Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio), a fund that is part of Spain-based Bestinver, disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that its top trades during the third quarter included new holdings in Bayer AG (XTER:BAYN, Financial) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (XMAD:BBVA, Financial), the closure of its positions in easyJet PLC (LSE:EZJ, Financial) and Repsol SA (XMAD:REP) and a reduction to its holding in Intesa Sanpaolo (MIL:ISP, Financial).
Francisco Garcia Parames (Trades, Portfolio) managed Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) until September 2014. The fund is currently managed by an investment team led by international equities fund manager Tomas Pinto and Iberia equities fund manager Ricardo Seixas.
The Spain-based fund seeks long-term capital appreciation using an investing approach headlined by fundamental analysis, appropriate risk management and long-term vision shared by both investors and fund managers.
As of September, the fund’s $1.13 billion equity portfolio contains 59 stocks, with six new positions and a quarterly turnover ratio of 7%. The top four sectors in terms of weight are consumer cyclical, industrials, basic materials and financial services, with weights of 28.78%, 12.55%, 12.48% and 10.30%.
Investors should be aware that for Spanish investment funds, the data is sourced from the quarterly updates filed through the Comision Nacional de Mercado de Valores, the Spanish government agency responsible for the financial regulation. Like 13F equity portfolio filings and mutual funds, the Spanish fund portfolio filings are as of the quarter’s end only; it is possible the guru may have already made changes to the positions after the quarter ended. However, even this limited data can provide valuable information.
Bayer AG
The fund purchased 349,937 shares of Bayer AG (XTER:BAYN, Financial), giving the position a 1.47% equity portfolio weight.
Shares of Bayer averaged 54.08 Euros ($53.39) during the third quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.84 as of Thursday.
The German health care and agriculture company has a GF Score of 78 out of 100 based on a momentum rank of 8 out of 10, a growth rank of 3 out of 10 and a rank of 7 out of 10 for profitability, GF Value and financial strength.
Bayer’s profitability ranks 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 9 out of 9 and an operating margin that outperforms more than 87% of global competitors. Despite this, the company’s return on equity outperforms just over 70% of global peers while Bayer’s return on assets tops just 59% of global drug manufacturing companies.
Other gurus with holdings in Bayer include David Herro (Trades, Portfolio)’s Oakmark International Fund and Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio)’s Causeway International Value (Trades, Portfolio) Fund.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
The fund purchased 1,667,568 shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (XMAD:BBVA, Financial), giving the position a 0.68% equity portfolio weight. Shares averaged 4.53 Euros ($4.51) during the third quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on its price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.96 as of Thursday.
The Spain-based bank has a GF Score of 69 out of 100 based on a momentum rank of 9 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 4 out of 10 and a rank of 5 out of 10 for profitability and GF Value.
The bank’s financial strength ranks 4 out of 10 on the back of cash-to-debt and debt-to-equity ratios underperforming more than half of global competitors despite having a high Piotroski F-score of 8 out of 9.
EasyJet
The fund sold all 2,276,326 shares of its holding in easyJet (LSE:EZJ, Financial), trimming 0.81% of its equity portfolio. Shares averaged 3.68 British pounds ($4.21) during the third quarter.
The GF Value line labeled the U.K.-based airline company a possible value trap due to its low price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.54 as of Thursday. It ranks 3 out of 10 or less for growth and financial strength.
EasyJet has a GF Score of 65 out of 100 based on its low ranks for growth and financial strength despite GF Value ranking 8 out of 10, momentum ranking 7 out of 10 and profitability ranking 5 out of 10.
Repsol
The fund sold 539,075 shares of Repsol (XMAD:REP), paring 0.62% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of Repsol averaged 12.51 Euros ($12.29) during the third quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on its price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.93 as of Thursday.
The Spanish oil and natural gas company has a GF Score of 80 out of 100 based on a momentum rank of 9 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 8 out of 10, a profitability rank of 7 out of 10, a GF Value rank of 6 out of 10 and a growth rank of 4 out of 10.
Intesa Sanpaolo
The fund sold 7,591,905 shares of Intesa Sanpaolo (MIL:ISP, Financial), slicing 51.08% of the position and 1.10% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of Intesa Sanpaolo averaged 1.76 Euros ($1.72) during the third quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on its price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.97 as of Thursday.
The Italian financial service company has a GF Score of 52 out of 100 based on a momentum rank of 10 out of 10, a GF Value rank of 5 out of 10, a profitability rank of 3 out of 10 and a financial strength rank of 1 out of 10. Despite this, the GF Score may give an incomplete picture of the stock’s potential as the company does not have enough data to compute a growth rank.
