including EarthJustice, the National Parks Conservation Association, the World Resources Institute, and the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Let us now take a closer look at the key portfolio moves of the “Wizard of Wall Street”.

Initiates Momo Inc. (MOMO)

Momo Inc. is a popular mobile-based Chinese Social Media Company. Its platform includes mobile applications and related features, functionalities, tools, and services. For Q3, Robertson initiated a $4.01 million stake in Momo which has since gained another 2.55% in value from the last filing.

Momo is considered the “Chinese Tinder,” or a Chinese mash-up of Snapchat, Match.com and Facebook Inc. The popular social media platform also has influential backers with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd as a stakeholder.

With 91 million monthly active users, MOMO has greatly benefited from the surge in the live streaming market which was up by 180%. Despite strict regulations on live streaming by Chinese Government, Momo thrived as they possessed the mandatory Internet Culture Operation License and LOTAP.

For Q2, Momo had reported an EPS of $0.35 (beat by $0.04) and +215.3% revenue of $312.22M (beat by $25.89 million). The branding campaign from Momo has now increased user engagement, translating to a better monetization.

According to TipRanks, Robertson’s attitude toward the stock aligns positively with investor sentiment on the Street, considering that both the analysts polled in the last 12 months are bullish on Momo stock. With a return potential of 52.46%, the stock’s consensus target price stands at $49.00.

Initiates JD.Com Inc. (JD)

JD.com aka Jingdong is a Chinese e-commerce company headquartered in Beijing which has a business model similar to Amazon. It is China’s largest online retailer and its biggest overall retailer. For Q3, Robertson initiated a holding in JD that saw a purchase of shares worth $12.16 million today. This is a move that is paying off, as JD has gained +2.64% since the last filing. For the third quarter, JD.com reported both earnings and revenue beat. Indeed, JD has shown “strong execution” throughout 2017, as the company expanded its margins and entered into new categories like electronics and, fast-moving consumer goods.

However, the year-over-year growth in gross merchandise volume, or GMV, slowed from 46 to 32 percent in the third quarter over the prior quarter and 42 percent in the first quarter. This has Morgan Stanley analyst Grace Chen to remain on the sidelines. Meanwhile, UBS analyst Jerry Liu upgraded JD.com to Buy from Neutral. The analyst believes the concerns on margin and competition are overstated and said the stock is attractive even with conservative margin assumptions. Liu, who believes the company can continue to gain share in China e-commerce, raised his price target to $48 from $46 on JD.com shares.

According to TipRanks, 4 of the 5 analysts who weighed in on JD.com in the last 3 months are bullish on the stock while 1 remains on the sidelines. The average 12-month price target between the 5 analysts is $47.90, marking a 22.16% potential upside from current levels.

Sells Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)

The Chinese e-commerce conglomerate has been a top favorite among hedge funds. According to TipRanks data, hedge funds have increased their holdings in BABA by 371.8K shares in the last quarter. However, Alibaba’s long-term from Robertson’s eyes must look a little less promising these days. For the third quarter, Tiger Management’s move was to pull back in BABA, reducing the stake by 11.40% to $32.75 million.

In his recent research report, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian noted Alibaba’s Singles Day performance topped expectations. He believes that this bodes well for BABA’s Q3 results and spotlights its data advantage to drive omni-channel growth. Sebastian reiterated his Outperform rating and $210 price target on Alibaba shares.

TipRanks analytics show a strong buy consensus for Alibaba, with all 15 analysts tracking the stock taking a buy position. The average analyst price target for BABA is $208.69 which suggests an upside of 9.15% from the current price of $191.19.

 

Disclaimer: TipRanks is an independent cloud based service that measures and ranks digitally published financial advice. TipRanks' natural language processing (NLP) algorithms aggregate and ...

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