Since we are past the fourth quarter, we are entering the period when investors publish their 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Institutional investors usually have 60 days to disclose their equity portfolios as held at the end of the previous quarter. Horseman Capital Management, is one of the first hedge funds to disclose its holdings as owned at the end of the 2013. Managed by John Horseman, the fund is headquartered in London and was founded in 2001. At the end of the fourth quarter of last year, Horseman’s equity portfolio had a value of $322.72 million, up from $285.66 million at the end of September. The portfolio contains 22 positions, down by two over the quarter.
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With this in mind, we have picked five companies, in which Horseman Capital Management has disclosed its largest positions in terms of value. While the companies per say didn’t change much, the value of the fund’s positions among the top five has increased, as well as the fund tweaked the amount of shares it holds in these companies.
The largest holding in the Horseman’s latest 13F is represented by Vipshop Holdings Ltd – ADR (NYSE:VIPS), in which the fund revealed ownership of 371,763 shares, down from 401,563 shares held in the third quarter of 2013. The value of the stake, however, surged to $31.11 million, from $22.81 million. Following the gain in the value of the stake, the holding managed to climb up one position, replacing Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW), in which the fund held its largest stake, according to the previous 13F form.
The stock of Vipshop Holdings Ltd – ADR (NYSE:VIPS) gained 47.3% during the last quarter of last year. The company posted a significant increase in its revenues for the third quarter of 2013, which boosted by nearly 150% over the year, to $383.7 million. Vipshop Holdings Ltd – ADR (NYSE:VIPS) also showed a net income of $12.0 million, versus a loss of $1.5 million in the same period of 2012.
The next on the list is Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), in which the fund raised its position to 24,900 shares, with a reported value of $27.91 million. Earlier, the fund owned 20,058 shares, worth $20.06 million. Google’s stock posted a significant gain during the last year, advancing by around 50% and gained approximately 27% during the fourth quarter. Among the highlights of the previous quarter, aside from the increase of the popularity of Android OS on mobile devices and solid financial results, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) also managed to launch several new products.
Also, in December, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) acquired Boston Dynamics, an engineering company, that designed some of the greatest robots. Following the latest acquisition, Google, reportedly, bought eight companies engaged in robotics, which could mean that it has some big plans regarding this particular market.