Shadow Soros' 5 Two-Fisted Buys

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Hedge fund investor George Soros has been getting a lot of attention lately, chiming in conspicuously on what he thinks should be done about the eurozone debt crisis. And investors who want to skirt drama in the EU would do well to watch what Soros is buying right now.

On Saturday, Soros spoke at the Festival of Economics in Trento, Italy, where the billionaire investor now famously gave Germany three months to avert a breakup of the euro. In his speech, Soros claimed that we're now at an inflection point in the eurozone crisis, and EU leaders (with Germany at the lead) would need to take swift, dramatic steps to save their economies -- and the financial markets.

Those are strong words from anyone who's under the public microscope, but they're even stronger when you consider how much skin Soros and company have in the game: his firm is effectively a $25 billion family office that has more than $5.75 billion in stock holdings at last count. So for investors looking to sidestep the drama in the EU, buying like Soros isn't a bad idea.

Today, we'll take a closer look at five stocks that Soros Fund Management opened new positions in over the course of the last quarter.

After all, with Soros keeping a close eye on what's happening in the EU, it makes sense that the stocks his firm has been buying were picked to perform in spite of the black clouds over the eurozone. Soros is no stranger to holding big positions in cash, so the fact that he's stepping out to buy positions in these names tells us something.

George Soros

Without further ado, here's a look at five of Soros' biggest new positions for the first quarter of 2012:

SunTrust Banks

While 2012 may have been a challenging year for most stocks, it's been a banner year for investors in SunTrust Banks (STI): Shares of the $11.4 billion regional bank stock have rallied around 20% since the first trading day in January. Atlanta-based SunTrust has a geographic footprint that's focused on the Southeastern United States, with around 1,700 bank branches in its network.

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