What the Gurus Did This Week - Weekly Update on Guru Real Time Activity

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Jun 14, 2013
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The following information is a highlight of the real-time guru activity we saw this week. To view more information on these gurus, check out their guru portfolios.

Steven Cohen


On June 5, Steven Cohen made an initial buy into ITT Educational Services (ESI). The guru bought 1,230,621 shares at an average price of $25.06 per share. Since his buy, the price per share has increased 10% and is currently trading at around $27.43. Cohen currently holds 5.27% of ITT Educational Services’ shares outstanding.

Cohen previously held on to ITT Educational up until the fourth quarter of 2011 when he sold out of his holdings. The chart below shows Cohen’s holding history prior to his most recent buy.



ITT Educational Services is the holding company for ITT Technical Institutes and Daniel Webster College. ITT Technical institutes are a private college system focused primarily on technology-oriented programs of study.

Within the past month, the for-profit educations saw some of the sharpest gains in the market. The rally in for-profit schools began in the middle of the earnings season as many of the schools in the sector did not do as poorly as expected.

The Peter Lynch Valuation Chart shows that the company appears to be undervalued:

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ITT Educational has a market cap of $646.196 million; its shares were traded at around $27.43 with a P/E ratio of 5.82 and a P/S ratio of 0.52. The company had an annual average earnings growth of 25.8% over the past 10 years.

There are eight gurus that hold a stake in ESI. Click here to see their holding histories.

Also on June 5, Cohen increased his position in Lamar Advertising (LAMR). Cohen bought 2,355,793 shares representing a 128.24% increase in his holdings of Lamar. The shares traded at an average price of $43.47; since this buy the price per share has dropped approximately 1%. This buy represents a 0.59% impact to his portfolio.

Steven Cohen’s holding history of Lamar:



Lamar Advertising is a leading outdoor advertising company currently operating over 150 outdoor advertising companies in 44 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Lamar Advertising has a market cap of $4.01 billion; its shares were traded at around $43.08 with a P/E ratio of 153.85 and a P/S ratio of 3.37. The company had an annual average earnings growth of 4.4% over the past 10 years.

Lamar Advertising is held by 14 gurus. Click here to see these gurus’ holding histories.

Jean-Marie Eveillard

Jean-Marie Eveillard made a slight increase in his holdings of Curis (CRIS). Eveillard increased his holdings 1.89%, adding a total of 316,484 shares of CRIS. Eveillard purchased these shares at an average price of $3.50 per share. Since then the price has increased approximately 1% and is currently trading at around $3.55.

Eveillard currently holds on to 17,094,140 shares of Curis Inc., representing 21.34% of the company’s shares outstanding and approximately 0.20% of Eveillard’s total portfolio.

Jean-Marie Eveillard’s holding history as of March 31:



Curis is a drug discovery and development company that is committed to leveraging its innovative signaling pathway drug technologies in seeking to develop next generation targeted cancer therapies.

Curis has a market cap of $264.6 million; its shares were traded at around $3.42 with a P/E ratio of 134.30 and a P/S ratio of 36.40.

Steven Cohen also holds shares of Curis. You can view his holding history here.

Richard Snow

Richard Snow made a small increase in his holdings of Kindred Healthcare (KND). Snow added 43,329 shares at an average price of $13.47, representing a 1.65% increase in his holdings. Snow currently holds on to 2,674,736 shares of Kindred Healthcare, making up 5.02% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Since Snow’s buy, the price per share has increased approximately 2%.

Richard Snow’s holding history of Kindred Healthcare:



Kindred Healthcare is a healthcare services company that through its subsidiaries operates long-term acute care, hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, nursing and rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities, a contract rehabilitation services business and a home health and hospice business across the U.S.

Kindred Healthcare has a market cap of $716.8 million; its shares were traded at around $13.59 with a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a P/S ratio of 0.10.

Four gurus hold stake in Kindred Healthcare. Click here to see the gurus’ holding histories of Kindred.

Mason Hawkins

Mason Hawkins made three decreases in the past week.

Hawkins decreased his holdings in Sacks Inc. (SKS) by 32.72%. He sold a total of 8,452,966 shares at an average price of $14.78 per share. This decrease represents at -0.56% impact to his portfolio. Hawkins still holds 17,384,749 shares of Saks, representing 11.38% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Hawkins’ holding history of Saks:



Saks Inc. is a luxury retailer offering a wide assortment of fashion apparel, shoes, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics and gifts. Saks Fifth Avenue stores are principally free-standing stores in exclusive shopping destinations or anchor stores in upscale regional malls.

The price of Saks is currently sitting at a five-year high.

Hawkins’ fund Longleaf Partners is the largest shareholder of Saks.

Peter Lynch’s Valuation Chart shows that the company appears overvalued:

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There are seven gurus that hold stake in Saks. Click here to see the holding history for these gurus.

Mason Hawkins decreased his holdings in Service Corporation International (SCI) this week by 41.92%. Hawkins sold 5,789,895 shares at an average price of $17.99 per share. This sell represents a 0.47% impact to his portfolio. Hawkins still maintains 8,023,327 shares of Service Corp., representing 4.3% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Previously Hawkins cut his holdings in Service Corp. 43.81% on May 10.

Mason Hawkins’ holding history of SCI:



Hawkins has been selling off shares of his stake in the company as their share price continues to expand past its previous 10-year high.

Service Corp is North America’s largest single provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services. The company operates more than 1,800 funeral homes and cemeteries.

On May 29, SCI announced that the company had entered into a definitive agreement with Stewart Enterprises to acquire all of Stewart’s outstanding shares of Class A and B common stock for $13.25 per share in cash. The acquisition has an enterprise value of $1.4 billion.

Service Corp has a market cap of $3.73 billion; its shares were traded at around $17.90 with a P/E ratio of 24.00 and a P/S ratio of 1.60. The dividend yield of Service Corporation International stocks is 1.40%. The company had an annual average earnings growth of 11.3% over the past ten years.

There are currently seven gurus that hold a position in Service Corp. Click here to see their holding histories.

Lastly, Hawkins reduced his position in DineEquity (DIN) by 28.57%. The guru sold a total of 1,300,417 shares at an average price of $73.65 per share. Since his sell, the price per share has decreased about 2% and is currently trading at around $72.16 per share. Hawkins still holds on to 1,498,345 shares, representing 7.81% of DineEquity’s shares outstanding.

Mason Hawkins’ holding history of DineEquity as of March 31:



DineEquity owns and operates two restaurant concepts: Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar and International House of Pancakes, or IHOP.

According to the Peter Lynch Valuation Chart, the company appears to be undervalued:

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DineEquity has a market cap of $1.38 billion; its shares were traded at around $72.00 with a P/E ratio of 12.40 and a P/S ratio of 1.80. The dividend yield of DineEquity stocks is 2.10%.

There are currently seven gurus that hold a stake in DineEquity. Click here for the holding histories on the company.

Richard Blum

Guru Richard Blum made a slight reduction in his holdings on Career Education (CECO) on June 12. Blum reduced his position 3.83% by selling a total of 350,000 shares at about $3.04 per share. Since then the price has dropped approximately 4% and is currently trading at around $2.91 per share.

Blum still owns 8,793,983 shares of CECO but has been consistently reducing his position in the company since March of this year. The guru still owns about 12% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Richard Blum’s holding history of Career Education as of March 31:



Career Education Corporation offers education to a diverse student population of over 116,000 students across the world in a variety of career-oriented disciplines. The approximately 90 campuses that serve these students are located throughout the U.S. and in France, Italy and the UK, and offer doctoral, master's, bachelors and associate degrees and diploma and certificate programs.

Career Education Corp. has a market cap of $193 million; its shares were traded at around $2.83 with a P/E ratio of 15.30 and a P/S ratio of 0.10.

Richard Blum, Chuck Royce and Jim Simons all hold shares of CECO. Click here to see their holding histories of the company.

Prem Watsa

Prem Watsa made the most recent guru transaction. Canada’s Warren Buffett bought 1,236,214 shares of American Safety Insurance (ASI) at an average price of $28.94 per share, resulting in a 1.39% impact to his portfolio. Watsa’s most recent holding represents 12.49% of American Safety’s shares outstanding.

On June 3, American Safety Insurance announced that Guru Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial would acquire all of the outstanding shares of American Safety common stock. Fairfax’s deal to acquire the outstanding shares of American Safety for $29.25 per share which was at a 22.1% premium to the closing price of American Safety as of May 31. Investors responded positively to the news and share price of American Safety hit a 52-week high within a week of the announcement.

American Safety Insurance is a specialty insurance company that provides customized insurance products and solutions to small and medium sized businesses in industries which they consider to be underserved by the standard insurance market.

The Peter Lynch Valuation Chart shows that American Safety appears to be overvalued:

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American Safety has a market cap of $277.885 million; its shares were traded at around $29.00 with a P/E ratio of 22.27 and a P/S ratio of 0.99. The company had an annual average earnings growth of 21.8% over the past five years.

Prem Watsa is the only guru that holds shares of American Safety.

GuruFocus’ Real Time Picks show the stock purchases and sells that the Gurus have made within the past two weeks. The SEC regulations require those that own greater than 5% stake in a company to report any trade of that company within 10 days. The most updated Real Time Picks can be found here.