Highlights of Farallon Capital Management’s 4Q14 Holdings

Thomas Steyer, a former financial analyst at Morgan Stanley’s mergers and acquisitions division, founded Farallon Capital Management in 1986. The fund primarily invests in services, technology, and financial stocks, using bottom-up fundamental analysis while selecting its portfolio.

The total value of Farallon Capital Management’s US long portfolio increased to $7.32 billion in 4Q14 from $6.23 billion in 3Q14. In this series, we’ll discuss some of the notable positions the hedge fund traded in the fourth quarter of 2014, ending in December 2014.

Farallon Capital Management started new positions in Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST), Baker Hughes (BHI), Rockwood Holdings (ROC), and CareFusion Corporation (CFN). It exited positions in Rockwell Collins (COL) and Compuware (CPWR).

The hedge fund increased its position in Allergan (AGN), TRW Automotive Holdings (TRW), Covidien Plc. (COV), Dollar General (DG), and Family Dollar Stores (FDO). It decreased positions in Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and State Street Corp. (STT).

Farallon Capital has 38 stocks in its portfolio. The top ten holdings of the firm include Allergan (7.25%), Covidien Plc. (6.28%), DIRECTV (5.60%), and Safeway (4.34%).

While Allergan (AGN) comprises 0.39% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), Covidien (COV) comprises 1.42% of the Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT).

The next article in this series will explore Farallon Capital’s position in Cubist Pharmaceuticals.