Sequoia Fund just released its Q3 letter, and the fund returned 3.71% net of fees for the three months, slightly trailing the S&P 500’s 4.48% return. For the entire year, Sequoia Fund generated a return of 13.73%, barely lagging the 14.24% return for the broader market.
In terms of its comments, the fund talked about its Alphabet Inc (Nasdaq: GOOG) position which it recently added more of, ‘Alphabet continues to stand out given its rapid growth, underlying profitability and, by our estimation, only slightly higher multiple relative to the market’.
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Alphabet Inc has been a good performer, rising 32% year-to-date and 34% over the last twelve months. The stock trades for a current forward P/E ratio of 24.85 and sports a market cap of just under 700 billion. It has a book value of around $214.02 per share, and investors are excited about the company’s potential in self-driving cars and artificial intelligence.
In addition to Alphabet Inc, Sequoia Fund also added to its position in Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (NYSE: JEC) to around 3% of its portfolio. The fund notes, ‘skepticism around a recent acquisition pressured the share price, but we felt the risk-adjusted economics of the deal were attractive and took advantage of the weakness to increase the Fund’s investment’. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc is up 7.21% year-to-date and has rallied 24% over the past twelve months. It trades for a forward P/E of 17.76.
In addition, the fund added to a bank, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC), increasing its stake to 3.2% of the portfolio. The fund writes, ‘The business continues to perform in line with our expectations while the share price has lagged behind the market, offering us an opportunity to increase the Fund’s investment at what we believe are attractive prices’.
Wells Fargo & Co should benefit from less regulations, and lower taxes and the strong economy. The bank trades has a year-to-return of 1.9% and has rallied 26% over the last twelve months.
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