5 Tech Stocks George Soros Loves for 2016

George Soros has no qualms about dipping his toes into the technology arena, though he has admitted to having some rather non-technical approaches to the markets in the past.

The billionaire investor and founder of Soros Fund Management has spoken and written at length about his philosophy-based theories of fallibility and reflexivity, by which investors’ views do not perfectly correspond to the actual state of the market and the financial markets have an active role in affecting future earnings flows and determining prices.

Soros is known for following his impulses as well. He divulged in the 1995 book Soros on Soros that he sometimes relies on “animal instincts” in investing and said that he often used the onset of back pain as a signal that something was wrong with his portfolio, though it didn’t tell him what. “That is not the most scientific way to run a portfolio,” he said.
One of his new picks that isn’t among his top holdings but is noteworthy nonetheless: Alphabet . The Google parent company appears to have piqued his interest in the fourth quarter. He picked up a new stake in the tech giant in the fourth quarter, acquiring 65,570 shares.
Cypress Semiconductor

Cypress Semiconductor is Soros’ top tech holding. As of Dec. 31, he owns 16.4 million shares valued at $160.8 million, giving the stock a 3.0% allocation in his public equity portfolio. He actually downsized the position by about 17% in the fourth quarter of the year.

Cypress Semiconductor provides mixed-signal programmable solutions, semiconductor memories, and integrated semiconductor solutions worldwide. It has a $2.4 billion market cap and trades at a P/E of 33.76. Its dividend yield is 6.2%.

Polycom

Soros also shaved his Polycom stake by about 17% in the fourth quarter, but it still remains one of his more prominent picks. As of the end of the period, he owns 8.8 million shares valued at $111.4 million, and the stock comprises about 2.1% of his public equity holdings.

PayPal

Payments giant PayPal is another of Soros’ tech picks. As of Dec. 31, he owns nearly 3.0 million of the company’s shares worth $107 million. The stock comprises 2.0% of his public equity portfolio, even though he reduced his stake last quarter by more than 30%.

eBay

Soros has a $94.4 million, 3.4 million-share stake in eBay as of the end of the last quarter. The stock comprises 1.8% of his public equity portfolio, though he downsized it by about 36% from the period before. eBay has a $27.4 billion market cap and trades at a P/E of 12.82.

Facebook

Facebook is Soros’ number-five tech holding. As per his most recent 13F, he owns 816,761 shares of the company, valued at $85.5 million. Facebook comprises 1.6% of his holdings, even after he slashed his stake in half last quarter.It has a $299.4 billion market cap and trades at a P/E of 81.55.