Hedge funds make their money choosing which stocks they think will succeed and fail.
Goldman Sachs recently updated its Very Important Position list of stocks, which are among the top 10 holdings for a large number of hedge funds.
It’s worth noting that the rankings are based off of funds’ 13-F filings with the SEC for the third quarter of 2017, and so their holdings may have changed since.
Here are the 17 stocks that showed up most often in hedge funds’ lists of their top 10 holdings.
17. Netflix
Ticker: NFLX
Subsector: Internet & Direct Marketing Retail
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 24
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 40
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 10%
Year-to-date total return: 58%
16. C. R. Bard Inc.
Ticker: BCR
Subsector: Health Care Equipment
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 24
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 28
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 18%
Year-to-date total return: 49%
15. Dell Technologies
Ticker: DVMT
Subsector: Systems Software
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 25
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 44
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 30%
Year-to-date total return: 48%
14. Monsanto
Ticker: MON
Subsector: Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 26
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 36
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 10%
Year-to-date total return: 15%
13. Charter Communications
Ticker: CHTR
Subsector: Cable & Satellite
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 29
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 55
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 11%
Year-to-date total return: 18%
12. PayPal
Ticker: PYPL
Subsector: Data Processing & Outsourced Services
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 30
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 41
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 4%
Year-to-date total return: 97%
11. Visa
Ticker: V
Subsector: Data Processing & Outsourced Services
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 36
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 64
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 4%
Year-to-date total return: 43%
10. Citigroup
Ticker: C
Subsector: Diversified Banks
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 40
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 60
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 2%
Year-to-date total return: 22%
9. NXP Semiconductors
Ticker: NXPI
Subsector: Semiconductors
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 41
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 49
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 40%
Year-to-date total return: 18%
8. Bank of America
Ticker: BAC
Subsector: Diversified Banks
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 41
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 67
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 2%
Year-to-date total return: 22%
7. Apple
Ticker: AAPL
Subsector: Technology Hardware Storage & Peripherals
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 42
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 68
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 1%
Year-to-date total return: 50%
6. Time Warner
Ticker: TWX
Subsector: Movies & Entertainment
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 47
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 62
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 15%
Year-to-date total return: -7%
5. Microsoft
Ticker: MSFT
Subsector: Systems Software
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 52
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 81
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 2%
Year-to-date total return: 37%
4. Alphabet
Ticker: GOOGL
Subsector: Internet Software & Services
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 52
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 84
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 4%
Year-to-date total return: 32%
3. Alibaba
Ticker: BABA
Subsector: Internet Software & Services
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 59
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 78
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 3%
Year-to-date total return: 111%
2. Amazon
Ticker: AMZN
Subsector: Internet & Direct Marketing Retail
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 75
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 103
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 2%
Year-to-date total return: 52%
1. Facebook
Ticker: FB
Subsector: Internet Software & Services
No. of funds with stock as a top-10 holding: 81
No. of funds with 10 to 200 positions owning stock: 115
% of equity cap owned by hedge funds: 4%
Year-to-date total return: 56%