"Tracking Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb’s Portfolio – Q2 2016 Update"
"Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb’s 13F portfolio decreased from $12.87B to $10.50B. The number of positions decreased from 134 to 117.They almost eliminated several large positions including Valeant Pharmaceuticals during the quarter.The top-three positions are Berkshire Hathaway, TJX Companies, and Alphabet and they add up to almost ~35% of the portfolio.This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb’s US stock portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on their regulatory  filed on 07/15/2016. Please visit our  article for an idea on their investment philosophy and our  for the moves during Q1 2016.This quarter, Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb’s US long portfolio decreased 18.43% from $12.87B to $10.50B. The number of holdings decreased from 134 to 117. 39 of those stakes are significantly large (more than ~0.5% of the portfolio each) and they are the focus of this article. The top three holdings are at 34.92% while the top five are at 44.93% of the US long assets: Berkshire Hathaway, TJX Companies, Alphabet Inc., Fastenal Company, and O’Reilly Automotive.The firm is best known as the investment advisor of the Sequoia Fund (SEQUX) which has a venerable 46-year track record. YTD performance however is underwhelming: down ~20% primarily due to the outsized Valeant position going against them. Bill Ruane was a Benjamin Graham pupil. To learn about Benjamin Graham's teachings, check out the classics  and .New Stakes:Baidu Inc. (BIDU): BIDU is a fairly large 4.10% of the US long portfolio position established this quarter at prices between $160 and $196. The stock currently trades near the low end of that range at $165. For investors attempting to follow, BIDU is a very good option to consider for further research.CarMax Inc. (KMX) and Charles Schwab (SCHW): KMX and SCHW are medium sized 2.90% and 2.21% of the portfolio stakes purchased this quarter. The KMX position was bought at prices between $46 and $56 and it is now at $55.47. The SCHW stake was purchased at prices between $24 and $31 and the stock is now at $27.10.Stake Decreases:Allergan plc (AGN): AGN was a 2.14% of the US long portfolio position as of last quarter. It was almost sold out this quarter at prices between $202 and $278. The original stake was from Q3 2015 at prices between $252 and $340. The stock is currently at $244.Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B): BRK.B was the largest position in the portfolio for many years through 2010. The even larger Valeant Pharmaceuticals stake was established that year. Currently, BRK.B is again the largest position at 20.58% of the portfolio. The last significantly activity was in 2012 when there was a one-third increase at prices between $76 and $92. The stock is now at $147. Last three quarters have seen minor reductions.Dentsply Sirona Inc. (XRAY): XRAY is a 2.78% of the US long portfolio position established last quarter as a result of the acquisition of Sirona Dental (SIRO) by Dentsply. They had a 2.79M share stake in SIRO (~5% of the business) for which they received ~5M shares (1:1.8142 ratio) of Dentsply Sirona. There was a minor reduction this quarter and the share count is now at ~4.7M shares. The original SIRO position was from 2011 and they have large unrealized gains.Fastenal Company (FAST): FAST is a fairly large (top five) 5.12% of the portfolio stake. The original position is from 2001 & 2002 at a cost-basis just under $10 per share. The stock saw three 2-for-1 stock-splits during the holding period and the current position is at ~12.1M shares. Last quarter saw a ~22% selling at prices between $36.53 and $49.87 and that was followed with another one-third reduction this quarter at prices between $43 and $49. The previous significant activity was in 2014 when the position was increased by ~20% at a cost-basis in the mid-40s. The stock is currently at $42.98. They are harvesting huge long term gains.Note: Their ownership stake in the business is at ~4.2%.Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL) previously Google: GOOG is a fairly large 5.37% of the portfolio position. It was first purchased in 2008 and that original stake was almost sold out the following year. In 2010, a much larger position was built in the mid-200s price-range. The stake had seen only very minor activity since. Last quarter saw a ~18% reduction at prices between $678 and $765 and that was followed with another ~10% selling this quarter at prices between $668 and $767. The stock is now at $734. They are starting to harvest huge long-term gains.IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX): IDXX was a medium-sized 4.67% of the portfolio stake last quarter. It was almost sold out this quarter at prices between $78.32 and $92.86. The original position was from 2003 when ~1.6M shares (~6.4M shares after accounting for the two 2-for-1 stock splits since) were acquired at a cost-basis of around $11. The stock currently trades at $93.76. They harvested large long term gains.MasterCard Inc. (MA): MA is a 4.18% of the portfolio stake established soon after its IPO in 2006 at a split-adjusted cost-basis of $4.50 per share. The original position was huge at ~2.4M shares (24M shares after accounting for the 10-for-1 stock-split in 2014). It was sold down by ~72% over the next two years. Since then, the stake was kept relatively steady as the stock marched higher to the current price of $91.60 per share. Q3 2015 saw a marginal increase while last three quarters have seen minor reductions.Mohawk Industries (MHK): MHK is a very long-term 4.43% of the portfolio position first purchased in 2001. The position became a significantly large stake in Q3 2002 when close to 10M shares were purchased at a cost-basis of around $50. The position size was reduced by around two-thirds in the 2012-13 timeframe at progressively higher prices. Since then, the sizing has remained relatively steady. Q3 2015 saw a very minor increase while last three quarters have seen minor selling. The stock is currently at $200.Note: They have a ~3.3% ownership stake in the business.O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY): ORLY is a large (top five) 4.90% of the portfolio stake first purchased in 2004. Around ~1.9M shares (~3.8M shares after accounting for the 2-for-1 stock split in 2005) were acquired at the time at around $20 per share. Last quarter saw a ~18% reduction at prices between $232 and $277 and that was followed with another one-third reduction this quarter at prices between $253 and $278. The stock has had a tremendous run (~15 times return) over the holding period. It is now at $274. They are harvesting huge long-term gains.Note: Their ownership stake in the business is ~2%.Perrigo Company plc (PRGO): PRGO is a small 1.14% of the portfolio position first purchased in Q3 2010 at prices between $56 and $66. The position was kept almost steady till Q2 2015 when there was a ~14% reduction at prices between $163 and $204. This quarter also saw a ~10% reduction at prices between $87 and $131. The stock currently trades at $92.47.Note: Mylan NV (MYL) made a hostile takeover bid for PRGO but the tender offer lapsed in November 2015.TJX Companies (TJX): TJX is a large (top three) 8.96% of the portfolio position.  It is a very long-term stake and the holding period is over 15 years. The stock has seen a ~15x return over that timeframe. Last year saw significant selling: one-third reduction at prices between $64 and $73. The pattern continued this year: ~30% reduction so far at prices between $73 and $79. The stock is now at $79.26.Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX): VRX was Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb’s largest stock position at 20.49% of the 13F portfolio as of Q4 2015. The original position was acquired in Q2 & Q3 2010 at a cost-basis in the low-20s. Around 34M shares were acquired over those two quarters. Although minor adjustments were made every quarter, the stake as of last quarter was very close to that original position at 30.31M shares. The entire position was almost sold out this quarter at prices between $19 and $36. The stock is currently at $23.50 compared to a peak of ~$260 reached in July 2015.Note: In March, Sequoia's CEO Robert Goldfarb retired and the firm's Valeant analyst left.58.com Inc. (WUBA), American Express (AXP), Cabelas Inc. (CAB), Costco Wholesale (COST), Emcor Group Inc. (EME), Goldman Sachs (GS), International Business Machines (IBM), Jacobs Engineering (JEC), Omnicom Group (OMC), Praxair (PX), Range Resources (RRC), Tiffany & Co. (TIF), Trimble Navigation (TRMB), Visa Inc. (V), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Waters Corp. (WAT), and Yandex NV (YNDX): These are very small (less than ~1.5% of the portfolio each) stakes that were reduced further during the quarter.Stake Increases:Primerica Inc. (PRI) and Wells Fargo (WFC): PRI is a 2.06 % of the portfolio stake first purchased in Q2 2010. The only significant activity since was a ~20% reduction in Q2 2015 at prices between $44 and $51. This quarter saw a ~31% increase at prices between $42.89 and $58.58 and the stock is now at $56.87. WFC was a minutely small position as of last quarter. Over 5M shares were purchased this quarter at prices between $45 and $51 and the stake is now at 2.36% of the portfolio. The stock currently trades at $48.28. The activity indicates a clear bullish bias toward these businesses.Note: Their ownership stake in PRI is at ~8%.Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), JP Morgan Chase (JPM) & WTS, and JD.com (JD): These stakes were established last quarter and increased significantly this quarter. Most of the 2.24% portfolio position in CMG was purchased this quarter at prices between $389 and $471 and the stock is now at $409. The 0.87% JPM stake was purchased last quarter when the share price varied between $53 and $66 and was increased by ~70% this quarter when the stock price varied between $57 and $66. It is now at $63.96.  The vast majority of the 1.58% portfolio stake in JD was purchased this quarter at prices between $20 and $30 and the stock is now at $22.14. For investors attempting to follow their trades, these are good options to consider for further research.Danaher Corp. (DHR): DHR is a very small ~1.5% of the portfolio stake that saw a ~10% increase this quarter.Note: Earlier this month, DHR completed the spinoff of Fortive (FTV). Danaher stockholders received one share of Fortive common stock for every two shares of Danaher held.Kept Steady:IAC Interactive (IACI): IACI is a very small 0.65% of the portfolio position that was kept steady this quarter.As a percentage of the portfolio, the remaining positions are all below 0.5% of the portfolio each and so have limited portfolio performance impact. Below is a list of stakes that are between 0.1% and 0.5% of the portfolio each: Athenahealth Inc. (ATHN), Builders FirstSource (BLDR), Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR), MakeMyTrip (MMYT), Third Point Reinsurance (TPRE), Vipshop Holdings (VIPS), and West Pharmaceutical Svcs. (WST).Note: They have a 6.67% ownership stake in MMYT and 3.6% ownership of BLDR.The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Ruane, Cunniff, & Goldfarb’s US stock holdings in Q2 2016:Note on Sirona Dental acquisition: On September 15, 2015 Dentsply (XRAY) agreed to acquire Sirona in a stock deal - 1.8142 shares of Dentsply for each share of Sirona held.13G/D/A & From 3/4 filings thru 2/24/2016: None.13G/D/A & From 3/4 filings thru 2/24/2016: VRX - 13G/A 2/16/2016 - 35.38M shares - 10.37%. SIRO - 13G/A 2/16/2016 - 2.79M shares - 4.98%. INT - World Fuel Services - 13G/A 2/16/2016 - 0. PRI - 13G/A 2/16/2016 - 2.88M shares - 5.97%. IDXX - 13G/A 2/16/2016 - 8.03M shares - 8.82%. FAST - 13G/A 2/16/2016 - 23.61M shares - 8.19%. MMYT - 13G 2/16/2016 - 2.81M shares - 6.67%."