ursuline forewent: 13F Filings: Superstar Investors Buys and Sells ? Investing Daily

If it?s November, it must be time once again for institutional money managers with assets of at least $100 million to update the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) on their stock holdings via Schedule 13F.

Back in August ? the last time shareholders were required to update their holdings ? I discussed David Einhorn?s new position in health insurer Cigna (NYSE: CI). When I wrote the article, the stock was trading for $44.68 per share and now trades at $50.87, a 13.9% gain in three months!

During the most-recent August-to-November period, 6 out of the 16 stocks highlighted (37.5%) made a profit (a sold stock is considered profitable if the stock went down in price). Making a profit is different from outperforming a stock index, however. Of the 14 stocks bought by the gurus, only six (42.9%) outperformed the S&P 500?s comparable loss of -3.8%. Of the two stocks sold, one (50.0%) underperformed the S&P 500, so the gurus were slightly better bears than bulls. Besides Cigna, other ?buy? winners were Bill Ackman?s Burger King Worldwide (NYSE: BKW) (7.4%) and Julian Robertson?s JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) (4.9%). The one ?sell? winner was David Einhorn?s Dell (NasdaqGS: DELL) (-17.5%). In contrast, Bill Ackman?s sale of Citigroup (NYSE: C) was a big mistake ? it rose 15.5%.

Value-investing legend Seth Klarman really stunk out the joint for the second consecutive quarter, underperforming the S&P 500?s -3.8% loss by a wide margin (almost triple). All four ?buy? stocks highlighted from Seth Klarman?s portfolio lost value, with three of the four underperforming the S&P 500. Whereas biotech and gold stocks hurt Klarman last time around, this time what did him in were technology stocks ? an industry sector Warren Buffett has repeatedly warned it is too difficult to understand and where competitive advantage is unsustainable (prior to Buffett?s large purchase of IBM (NYSE: IBM), that is). So let?s add tech stocks to biotech and gold as Klarman picks that should not be given undue deference.

All of the superstar investors also had at least one really bad trade. Besides Ackman?s misguided sale of Citigroup, losing ?buy? trades include:

Seth Klarman?s Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) (down 31.4%)
David Einhorn?s Marvell Technology Group (NasdaqGS: MRVL) (down 29.5%)
Julian Robertson?s Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) (down 11.1%)

None of these superstar investors deserve recognition this past quarter for superior performance because all underperformed on two or more of their four picks. That?s coin-flip accuracy! Just goes to show you that mindlessly piggybacking on anybody else?s picks without doing your own research is no sure-fire way to beat the market. Bill Ackman didn?t do much trading in the third quarter, so I am going to replace him this time around with hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, recently famous for his shareholder activism regarding Yahoo!.

Nevertheless, these quarterly SEC filings are a gold mine of information as to what the smartest investors are buying and selling. A timely review of them can make you money. With that in mind, I thought I would vet the most recent set of SEC filings to see if there are any more hidden gems ready to make big moves.

I don?t list all guru transactions, just ones that I personally find noteworthy. If you also have a voyeuristic streak in you, read on.

1. Seth Klarman

Company	Action	% Change in Holding	Average Purchase Price Per Share	Comments
Rovi Corp. (NasdaqGS: ROVI)	Buy	NEW	$15.24	The CEO of this provider of interactive, on-screen television guides ? formerly known as Macrovision and Gemstar-TV Guide International?? bought 15,000 shares at $15 on Sep. 25^th. This marks the first insider purchase in more than three years.
Idenix Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGM: IDIX)	Buy	85.3%	$5.21	Sixth-consecutive quarter where Klarman has purchased shares in this Hepatitis C drug company.
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ)	Sell	-46.5%	$18.47	CEO Meg Whitman has warned that a turnaround at the PC maker will take more time than previously expected. Klarman doesn?t want to wait.
Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT)	Sell	-80.0%	$30.23	Windows 8 operating system has problems.

2. ?David Einhorn

Company	Action	% Change in Holding	Average Purchase Price Per Share	Comments
Computer Sciences (NYSE: CSC)	Buy	89.6%	$28.42	Information-technology service provider beats analyst estimates in third quarter and raises guidance for remainder of the year.
General Motors (NYSE: GM)	Buy	23.8%	$21.06	Einhorn bought shares for the second-consecutive quarter, reversing course after his first-quarter share reduction. The U.S. automaker reported its best October sales since 2007. What recession?
Yahoo! (NasdaqGS: YHOO)	Buy	NEW	$15.60	The Internet portal is coming back to life under new CEO Marissa Mayer.
Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL)	Sell	-25.0%	$635.18	Good market timing by Einhorn, as the maker of the iPhone and iPad has suffered through its own bear market.

3. ?Julian Robertson

Company	Action	% Change in Holding	Average Purchase Price Per Share	Comments
Charter Communications (NasdaqGS: CHTR)	Buy	NEW	$76.31	New CEO Thomas Rutledge is turning things around. Fourth-largest cable TV operator in the U.S. has big growth opportunity expanding into Internet and telephone services. Service area is less penetrated than those of competitors.
Priceline.com (NasdaqGS: PCLN)	Buy	NEW	$631.72	Curse of Captain James T. Kirk notwithstanding, the online travel website beat third-quarter earnings estimates and is buying growth with its acquisition of comparison-shopping website Kayak Software.
Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN)	Buy	67.8%	$22.90	Robertson has already made a 50% profit on this servicer of sub-prime home mortgage loans. Loan modifications and foreclosures are a big business in this weak economy. But take note: Fitch recently cut the company?s credit rating.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)	Sell	-83.4%	$104.19	With Obama?s re-election, a tough Volcker Rule limiting investment bank?s proprietary trading will hurt Goldman?s profit margins.

4. Dan Loeb

Company	Action	% Change in Holding	Average Purchase Price Per Share	Comments
American International Group (NYSE: AIG)	Buy	944.4%	$32.65	With the U.S. government no longer in control of AIG, Loeb thinks the insurer can now shine. Trading at only half of book value, the stock is cheap. Beat analyst estimates in the third quarter.
Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR)	Buy	NEW	$52.80	Spinoff of refinery operations will unlock value similar to what happened with ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO)
Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL)	Buy	67.1%	$635.18	Taking the bullish side of David Einhorn?s bearish trade. That?s what makes markets, folks. Apple?s earnings report in January could be a blowout.
Nexen (NYSE: NXY)	Buy	NEW	$23.21	Loeb is betting that the Canadian government will approve the $27.50 per share takeover of the energy producer by China?s state-owned CNOOC (NYSE: CEO).