The Newest Stock Picks from 11 Amazing Value Investors (13F’s)

For most Americans, If at all, Santa comes but once a year (Unless you're on the naughty list…) Luckily for us, we’re investors. And as such, we get gifts delivered to our doorstep four times a year! How you ask?

Well... on May 15th, and roughly every 3 months afterwards, some of the world's greatest investors have to tell us, the individual investor, exactly what stocks they bought and sold in the last 3 months. Pretty great right!?

Best of all, I have a list of some of the best Next Level Investors (NLI) out there, and we’re going to look at what they bought, sold, and currently ​​ own. It’s going to be interesting and fun, so sit forward in that chair of yours, and get ready to see what some of the best investors in the world are buying today.

Here’s what we’re going to cover

1. What is a 13F?

2. Who exactly has to file one?

3. Where can I find this information (for free)?

4. ​​ A great list of amazing Next Level Investors

5. What we can do with this information

6. A snapshot of each stock these investors owns

What's a 13F?

That's an easy one. It's a required SEC document that's filed four times a year.

Congress passed section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act in 1975 in order to increase the public availability of information regarding the securities holdings of institutional investors. ​​ That's the boring part… ​​ the exciting part is what's in the document:

1. Every stock the the institutional investor has bought or sold in the last quarter (on an American exchange).

2. A description of the class of security listed (e.g. common stock, put/call option. Class A shares).

3. The number of shares they own. &

4. The fair value of the securities listed (at the end of the quarter).

Who has to File a 13F?

Another easy one. Anyone who is an institutional investment manager with over $100 million in assets under management. These managers can be private trusts, banks, insurance companies, investment advisors, and hedge funds. Funds must submit their list of qualifying 13F securities no more than 45 days after the end of quarter date.In other words, the world's best hedge fund managers have to let us know about the companies they’re interested in, and they ones they are no longer so excited about.

Where can I find this online (for free)

There are multiple sources online that have made a business out of compiling all the 13F filings and putting them into one convenient location. ​​ For the premium services they, of course, charge a fee, but we can find what we need to for free. Here’s my top 2 resources for doing so:

1. GuruFocus

This is probably the best designed and organized site for learning what institutional investors own, and have bought or sold in the last quarter. It also has the most roadblocks that slow you down unless you’re a paying customer. I still like it for it’s simplicity and ease of use. ​​ All you need to know is the name of the Hedge Fund or it’s manager and you can find their most recent purchases and sells.

2. Dataroma **

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite resources out there. First of all, it’s free, which I’m always a fan of. Second, they have already compiled a list of what they call ‘Superinvestors’. ​​ This looks to be an amazing list of 67 Next Level Investors (NLI). Not only that, they also give you a snapshot of the top 10 holdings of all these investors on one page, showing their largest holdings from left to right. ​​ If you want to be more specific in your search, you can just enter the name of the Guru you’re looking for, or a stock you like, and out will pop who owns the business off that list.

3. Whale Wisdom

This is another great resource for finding what your favorite Guru’s have bought and sold in the latest quarter. This site used to be free, but now offers a large amount of subscription based data. But don’t worry, you can still search the fund you're looking for and see a snapshot of the most recent buying and selling that they went through. (Use the search bar on the top left of the page)

A great List of Next Level Investors

Here’s the list of all my favorite next level investors. Some of the names are simply investors I really like, while others I found through Mohnish Pabrai’s Shameless Portfolio. ​​ You can use this list as your own, or start developing one yourself. (Many of the individuals on my Newsletter have already received this list).

NLI’s to follow

Mohnish Pabrai

Julian Robertson

Guy Spier

David Einhorn

Seth Klarman

Lou Simpson

Edward Lampert

Jeffrey W. Ubben

Bill Ackman

David Tepper

David Poppe

What we as NLI’s can do with these Filings

Well, we can do a lot. We as individual investors, can take advantage of the research that these world class investors have already put into their stock choices. ​​ As you probably know, some of the names above are extremely intelligent, and have been in the business a long time, with track records to prove that they know what they are doing. ​​ We can coattail these amazing investors and see if we can make sense of why they own the businesses they do.

We can use this information in three distinct ways:

1. We can use it as a way to find stock ideas (then do our own research)

2. We can use it to confirm an idea we already have (if a Guru already owns the business we’re looking at, that could be a good sign).

3. We can use it as a type of portfolio on steroids (see here for more info).

Alright, enough of that. Let’s move onto the fun part…

What each NLI on my list Owns today

You’ll see which stocks they own, the size of their stake in the stock, the number of shares, and the most recent price they paid or sold at. ​​ I’ll be posting a snapshot of each portfolio without discussion. To start a discussion, make a comment below! Or if you think I’m missing someone, let me know.

(I’ll be using Dataroma unless the manager is not listed there.)

Mohnish Pabrai

(Dataroma, 2017)

Julian Robertson

Guy Spier

(Dataroma, 2017)

David Einhorn

(Dataroma, 2017)

Seth Klarman

(Dataroma, 2017)

Lou Simpson

Eddie Lampert

(Dataroma, 2017)

Jeffrey W. Ubben

(Dataroma, 2017)

Bill Ackman

(Dataroma, 2017)

David Tepper / Jack Walton

(Dataroma, 2017)

David Poppe

(Dataroma, 2017)

Summary

So what did you think?

Simply scanning the list of investments is pretty interesting. You’ll probably notice some overlap, and some interesting ideas. I know I did. That’s all I have for you today. I’ll be sure to post the updated list when it comes out.

Be sure to sign up to the NLI Newsletter to receive more great information and to stay up to date on every new post I publish (Sign-up here). As a thank you I’ll send you my NLI Checklist!