Top Three Holdings of a Top Stock Picker Richard Blum

Author's Avatar
May 09, 2013
Article's Main Image
Richard Blum is not your typical Buddhist-bent billionaire business man who once attempted climbing Mount Everest from the Tibetan side. He is also one of the best stock pickers on planet earth.

For example, Richard Blum, co-founder, CEO, president and chairman of Blum Capital Partners, had 12-month returns of 40.33% in 2012, placing him in the “walks on water” category of investors. Blum has reach and influence untold, with his own hedge fund, a stake in the world’s largest real estate firm CBRE, and a marriage to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. But Blum’s most puzzling gift may be his ability to remain so low-glamour amid the clamor of hedge fund fans and followers. Aside from Blum’s many layers of complexity as a capitalist extraordinaire, here’s an update on his top three holdings and how they are performing.

His top three holdings are:

No. 1: CBRE Group Inc. (CBG, Financial), Weighting: 48.5%, Shares Owned: 15,165,741,

Value: $3 billion


In addition to his many affiliations, Guru Richard Blum is also chairman of the Board and Director at CBRE Group Inc. where he holds 4.59% of shares outstanding of this global commercial real estate firm. CBRE Group Inc. (CBG) is a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles. The company has 332 offices with 37,050 employees in 42 countries, not counting numerous affiliates and affiliate locations.

Blum’s trading CBG history shows a 217% gain on over 13 million shares bought at an average price of $7.71 per share. His average gain on over 22 million shares sold is 42% at an average share price of $17.18.

His holding history:



Up 41% over 12 months, CBRE Group Inc. was incorporated on Feb. 20, 2001. CBRE Group Inc. has a market cap of $8.01 billion; its shares were traded at around $24.55 with a P/E ratio of 24.80 and a P/S ratio of 1.20.

The company’s worldwide business activity highlights in 2012 are $189.8 billion in total transactions, with property sales of $116.9 billion, and 51,900 property leasing transactions. It has $92 billion in investment assets under management.

CBRE’s first quarter 2013 revenue for the quarter totaled $1.5 billion, an increase of 9% from $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2012. The company’s net income rose 39% to $37.5 million from $27.0 million for the first quarter of 2012. GAAP earnings per diluted share improved to $0.11 from $0.08.

CBRE President and CEO, Robert Sulentic, described a “solid start” for 2013. The company reported that revenue rose across nearly all business lines globally, with notable strength in capital markets-based businesses. Global property sales revenue increased 21%, EMEA increased 44% and Asia Pacific was up 61%. The company also reported that its Americas property sales continued to improve steadily, with revenue rising 9% from a year ago. Commercial mortgage brokerage revenue increased 16%, fueled by continued strong U.S. investment activity, particularly in the multi-family sector, the company said.

No. 2: ITT Educational Services Inc. (ESI, Financial), Weighting: 9.3%, Shares Owned: 3,338,337, Value: $57 million



Richard Blum, Blum Capital Partners, also holds 14.30% of ESI shares outstanding.

Since fourth quarter of 2008, Blum’s trading history shows a 79% loss on 872,099 shares bought at an average price of $83.92 per share. He also lost 60% on over a million shares sold at an average share price of $44.41 per share.

His holding history:



Down 71% over 12 months, ITT Educational Services Inc. is a Delaware corporation, incorporated in 1946. The company has a market cap of $413.98 million; its shares were traded at around $18.75 with a P/E ratio of 3.80 and P/S ratio of .34. ITT Educational Services Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 25.8% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated ITT Educational Services Inc. the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.

Tracking ESI’s valuations over 10 years:

1368044155387.png

ESI data by GuruFocus.com

ITT Educational Services Inc. (ESI) reported first quarter 2013 revenues of $287.7 million, down 15.8% from the same quarter one year ago.



No. 3: SEI Investments Company (SEIC, Financial), Weighting: 9.1%, Shares Owned: 2,433,815, Value: $56 million



Richard Blum, Blum Capital Partners, also holds 1.41% of SEIC shares outstanding.

Since third quarter of 2008, Blum’s trading history shows a 66% gain on almost 4 million shares bought at an average price of $17.32 per share. He also gained 37% on 1.3 million shares sold at an average share price of $15 per share.

His holding history:



Up 52% over 12 months, and reporting a revenue increase of 14% in the first quarter of 2013, SEI Investments Company has a market cap of $4.93 billion; its shares were traded at around $28.93 with a P/E ratio of 22.10 and a P/S ratio of 4.92. The dividend yield of SEI Investments Company stocks is 1.10%. SEI Investments Company had an annual average earnings growth of 3.5% over the past 10 years.

The company reported that its first quarter 2013 earnings increased by 44% over the same quarter in 2012. Diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of $0.41 represents a 46% increase from the $0.28 reported for the first quarter of 2012.

As of April 18, Blum Capital Partners held 10 stocks with a total value of $6.2 billion, and a quarter-over-quarter turnover of 0%. The Blum Capital portfolio shows a large real estate sector of 48.5%.

Here’s the latest summary of Richard Blum’s top buys, top sells and top holdings.



Also check out the Undervalued Stocks, Top Growth Companies and High Yield stocks of Richard Blum.

Here is the complete portfolio of Richard Blum. Also check out:

1. Richard Blum's Undervalued Stocks

2. Richard Blum's Top Growth Companies

3. Richard Blum's High Yield stocks

4. Stocks that Richard Blum keeps buying

If you are not yet a Premium Member, we invite you for a 7-day Free Trial.

Use the GuruFocus Value Screen to find 52-Week Lows and discover potentially deep value stocks held by billionaire Guru investors.

GuruFocus "Real Time Picks" reports the stock purchases and sales that Gurus have made within the prior 2 weeks. The report time lag can be as short as 2 days after the date of the transaction. This feature is for Premium Members only.

GuruFocus’ Score Board of Gurus shows which investors produced the largest average returns in the past 6 and 12 months, as well as on a historical basis.