Berkshire Bets Big on Capital One, Burry Loads Up on Banks and Other Hidden Gems

Let’s see what the big blue whale bought and sold in the first quarter of 2023. Major moves and high conviction plays only.

Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) picks up 2.6% of Capital One (NYSE:COF) — the US’ third-largest issuer of Visa and Mastercard.

• Sold Berkshire’s entire stake in the world’s largest chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductors (NYSE:TSM), over Taiwan’s geopolitical tensions.
• Sold several bank positions, including US Bancorp (NYSE:USB) and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) — after expressing concerns over the sector.

Here’s what “superinvestors” bought (see full list):

Onto the smaller orca whales (faves from TAJ). But don’t discount their size; they’re more nimble and are known to be top-performers killers.

• Skye Global Management starts a new call position (4.7% of portfolio) on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) — who’s been left in the shadows of other big tech giants this year.
• North Peak Capital bought Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) — which provides chemicals and lab equipment to life sciences companies (12% of portfolio).
• Legion Partners scooped up cloud communications provider Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) and now makes up 11.8% of its portfolio. Over the past two years, the stock has been crushed, down 90%.

One more bonus whale was spotted — and this one flops around often…

Michael Burry goes big on Chinese e-commerce giants — adding to his JD (NASDAQ:JD) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), which now makes up nearly 20% of his portfolio.

• The investor, made famous from The Big Short, tweeted “sell” in January, just to say he “was wrong to say sell.”
• Instead, he loaded up on bank stocks, including the now-collapsed First Republic.

Hope you enjoyed your whale watching tour. Would you like to give a tip? 20%, 50%, or 100%?