Who knows if these will be good bets in 2015, but the top stocks that made hedge funds money in 2014 were Ebay, Mastercard and Pioneer Natural Resources, according to Motley Fool.
Activist investor Carl Icahn made a winning bet with Ebay. He pushed to make changes in the board and management and pressured Ebay to spin off its Paypal unit. Ebay’s management frequently have argued that it needs PayPal as part of its business model, but this summer, the spin off was announced, and the stock rose.
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Pioneer Natural Resources saw an uptick in purchasing from Viking Global Investors, which raised its stake by 66%. Although energy stocks have been hit by low oil prices, Pioneer was one of the top performers in the sector, and its days in the sun may not end soon. However, the stock is expensive in comparison to the industry and oil prices don’t seem to be headed up soon, so maybe Pioneer was a good story in 2014, but beware in 2015.
The drop in Mastercard, to the tune of 12%, doesn’t make sense, even with worries that it will get hurt by Russian sanctions. Hedge funds have been buying this stock on weakness, given its unjustified plunge, and it may be worth picking up some shares.
