Viking Global's Shareholder Letter Talks New Positions In Google, Cheniere, Biggest Winners & Losers

Viking Global Investors released a quarterly update to its investors on April 27, noting new positions in Google Inc GOOG GOOGL and Cheniere Energy, Inc. LNG.

The letter, written by CEO and co-founder Ole Andreas Halvorsen, noted that despite the recent stake, Google ranks as the fund's third-largest holding and Cheniere as the sixth-largest holdings.

The firm's top holding at the end of the first quarter was Actavis plc ACT, but rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX was the "biggest winner" despite ranking as a top-20 holdings.

"The outperformance in Valeant shares was driven by stronger than expected revenue and earnings guidance for 2015, as well as the announcement of the acquisition of Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., a leader in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders," Halvorsen wrote. "We believe that Salix is a strategically and financially attractive addition to Valeant's portfolio. Similar to Valeant's other core business platforms, the gastrointestinal space is characterized by strong organic growth prospects, a relatively favorable reimbursement outlook, and limited competition from larger pharmaceutical companies. We remain excited about Valeant and believe that the long-term earnings power of the company is significantly above consensus estimates."

The letter added that Micron Technology, Inc. MU was the "biggest loser" in the quarter, reversing last year's ranking as a top-five winner.

The company suffered from short-term PC DRAM pricing weakness in the quarter, caused by a cyclical slowdown in the PC industry.

However, Halvorsen wrote that he expects the weakness to be temporary and of "decreasing importance" as industry demand will depend less on PCs and more on mobile and server end-markets.

"We initiated our investment in early 2013 on the back of this thesis and continue to believe strong long-term secular demand outweighs any short-term cyclical weakness," Haloversen argued. "Of equal importance, we expect competitors to remain disciplined during this period of temporary weakness."