Three Stocks with Something in Common

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Jun 16, 2014

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. is an American investor known for restructuring failed companies in industries such as steel, coal, telecommunications, foreign investment and textiles. He specializes in leveraged buyouts and distressed businesses. In 2011, Forbes magazine listed Ross as one of the world's billionaires with a net worth of $1.9 billion.

Over the past quarter Ross added two new stocks bringing his portfolio holdings to 11 valued at $1,466 million. In this article, let´s take a look at the following three holdings which are the top three positions as of the first quarter.

Navigator Holdings Ltd. (NVGS, Financial)

The guru’s largest holding is in Navigator Holdings. The company owns and operates a fleet of gas carriers worldwide. It offers international seaborne transportation and regional distribution services of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrochemical gases, and ammonia for energy companies, industrial users, and commodity traders. The company also provides dry docking services.

Ross holds on to 23,270,000 shares of the company’s stock. This position makes up for 41.3% of his total portfolio as well as 0.00% of the company’s shares outstanding. We have to mention that over the past quarter there were no changes in this position.

The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion and its shares are currently trading at $28.13. In terms of valuation, the stock sells at a trailing P/E of 21.6x, price-to-book ratio of 2.11x and the price-to-sales ratio of 6.14x.

Earnings per share (EPS) increased heavily in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago (72%). In the next graph we can appreciate an upward trend over the last three years.

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Finally, I always like to see one of the most important financial ratios applying to stockholders, the best measure of performance for a firm's management: the return on equity. The company's annualized net income for the quarter that ended in Mar. 2014 was $67.5 Mil and total shareholder equity for was $737.4 Mil. Therefore, the firm´s annualized ROE for the quarter was 9.16%.

Hedge fund gurus have also been active in the company in the first quarter of 2014. Gurus like Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) and John Burbank (Trades, Portfolio) have also invested in it.

EXCO Resources Inc. (XCO, Financial)

The second largest holding is in Exco Resources, an independent oil and natural gas company engaged in the exploration, exploitation, development and production of onshore U.S. oil and natural gas properties with a focus on shale resource plays.

The hedge fund guru holds on to 51,104,050 shares, worth $286,183. This position represents 19.5% of his entire portfolio as well as 23.49% of the company’s shares outstanding. He added to his holdings 62.21% and bought these shares in the quarterly price range of $4.74 to $5.68.

The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion and its shares are currently trading at $5.65. In terms of valuation, the stock sells at a trailing P/B of 3.82x and the price-to-sales ratio of 1.96x.

Earnings per share (EPS) decreased heavily in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago (from $0.74 to -0.02). In the next graph we can appreciate an upward trend over the last five years.

03May20171423441493839424.png

Finally, the company's annualized net income for the quarter that ended in Mar. 2014 was $-18.4 Mil and total shareholder equity for was $404.9 Mil. Therefore, the firm´s annualized ROE for the quarter was -4.56%.

Hedge fund gurus have also been active in the company in the first quarter of 2014. Gurus like Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio) and Howard Marks (Trades, Portfolio) have also invested in it.

Assured Guaranty Ltd (AGO, Financial)

The third on the list is Assured Guaranty, a company that provides credit protection products to the U.S. and international public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. Obligations insured by the company include bonds issued by U.S. state or municipal governmental authorities; notes issued to finance international infrastructure projects; and asset-backed securities. The company markets its financial guaranty insurance directly to issuers and underwriters of public finance and structured finance securities as well as to investors in such obligations. The company guarantees obligations issued primarily in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as in Australia and Western Europe.

Ross maintains 10,848,183 shares of the company’s stock. This position makes up for 18.7% of his assets under management and 5.93% of the company’s shares outstanding.

The company has a market cap of $4.58 billion and its shares are currently trading at $25.47. In terms of valuation, the stock sells at a trailing P/E of 4.7x, price-to-book ratio of 0.89x and the price-to-sales ratio of 2.38x.

Earnings per share (EPS) increased heavily in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The net income increased by 129.2% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from -$144.00 million to $42.00 million. In the next graph we can appreciate that earnings are somehow volatile during the last five years.

03May20171423451493839425.png

Finally, the company's annualized net income for the quarter that ended in Mar. 2014 was $168 Mil and total shareholder equity for was $5,209 Mil. Therefore, the firm´s annualized ROE for the quarter was 3.24%.

Hedge fund gurus have also been active in the company in the first quarter of 2014. Gurus like Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Arnold Schneider (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and the fund Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio) have divested in it as well as Wilbur Ross (Trades, Portfolio).

Disclosure: Omar Venerio holds no position in any stocks mentioned.

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