Soros Dumps Google and Apple, Buys Banks

Well, one big gun is loving the banks and disliking tech stalwarts like Google (GOOG: 607.34, -6.77, -1.10%) and Apple (AAPL: 565.66, +4.38, +0.78%) right now, possibly because on a share-to-book value basis, the banks are trading at dirt cheap levels, while tech is on a tear. Soros Fund Management, the New York hedge fund of billionaire George Soros, recently dumped all of its Google shares -- worth $168 million -- and halved its stake in Apple, says Harish Mali, an analyst with SNL Financial, a Wall Street research firm. Meanwhile, Soros' fund also added more stakes in big banks during the first quarter, buying Atlanta-based Suntrust Banks (STI: 22.71, +0.40, +1.79%) as well as more shares in JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 34.22, +1.72, +5.28%), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB: 13.51, +0.13, +0.97%), Citigroup (C: 27.30, +1.05, +4.00%), Regions Financial (RF: 6.33, +0.13, +2.10%) and Capital One Financial (COF: 50.88, +1.00, +2.00%). The moves quadrupled the fund's stock investment in banks to $196.5 million at March 31 from $47.6 million at the end of 2011, SNL's Mali says. Continue reading this article

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