Patricia Garner

By increasing its stake in Coeur Mining in 1Q15, Renaissance Technologies would expect Coeur Mining to generate superior returns.

Coeur Mining reported 1Q15 revenue of $153 million. It missed consensus estimates by $2.55 million. The company reported net loss of $24.4 million in 1Q15.

The investment in silver mining stocks appears to be based on the view that the stocks could outperform the market. This is due to a rise in consumer demand for silver.

In 1Q15, around 23 hedge funds created a new position in Coeur Mining. Over 52 hedge funds added to their position in Coeur Mining including Renaissance Technologies.

Mackenzie Financial added Newmont Mining (NEM) to its portfolio, expecting NEM to generate superior returns compared to benchmarks.

Newmont’s (NEM) share price jumped 6.5% after the release of its 1Q15 results. The company reported Q1 revenue of $2 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.46.

In the first quarter of 2015, Mackenzie Financial added a new position in Newmont Mining (NEM).

In this series, we’ll take a look at Newmont Mining’s performance over the last quarter in order to better understand its current and longer-term drivers.

The new LinkedIn Lead accelerator suite enables marketers to reach their target audiences more effectively. This addition should allow the company to generate more advertising revenues.

There were about 25 hedge funds with Twitter in their top ten holdings in the first quarter. A total of 177 hedge funds also added to their positions in TWTR.

In its first-quarter earnings release, Yahoo! reported EPS of $0.15, missing consensus estimates by $0.03. It missed revenue estimates by $20 million.

JD.com has outperformed all of its benchmarks, including competitors Amazon (AMZN) and eBay. The company has returned 43.56% so far in 2015.

The rationale for investing in Time Warner Cable could involve its growing subscriber base, which was lagging until last quarter, and the speculation over a deal with Charter Communications.

JAT Capital Management invests primarily in technology, media and telecom, travel, leisure, and gaming companies. In this series, we’ll take a detailed look at the fund’s top holdings in 1Q15.

Zulily (ZU) has performed poorly during the year, generating negative 40.3% returns to its shareholders thus far in 2015.

On May 8, Alibaba Group (BABA) bought 4.8 million class A shares of Zulily (ZU) worth approximately $58 million.

In the first quarter of 2015, about 31 hedge funds closed their position in Zulily (ZU), including Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance reported that net sales in the second quarter of 2015 increased by 35.5% to $26.6 billion. Q2 earnings increased by 21.6% to $1.18 per share.

For 4Q14, Priceline Group recorded bookings of $10.7 billion—up 17% YoY. Room nights booked grew by 24% and rental car days grew by 16%.

During 4Q14, Eton Park added new positions in Priceline Group (PCLN) and Expedia (EXPE). The fund’s position in TripAdvisor (TRIP) didn’t change.

In 4Q14, around 112 hedge funds created a new position in Priceline Group—including Eton Park. Its other top new positions were CDK Global, EQT, and KLX.

Chesapeake Energy has a natural gas production mix of 71%. It lost 22% in 2014. Chesapeake Energy was hardly the worst energy company.

In 4Q14, Coatue Management exited its position in Vipshop Holdings. Coatue sold 3,163,580 shares of Vipshop. It represented 0.61% of the fund’s 3Q14 portfolio.

In 4Q14, Coatue Management exited its position in Level 3 Communications. Coatue sold 3,122,406 shares of Level 3. It represented 1.46% of the fund’s 3Q14 portfolio.

In 4Q14, Coatue Management sold its position in eBay (EBAY). Coatue sold 5,820,987 shares of eBay. It represented 3.37% of the fund’s 3Q14 portfolio.

Coatue Management is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor. At the end of 4Q14, its US long portfolio was worth $10.5 billion—up from $9.7 billion in 3Q14.

Coatue Management decreased its position in Netflix (NFLX) in 4Q14. The investment represents 5.81% of the hedge fund’s overall portfolio in 4Q14.

Coatue Management’s fourth-quarter 13F filing reveals new positions in Actavis (ACT), JD.com (JD), Electronic Arts (EA), Visa (V), and MasterCard (MA).

Blue Harbour raised its stakes in Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) in 4Q14. The company accounts for 5.91% of the fund’s portfolio in 4Q14.

Blue Harbour increased its position in Rackspace Hosting (RAX) in 4Q14. The company accounts for 13.72% of the fund’s portfolio in 4Q14.

Blue Harbour’s top ten holdings include Rackspace Hosting at 13.42%, Akamai Technologies at 10.31%, and Babcock & Wilcox at 9.90%.

CommVault Systems provides data and information management software focused on mid-range and enterprise-level environments.

The Nabors companies own and operate approximately 466 land drilling rigs throughout the world and approximately 543 land workover and well servicing rigs in North America.

Blue Harbour Group manages capital on behalf of pension funds, endowments, and other institutional investors.

Blue Harbour initiated a new position in Alliance Data Systems (ADS) in 4Q14. It bought 1,153,390 shares worth $43 million. ADS accounts for 1.41% of the fund’s portfolio.

Blue Harbour started a new position in Clean Harbors (CLH) in 4Q14, buying 1,434,552 shares worth $68 million. It accounts for 2.21% of the fund’s total portfolio.

MLM’s 4Q14 net sales were up 59% to $779.5 million, compared with net sales of $491.4 million in 4Q13. It beat its 4Q14 revenue estimates by $84 million.

In February 2015, Cognizant Technology Solutions announced its 4Q14 results and reported revenues of $2.74 billion, up 16.4% from $2.36 billion in 4Q13.

In November 2014, Fox sold its 100% stake in Sky Italia and its 57% ownership in Sky Deutschland to British Sky Broadcasting Group for ~$8.8 billion.

AbbVie reported a $810 million net loss, which includes a breakup fee for terminating a $54 billion merger deal with Shire in October 2014.

Founded in October 1993 by Lee S. Ainslie III and Sam Wyly with assets of $38 million, Maverick Capital is currently worth more than $6 billion.

Adobe Systems is one of the largest and most diversified software companies in the world. 4Q14 revenue grew 3% year-over-year to $1.073 billion.

Allison Transmission and its subsidiaries design and manufacture commercial and defense fully automatic transmissions. In 4Q14, net sales grew 11% to $544 million.

Maverick Capital increased its position in Northstar Realty Finance (NRF) by more than $21 million in stock. Northstar represented 1.06% of the fund’s total portfolio in 4Q14.

Maverick Capital increased its position in Novartis (NVS) by more than $22 million in stock. It represented 0.75% of the fund’s total portfolio in 4Q14.

Maverick Capital increased its position in Santander Consumer USA Holdings (SC) by more than $70 million in stock. Santander accounts for 4.44% of the fund’s portfolio in 4Q14.

Maverick Capital increased its position in Vulcan Materials by $147 million in stock. Vulcan accounts for 2.91% of the fund’s portfolio in 4Q14.

Maverick Capital started a new 4Q14 position in Priceline Group, buying 111,000 shares worth $126 million. Priceline accounts for 1.98% of the fund’s portfolio.

Maverick Capital started a new position in CommScope Holding (COMM) in 4Q14. According to 13F filings, CommScope accounts for 2.53% of the fund’s portfolio.

Google maintained growth rates of 17%–18% over the last couple of years. It should be able to manage a healthy growth rate in 2015 as well.

Google’s search advertising business is highly profitable because it commands higher ad rates. Search ads carry higher rates compared to display ads.

In 2015, Bing’s share in the search ad market could be similar to 2014. However, its search ad revenue should grow by 18.5%.

Increased user engagement is one reason Facebook’s ad pricing has increased. Average price per ad has increased due to its redesigned right-hand column ads.

Yahoo Gemini is a marketplace that combines mobile search and native advertising, helping advertisers manage and optimize their ads.

In addition to its partnership with Paperless Post, Yahoo (YHOO) also launched contact cards in Yahoo Mail to increase user engagement.

In 4Q14, Yahoo partnered with online invitation and stationery giant, Paperless Post.

During the earnings conference call, Yahoo’s management said that in 2014, more than 600,000 applications were integrated with the Flurry software development kit.

Apple’s (AAPL) Safari is the most popular browser on mobile devices, with a 44% market share.

Mobile search monetizes at a lower rate than PC search due to the smaller screen sizes of mobile devices.

Even though Yahoo has added more than 1,000 people from acquisitions, Yahoo’s headcount has been relatively flat throughout the current management’s tenure.

In July 2009, Yahoo (YHOO) signed a ten-year deal with Microsoft (MSFT) with the expectation that the partnership will allow both firms to team up against the dominant player, Google (GOOG).

Yahoo plans to make Tumblr similar to YouTube and is trying to convince some of Google’s top YouTube stars to make Tumblr their exclusive video distributor.

Yahoo’s native ads generated $106 million in 4Q14, up 32% quarter-over-quarter. Revenue for 2014 of $300 million exceeded company estimates of $250 million.

In December, Yahoo acquired BrightRoll for $640 million. The acquisition of BrightRoll put Yahoo in a leadership position in the video advertising industry.

In 2015, Yahoo’s management expects that MaVeNS will contribute more than $1.5 billion of revenue to Yahoo’s overall business.

During the fourth quarter earnings call, Yahoo management reported Q4 mobile revenue of $254 million, up from $207 million in Q3, for a growth of 23%.

Yahoo’s price per ad decreased about 20% in 4Q14 compared to 24% in 3Q14, mainly due to a shift from higher priced premium inventory to native ads.

The Yahoo-Mozilla deal is driving millions of queries to Yahoo each month, which will boost Yahoo’s search-related ad revenue in coming quarters.

Yahoo (YHOO) has been trying hard to compete in the online advertising market where Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) have managed to make rapid strides.

Across its China retail marketplaces, Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume grew by 49% YoY. It was driven by strength in Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com.

Part of the reason for Alibaba’s GMV growth was the growth in its active user base. The growth was driven by an increase in active buyers throughout China.

For the quarter ending in December 2014, Alibaba achieved 265 million monthly active users on its mobile commerce apps. This is a sequential growth of 22%.

Investors were disappointed with Alibaba’s 4Q14 results, and the company saw a 10% decline in its value the day it announced its earnings.

Last month, Alibaba’s taxi-booking app completed its merger with Tencent’s (TCEHY) mobile taxi app.

Alibaba plans to make an entry into online banking to compete against its biggest rival in Internet business, Tencent Holdings.

Alibaba is trying to win a big portion of China’s Internet population of 641 million by integrating with AutoNavi.

The decline in Alibaba’s operating margin was in part due to investments in new business initiatives, such as a mobile operating system, local services, and digital entertainment.

Alibaba (BABA) is the largest e-commerce player in China. The company reported its December quarter 2014 earnings on January 29, 2015.

Braintree is growing rapidly, helping PayPal extend its reach in the mobile payment market.

eBay isn’t focused on same-day delivery. The company believes the majority of shoppers don’t like paying shipping costs associated with same-day delivery.

In the 4Q14 earnings call, eBay’s management gave guidance for its business units, with PayPal’s 2015 revenue growth at 15%–18% on an FX-neutral basis.

After the separation of eBay and PayPal, eBay management plans to pursue an IPO (initial public offering) or sale of eBay Enterprise.

eBay’s take rate fell from 3.79% in 2Q13 to 3.53% in 2Q14. However, the company isn’t worried about it since take rate is offset by healthy revenue growth.

eBay’s non-GAAP operating margins declined from 29.2% in 4Q13 to 27.7% in 4Q14. eBay still hasn’t recovered from the events that caused the decline.

In 4Q14, eBay Enterprise generated $1.9 billion in gross merchandise sales, up 9%. It was driven by new logos and 12% same-store sales growth.

To turn around eBay Marketplaces, eBay needs to sharpen its focus on strategies. Marketplaces president Devin Wenig is taking aggressive steps to do that.

Since 4Q14, eBay’s gross merchandise volume (or GMV) has declined 0.07% globally and 0.11% in the US market, eBay’s largest and most competitive market.

eBay reported a mixed fourth-quarter performance with net revenues increasing 9% year-over-year to $4.9 billion but missing estimates by $10 million.

There’s been a lot of media speculation around the strategy that Facebook (FB) will adopt to monetize WhatsApp.

Facebook has been looking to diversify its business from online advertisements to e-commerce. E-commerce is a fast-growing market that Facebook should tap.

Mobile devices are an important revenue driver for Facebook.

Facebook (FB) launched its Audience Network program early last year in beta. Facebook said that it’s looking to partner with more publishers.

Average revenue per user (or ARPU) is another important metric for Internet companies. It provides an idea of how well a company can monetize its user base.

Despite the slow user growth, Facebook continues to be the leading social network in terms of monthly active users.

Facebook’s average ad price increased rapidly in 4Q14 mainly because of ad redesign, improved ad targeting, and the launch of accurate measurement tools.

Twitter announced that it will track users’ installed apps on mobile devices to tailor ad content. This collection of data is called App Graph.

In November 2014, on Twitter’s (TWTR) engineering blog, the company posted that it indexes every public tweet since 2006.

Twitter’s (TWTR) stock was up 7.45% after Twitter’s CEO’s presentation at Analyst Day on November 12, 2014. Twitter’s investors like what they heard.

Twitter (TWTR) acquired Indian mobile start-up ZipDial for $35 million to make Twitter even more accessible to people around the world

In 3Q 2014, we saw that despite slow user growth, Twitter (TWTR) continued to maintain an impressive rate of revenue growth.