Stockpickr: Soros Shuffles His Stock Picks

Soros' second-largest holding is International Rectifier (IRF), a new position since his last filing. IRF makes up 4.8% of Soros' portfolio.

Soros is a believer in global warming and is placing his bets on several companies that are developing cleaner energy alternatives. IRF makes products ranging from integrated circuits, power components and power systems that are used in power-management devices.

On Jan. 25, the company announced that its second-quarter profit jumped higher than Wall Street expected, earning 58 cents a share when analysts were expecting 54 cents. The day after earnings, Nollenberger Capital Partners put out a buy rating, stating, "We believe IRF is the play on the trend for energy efficiency." Despite 200% year-over-year earnings growth, the company trades at a forward P/E of just 16.

Two other funds that own IRF are Chris Davis of the Davis Funds and the Powershares Clean Energy ETF.

Soros has also been making bets in the big oil-exploration companies, such as GlobalSantaFe(GSF) and Transocean(RIG). GlobalSantaFe, as I've written before, is also owned by T. Boone Pickens. Pickens is a believer in the peak-oil theory -- the idea that the planet is slowly running out of oil. His investments all stem from that core philosophy.

Also noteworthy are Soros' new technology investments. He is making the bet now that telecom equipment providers are going to be on the move up. New investments include TriQuint Semiconductor(TQNT) and Ciena(CIEN). TriQuint, despite being a former tech highflier, finds itself now on the Low Price Value Line System, a portfolio of stocks that Value Line rates 1 or 2 and that trade for less than $10.

To see the rest of Soros' new picks, plus the stocks he recently sold out of, check out Soros' portfolio on Stockpickr.

Stockpickr Tip of the Day: In addition to Soros, I also like to keep track of former Soros protege Michael Karsch, who runs Karsch Capital. Karsch was a managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he was primarily responsible for investing in value stocks for the Quantum Fund.

Karsch recently updated his holdings, and he, too, is investing heavily in tech, greatly increasing his positions in companies such as Applied Materials(AMAT), Applied Micro Circuits(AMCC) and Integrated Device Technology(IDTI). Karsch is also not afraid to go activist. He's currently waging a fight against the board at CSK Auto(CAO).

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