"Tracking Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management Portfolio – Q2 2018 Update"
"Fisher’s 13F portfolio value increased from $75.40B to $77.02B in Q2 2018.Amazon.com, Visa Inc., Apple Inc., Alibaba Group Holdings, and Microsoft 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 07/09/2018. Please visit our  article for an idea on his investment style and philosophy and  highlighting the fund’s moves in Q1 2018.This quarter, Fisher’s 13F portfolio value increased ~2% from $75.40B to $77.02B. The number of holdings increased from 829 to 862. Significantly large positions decreased from 66 to 65. The five largest individual stock positions are Amazon.com, Visa Inc., Apple Inc., Alibaba Group Holdings, and Microsoft. Together, they account for ~14% 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 ~50,000 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:Visa Inc. (V): The V position was first purchased in 2012 at much lower prices compared to the current price of ~$140. The size of the stake has more than tripled in the last five years through incremental purchases almost every quarter. The position is now the second-largest stake at 3.04% of the portfolio.Apple Inc. (AAPL): AAPL is a top-three 2.92% 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 ~$192. Last four quarters have seen a combined ~15% increase at prices between $144 and $192.Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA): BABA is a top-five position at 2.64% 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 ~$193. There was a ~14% stake increase over the last three quarters at prices between $167 and $211.Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): MSFT is a fairly large 2.35% 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 ~$106. Last four quarters have seen a combined ~14% increase at prices between $69 and $102.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 $1199. The position stands at 2.13% of the portfolio. There was a ~14% reduction in Q2 2017 at prices between $823 and $984. Last quarter saw a ~11% stake increase at prices between $1000 and $1176 and that was followed with a ~4% increase this quarter.Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): JNJ is a ~2% 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 $129. There was a ~12% stake increase last quarter and that was followed with a ~4% increase this quarter.Pfizer Inc. (PFE): PFE is a very long-term 1.86% position that has been in the portfolio for well over a decade. The original stake was almost sold-out in the 2009-10 timeframe and was rebuilt in the next two years at prices between $17.50 and $25. The stock is currently at $37.65. There was a ~9% stake increase last quarter and that was followed with a ~4% increase this quarter.Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): TSM is a very long-term 1.62% of the 13F 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 $38.04. There was a ~17% further increase last quarter at prices between $40 and $45 and that was followed with a marginal increase this quarter.Intel Corporation (INTC): The bulk of the 1.51% portfolio stake in INTC was built in 2008 in the high-teens. The position has seen consistent incremental buying since 2013. There was a ~10% stake increase last quarter at prices between $42.50 and $52.50 and the stock is at $51.75. This quarter also saw a minor ~3% stake increase.American Express (AXP): AXP has been in the portfolio since 2012. The original position was around 9M shares and the current stake is 10.1M shares. Q3 2016 saw a ~10% reduction at prices between $59 and $66 and the stock is now at ~$101. There were a ~14% selling last quarter at prices between $88 and $102 and the stake is now at 1.29% of the portfolio. This quarter saw a ~4% increase.Tencent Holdings ADR (TCEHY): The ~1.2% TCEHY stake was mostly purchased in Q2 2017. The quarter saw a 13.5M share purchase at prices between $29 and $37. The stock is now at $48.45. Last four quarters have also seen incremental purchases. The current position is at ~18.3M shares.Home Depot (HD): HD is a ~1% of the 13F 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. Q4 2017 saw another ~28% reduction at prices between $150 and $190. There was another reversal last quarter: ~14% stake increase at prices between $172 and $207 and that was followed with a marginal increase this quarter. The stock is now at ~$201.Wal-Mart Stores (WMT): The bulk of the ~1% WMT position was purchased in Q2 2016 at prices between $65 and $73. Q4 2017 saw a ~45% stake increase at prices between $78 and $100 and that was followed with a ~12% increase last quarter. The stock is now at $88.19. This quarter also saw a ~5% increase. The buying pattern indicates a bullish bias.Procter & Gamble (PG): PG is another long-term ~1% of the 13F 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 one-third further increase thru periodic buying. The stock currently trades at $80.03.UBS AG GRS (UBS): UBS is a ~1% of the 13F 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 $15.19. Last two quarters have seen marginal trimming.Softbank Group ADR (SFTBY), Cisco Systems (CSCO), HSBC plc (HSBC), PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), Vodafone plc (VOD), Anheuser Busch Inbev SA ADR (BUD), Novo-Nordisk A S ADR (NVO), Sanofi ADR (SNY), ING Groep NV ADR (ING), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Oracle Corporation (ORCL), L Oreal Co. ADR (LRLCY),GlaxoSmithKline plc ADR (GSK), Chevron Inc. (CVX), Novartis A G ADR (NVS), LVMH Moet Hennssy ADR (LVMUY), Costco Wholesale (COST), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), BNP Paribas ADR (BNPQY), United Technologies (UTX), Banco Santander SA ADR (SAN), Merck Inc. (MRK), Roche Holding Limited ADR (RHHBY), CTrip.com International ADR (CTRP), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Astrazeneca plc (AZN), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (SMFG), ASML Holdings (ASML), Schlumberger Ltd (SLB), Intesa Sanpaolo Spa ADR (ISNPY), Lloyds Banking Group plc ADR (LYG), Itau Unibanco (ITUB), and Banco Bradesco (BBD): These very small positions (less than ~1% of the 13F portfolio) saw minor increases this quarter.Stake Decreases:Amazon.com (AMZN): AMZN is the largest individual stock position at 3.45% of the portfolio. The stake is from 2011 and the stock price has risen over nine-fold during the holding period: the cost-basis is ~$200 compared to the current price of $1844. 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 three quarters had seen a ~15% increase at prices between $935 and $1600 while this quarter saw a similar reduction at prices between $1370 and $1750. Fisher is starting to harvest huge gains.SAP AG ADR (SAP), Siemens AG (SIEGY), Bayer AG ADR (BAYRY), HDFC Bank (HDB), Infosys Inc. (INFY), Baidu Inc. (BIDU), and JD.com (JD): These very small (less than ~1% of the portfolio each) positions saw reductions this quarter.The portfolio has several positions in different ETNs and ETFs - they account for around 15% of the 13F 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%.Below are positions sized in the 0.1% to 0.5% range in the portfolio: ABB Ltd (ABB), ASE Technology (ASX), Ambev (ABEV), America Movil (AMX), Aspen Technology (AZPN), BASF SE ADR (BASFY), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBVA), Barclays plc (BCS), Beacon Roofing (BECN), BHP Billiton (BHP), Boeing Company (BA), Boston Beer (SAM), Capital One Financial (COF), Chemed Corp. (CHE), Compagnie Financiere Richemont (CFRUY), Corelogic Inc. (CLGX), Credit Agricole (CRARY), Daimler AG (DDAIF), Dominos Pizza (DPZ), East West Bancorp (EWBC), Fanuc Corp. (FANUF), First American Financial (FAF), Freeport-McMoran (FCX), General Electric (GE), Grupo Televisa SA (TV), Heico Corp. (HEI), Hill-Rom Holdings (HRC), Ingredion Inc. (INGR), KB Home (KBH), Lennar Corp. (LEN), Eli lilly (LLY), Lincoln Electric (LE), Littelfuse Inc. (LFUS), Mitsubishi Electric (MELY), Morgan Stanley (MS), Murata Mfg (MRAAY), Nestle (NSRGY), NetEase Inc. (NTES), NetScout (NTCT),  Pegasystems Inc. (PEGA), Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR), Pool Corp. (POOL), Qorvo Inc. (QRVO), Raymond James Financial (RJF), Reckitt Benckiser (RBGLY), Rio Tinto plc (RIO), SMC Corp Japan (SMCAY), SVB Financial (SIVB), Samsung Electronic (SSNLF), Schneider Electric (SBGSY), Scotts Miracle Gro (SMG), Select Medical Holdings (SEM), Smith & Nephew plc (SNN), Societe Generale France (SCGLY), Stifel Financial (SF), Tokyo Electronics (TOELY), Toro Co (TTC), Umpqua Holdings (UMPQ), Unilever NV (UN), Vale SA (VALE), Verint Systems (VRNT), Vinci SA (VCISY), Vishay Intertechnology (VSH), West Pharmaceutical (WST), Yaskawa Electric (YASKY), Yelp Inc. (YELP), Credicorp Ltd. (BAP), and Steris plc (STE).Note: The overall portfolio had seen a significant shift toward European equities in Q2 2017.The spreadsheet below highlights changes to Fisher’s 13F stock holdings (only positions that are over 0.5% of the 13F portfolio each are individually listed) in Q2 2018:Comment request 1/27/2018: Request to extend coverage to positions less than 0.5%. Look into this for next round – may be include a list of allocations that are from 0.1% to 0.5% or such…2/2/2016: Got an email from Fisher Investments which said “US long portfolio” wording is not accurate as we list other holdings - adjust it so that it says “13F portfolio” instead from the next round.7/11/2016: The details on individual & institutional accounts are out-of-date in the Q2 2016 article. The figure should be got from their website at  from the next article onwards. The current figures (9/30/2017) are over 45,000 high net worth individuals and over 175 institutional clients. Combined, the Assets Under Management (AUM) is ~$100B. The website also has links to the Forbes articles - look through to get his current picks and update."