Vinik Kept Magellan’s Bond Position Through April

Despite speculation to the contrary, former Fidelity Magellan mutual fund manager Jeffrey Vinik maintained the fund’s large position in bonds at least through the end of April.

Magellan’s 19.2% bond allocation on April 30, the most recent date for which figures are available, was unchanged from the end of March. Vinik, who quit the fund in May, also held 10% of the fund’s assets in cash, down from 10.1% in March.

Magellan, the nation’s largest mutual fund, has under-performed the market and its mutual fund peers this year, thanks in part to Vinik’s large bet on bonds. Vinik was replaced by Robert Stansky on June 3.

Magellan’s top holding in April continued to be a Treasury note that matures in November 2005. The top two stock holdings in the portfolio remained Chrysler Corp. and General Motors Corp.

According to Fidelity’s monthly Mutual Fund Guide, Magellan’s stock holdings constituted 70.8% of its holdings as of April 30, compared with 70.7% on March 31.

Vinik increased his position in energy stocks to 13.1% from 10.7%, keeping it his largest sector bet in the $56-billion fund.

Durables accounted for 9.4% of assets, unchanged from March, and industrial machinery and equipment made up 8.1%, down from 8.5%. Vinik’s technology bet remained slim at 3.2%.

Four of Vinik’s top six individual holdings were long-term Treasury notes or bonds. Rounding out his top 10 holdings, in addition to Chrysler and GM, were Caterpillar Inc., Digital Equipment Corp., CSX Corp. and Exxon Corp.

Meanwhile, the fund Stansky has been managing, Fidelity Growth Company, saw its technology exposure increase to 23.5% from 21.1% in March. Stansky also boosted his overall equity position to 85.7% from 82.8%.

General Electric Co. was Fidelity Growth Company’s largest stock holding as of April 30, followed by Cisco Systems Inc., Philip Morris Cos., Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson were new to Stansky’s top 10 holdings list.