Why Are Funds Running From Baidu, Valeant, Mondelez, Apple, Time Warner Cable...

Baidu Inc (ADR) BIDU was one of the most unpopular stocks of the second quarter. According to an analysis of top hedge funds’ aggregate holdings and top purchases and sales from S&P Capital IQ, the Chinese-language Internet search provider was the stock institutional investors sold the most in the second quarter, trailed by Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX and Mondelez International Inc MDLZ.

Related Link: 13F Recap: The Most Popular (And Unpopular) Stocks Of Q2

Ten hedge funds were included in this analysis:

• Icahn Capital LP
• Viking Global Investors L.P.
• Lone Pine Capital LLC
• Glenview Capital Management, LLC
• Paulson & Co. Inc.
• ValueAct Capital, LLC
• Tiger Global Management LLC
• Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P.
• Third Point LLC
• Highfields Capital Management, LP

Between April and June, inclusive, two hedge funds (Lone Pine and Viking Global) disposed of 6,429,949 shares of Baidu, worth roughly $1.3166 billion. Lone Pine was the most bearish, closing its stake, which comprised 5,281,484 shares as of the end of the first quarter of the year. This was the most valuable sale of the quarter.

Other very sold stocks include:

• Valeant, which saw ValueAct and Lone Pine sell an aggregate of 4,648,933 shares, worth more than $1 billion
• Mondelez, which witnessed the closing of Viking Global’s stake, which comprised 23,969,688 shares
• Time Warner Cable Inc TWC, to which two funds reduced exposure and in which one closed out its stake; the total amount of shares sold reaches 4,539,747, valued at roughly ¾ of a billion dollars
• Apple Inc. AAPL, where Lone Pine is no longer an investor, after selling all of its 6,838,522 shares, worth roughly $874.5 million