Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio), CEO and CIO of Virginia-based Sands Capital Management, the firm his father founded in 1992, bought and sold stock in 16 companies in the third quarter, the fewest transactions he’s had in a quarter in more than three years.
Sands has shown a preference in the past for certain stocks, but he neither bought nor sold stock in his largest assets (by volume, Facebook [FB], or by value, Visa [V]). Instead, his transactions involved companies that had lesser presences in his portfolio.
Sands has been with Sands Capital Management since 2000. In the last decade, the firm has enjoyed an average annual return of nearly 12%.
Sands added holdings in five companies that are new to his portfolio – Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE, Financial), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA, Financial), Discovery Communications Inc (DISCK, Financial), TripAdvisor Inc (TRIP, Financial) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT, Financial).
Sands purchased 9,837,532 shares of Adobe Systems, a California-based computer software company, for an average price of $70.88 per share. The transaction had a 1.7% impact on Sands’ portfolio.
Sands was one of the more than two dozen gurus we follow who invested in Alibaba, a Chinese ecommerce company, shortly after its historic IPO in September 2014. Sands bought 6,609,592 shares of Alibaba for an average price of $89.95 per share. The deal had a 1.5% impact on his portfolio.
Sands also added to his stakes in two companies – Guidewire Software Inc (GWRE, Financial), a California-based software developer, and Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (QUNR, Financial), a Chinese-based web services company. Neither purchase had an impact of greater than 0.02% on the portfolio.
Divestitures and reductions
Sands sold all of his holdings in two companies – Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG, Financial) and Starbucks Corp (SBUX, Financial).
He sold all 1,939,418 shares of Intuitive Surgical, a California-based manufacturer of robotic surgical systems, in his portfolio. The shares were sold for an average price of $446.83 per share, and the sale had a -2% impact on the portfolio.
Sands sold his 7,235,551-share stake in Starbucks, a Seattle-based coffeehouse chain, for an average price of $77.35 per share. The transaction had a -1.4% impact on the portfolio.
He reduced his stakes in seven companies – Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG), Baidu Inc (BIDU), Google Inc (GOOG), LinkedIn Corp (LNKD), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx [ETF] (EEM), SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and SAP SE (SAP).
Sands sold 372,159 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, a Denver-based chain of restaurants, for an average price of $655.30. The sale had a -0.56% impact on Sands’ portfolio.
Sands sold 1,180,949 shares of Baidu, a Chinese web services company, for an average price of $211.32 per share. The transaction also had a -0.56% impact on Sands’ portfolio.
Sands sold 174,394 shares of Google, a California-based internet services company, for an average price of $579.90 per share. The deal had a -0.25% impact on his portfolio.
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