"Tracking Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management Portfolio – Q4 2017 Update"
"Fisher’s 13F portfolio value increased from $71.30B to $76.56B in Q4 2017.Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Visa Inc., Alibaba Group Holdings, and Johnson & Johnson are the largest five individual stock positions.Fisher has substantial stakes in several ETFs/ETNs and hundreds of very small positions. They together account for more than one-third of the 13F portfolio.This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to Kenneth Fisher’s 13F stock portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on Fisher Asset Management’s regulatory  filed on 01/24/2018. Please visit our  article for an idea on his investment style and philosophy and  highlighting the fund’s moves in Q3 2017.This quarter, Fisher’s 13F portfolio value increased ~7.4% from $71.30B to $76.56B. The number of holdings increased from 843 to 922. Significantly large positions increased from 67 to 69. The five largest individual stock positions are Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Visa Inc., Alibaba Group Holdings, and Johnson & Johnson. Together, they account for ~12% of the 13F stock portfolio.To know more about Ken Fisher, check-out his  (most notably in Behavioral Finance),  (several of them were NY Times best sellers) and his father Philip Fisher’s scuttlebutt investment philosophy explained in the book “”.Note: Fisher manages ~45,000 private client accounts and over 175 institutional accounts. Each such portfolio is personalized to client requirements and beating the S&P is not the focus for many of them. "13F Portfolio performance" which would be the performance of the sum total of all such monies in 13F securities is an unknown.Stake Increases:Wal-Mart Stores (WMT): The bulk of the 1.12% WMT position was purchased in Q2 2016 at prices between $65 and $73. This quarter saw a ~45% stake increase at prices between $78 and $100. The stock is now at $106. The buying pattern indicates a bullish bias.JD.com (JD) and Costco Wholesale (COST): These are small 0.6% of the portfolio positions that saw substantial buying this quarter. Most of the 0.57% COST stake was built at prices between $155 and $193 and the stock currently trades just above that range at $194. The JD position saw a ~10% increase.Amazon.com (AMZN): AMZN is the largest individual stock position at 2.74% of the portfolio. The stake is from 2011 and the stock price has risen over sixfold during the holding period: the cost-basis is ~$200 compared to the current price of $1358. Q2 2016 saw a ~20% selling at prices between $586 and $728. There was another ~16% selling in Q2 2017 at prices between $885 and $1011. Last two quarters have seen minor increases.Apple Inc. (AAPL): AAPL is a top-three 2.48% individual stock position that was built-up in 2012 at prices between $60 and $72. The original stake was increased by ~60% in Q2 2013 at prices between $59 and $65. There was a ~9% trimming in Q2 2017 at prices between $141 and $156. The stock currently trades at $174. Last two quarters saw ~3% increases.Visa Inc. (V): The V position was first purchased in 2012 at much lower prices compared to the current price of ~$125. The size of the stake has tripled in the last five years through incremental purchases almost every quarter. There was a ~3% stake increase this quarter as well. The position is now the third-largest stake at 2.45% of the portfolio.Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA): BABA is a top-five position at 2.40% of the portfolio. The original position was from Q2 2015 at prices between $81 and $93. Q1 2017 saw a two-thirds increase at prices between $88 and $110. That was followed with a ~90% increase in Q2 2017 at prices between $107 and $144. The stock currently trades at $196. There was a ~4% stake increase this quarter.Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): MSFT is a fairly large ~2% of the portfolio position. It is a very long-term stake that has been in the portfolio for well over a decade. The last major activity was a ~14% trimming in Q2 2017 at prices between $65 and $73. The stock is now at ~$92. Last two quarters have seen ~3% increases.Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL): GOOG was a very small position that was built-up to a substantial 2% stake in 2011 at prices between $242 and $301. The stock has almost quadrupled and currently trades at $1164. The position stands at 1.84% of the portfolio. There was a ~14% reduction in Q2 2017 at prices between $823 and $984. Last two quarters have seen minor increases.Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): TSM is a very long-term 1.76% of the US long portfolio position. A large block was purchased in 2012 at prices between $12.50 and $16.50. The stake was reduced by ~50% in Q2 2013 at prices between $17 and $20. The nine quarters thru Q2 2016 saw the position rebuilt (70% increase) at prices between $19 and $26. Q2 2017 also saw a ~22% increase at prices between $31.50 and $36.92. The stock currently trades at $45.33. Last two quarters have seen only marginal activity.American Express (AXP): AXP has been in the portfolio since 2012. The original position was around 9M shares and the current stake is 11.87M shares. Q3 2016 saw a ~10% reduction at prices between $59 and $66 and the stock is now at $99.30. The position is now at 1.54% of the portfolio. There were ~3% stake increases in the last three quarters.Procter & Gamble (PG): PG is another long-term 1.10% of the US long portfolio position that has been in the portfolio since before the financial crisis. The original position was increased by just over 75% in 2012 at prices between $60 and $70. There has since been a ~25% further increase thru periodic buying. The stock currently trades at $88.31.Vodafone plc (VOD): VOD is a ~1% of the 13F portfolio position established in Q1 2017 at prices between $24.43 and $26.91 and almost doubled the following quarter at prices between $25.50 and $30.50. The stock is now at $32.37. There was a ~10% stake increase over the last two quarters.UBS AG GRS (UBS): UBS is a ~1% of the US long portfolio position established in Q3 2013 at prices between $17 and $21.50. The original stake was reduced by around one-third in Q4 2013 at prices between $19 and $22. Q1 2014 saw an about-turn as the position was increased by ~37% at prices between $18.50 and $21.50 and the following quarter saw an additional 47% stake increase at prices between $18 and $21.50. In Q4 2014, the pattern reversed as the position was reduced by ~40%. Last three years have seen a two-thirds stake increase at prices between $12.25 and $23. The stock currently trades at $20.64. For investors attempting to follow Fisher, UBS is a good option to consider for further research.Siemens AG (SIEGY): SIEGY is a ~1% portfolio stake increased by ~45% in Q1 2016 at prices between $44 and $53 and stock currently trades at $76.60. Q2 2017 saw a one-third increase at prices between $66.50 and $73. Last two quarters saw ~3% stake increases.Note: The prices quoted above are adjusted for the 2-for-1 stock-split in March.SAP AG ADR (SAP): SAP is a ~1% of the US long portfolio position that was built-up over several quarters in 2012 at prices between $54 and $80. The stake has wavered since but the overall position is now at ~6.9M shares - roughly the same sizing as in Q4 2012. The stock currently trades at ~$114.Anheuser Busch Inbev SA ADR (BUD), Astrazeneca plc (AZN), BASF SE ADR (BASFY), Baidu Inc. (BIDU), Banco Santander SA ADR (SAN), BNP Paribas ADR (BNPQY), Bayer AG ADR (BAYRY), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Chevron Inc. (CVX), Cisco Systems (CSCO), CTrip.com International ADR (CTRP), Exxon Mobil (XOM), HDFC Bank (HDB), HSBC plc (HSBC), ING Groep NV ADR (ING), Intel Corporation (INTC), Intesa Sanpaolo Spa ADR (ISNPY), L Oreal Co. ADR (LRLCY), LVMH Moet Hennssy ADR (LVMUY), Lloyds Banking Group plc ADR (LYG), Merck Inc. (MRK), Novartis A G ADR (NVS), Novo-Nordisk A S ADR (NVO), Oracle Corporation (ORCL), PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Roche Holding Limited ADR (RHHBY), Sanofi ADR (SNY), Softbank Group ADR (SFTBY), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (SMFG), Tencent Holdings ADR (TCEHY), and United Technologies (UTX): These are significant positions (more than 0.5% of the US long portfolio) that saw minor increases this quarter.Stake Decreases:Home Depot (HD): HD is a ~1% of the US long portfolio position first purchased in 2012 at prices between $42 and $65. The three quarters thru Q1 2017 had seen minor increases. There was an about-turn in Q2 2017: ~38% selling at prices between $146 and $159. This quarter saw another ~28% reduction at prices between $150 and $190. The stock is now at $206. Fisher is harvesting huge long-term gains.Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): CMCSA is a 0.41% of the US long portfolio position. The original stake was established in 2012 at prices between $12 and $18.50. There had only been minor activity since. Q2 2017 saw a ~50% selling at prices between $37 and $42 and that was followed with another ~42% reduction this quarter at prices between $35 and $41. The stock currently trades at $42.99. Fisher is harvesting long-term gains.Note: The prices quoted above are adjusted for the 2-for-1 stock-split in February.Bank of America (BAC), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), and Walt Disney (DIS): These three positions saw substantial selling this quarter. JPM saw a one-third reduction while the DIS stake was reduced by half. The 0.58% BAC stake was almost sold out this quarter.Note: The reductions are consistent with his  on the market – he expects European equities to outperform US in the coming year.General Electric (GE) and GlaxoSmithKline plc ADR (GSK): These two very small ~0.5% portfolio positions saw minor trimming this quarter.Kept Steady:Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): JNJ is a large top-five 2.21% of the portfolio position. Around two-thirds of the stake was purchased in 2008 at prices between $55 and $72 and most of the rest in 2011 at prices between $58 and $68. The stock currently trades at $142.The portfolio also has several large positions in different ETNs and ETFs (FEEU) (FIGY) (FBGX) (FLGE) (LQD) (MBB) (SCPB) - those together accounts for around 14% of the US long portfolio. Fisher also had large stakes in the following businesses per the latest 13G filings: Stratasys Ltd. (SSYS) - 6%, Atlas Air (AAWW) - 4.4%, Wright Medical (WMGI) – 5.6%, and Veeco Instruments (VECO) - 3.1%.Note: The overall portfolio had seen a significant shift toward European equities in Q2 2017 and that theme has continued since.The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Fisher’s US stock holdings (only positions that are over 0.5% of the US long portfolio each are individually listed) in Q4 2017:"