FPA Capital Fund Finds Only 2 Purchase-Worthy Stocks in Q1

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Apr 10, 2013
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FPA Capital Fund (FPPTX, Financial), the fund formerly run by legendary investor Bob Rodriguez, has two new managers, Dennis Bryan and Rikard Ekstrand, who took over in 2010. The two managers pick the stocks, while Rodriguez serves in a supporting role to the research and portfolio management teams at FPA Capital.


Like FPA colleague Steven Romick, the manager of the FPA Capital fund saw only two stocks that met their criteria for purchase in the fourth quarter: Apollo Group Inc. (APOL, Financial) and Centene Corporation (CNC, Financial).


The FPA Capital Fund equity portfolio has a total value of $855.3 million with 27 stocks at quarter-end, and had a quarter-over-quarter turnover of 3%.


New Buy: Apollo Group Inc. (APOL)





FPA Capital Fund bought 1,262,500 shares of Apollo Group for $19 per share on average in the fourth quarter. Its share price on Wednesday afternoon, $17.60, is near the company’s 10-year low.


Apollo Group Inc. is a for-profit education company incorporated in Arizona in 1981. Apollo Group has a market cap of $1.97 billion; its shares were traded at around $17.59 with a P/E ratio of 6.1 and P/S ratio of 0.5. Apollo Group had an annual average earnings growth of 14.5% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Apollo Group Inc. the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.


New Buy: Centene Corporation (CNC)





FPA Capital purchased 138,200 shares of smaller holding Centene Corporation for $44 per share on average in the fourth quarter. The holding occupies 0.71% of the fund’s stock portfolio.


Centene Corporation was organized in Wisconsin in 1993 as a holding company for its initial health plan and reincorporated in Delaware in 2001. Centene Corporation has a market cap of $2.25 billion; its shares were traded around $45.82 with a P/E ratio of 1447.8 and P/S ratio of 0.3.


See FPA Capital’s stock portfolio here. Also check out the Undervalued Stocks, Top Growth Companies and High Yield stocks of Robert Rodriguez.