Guru Brian Rogers and his Barron's Midyear Stock Picks

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Jul 24, 2014
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Every year Barron’s gets its Roundtable team together and they discuss stock picks and the status of the economy in general. Guru Brian Rogers (Trades, Portfolio) is a member of Barron’s Roundtable team, and the following stocks are his Midyear Roundtable stock picks and updates from January’s Roundtable picks.

For this midyear’s roundtable, Rogers kept consistent with five of his six picks from the last Roundtable and added one new stock to his selection. He seems confident in his selections, yet he says it’s been a “sluggish year for stocks.”

Applied Materials (AMAT)

The guru’s first recommendation was in Applied Materials, which was trading at $21.89 at the time of Rogers’ interview. Rogers’ favors this stock because it had a strong first half of the quarter, it’s second half of the year is focused on closing its merger with Tokyo Electron (TSE:8035) and that the stock is up about 25% but isn’t extended.

As of Rogers’ most recently reported quarter (Q2) the guru held on to 12,594,500 shares of the company’s stock. This position makes up for about 1% of his total portfolio holdings as well as 1.03% of the company’s shares outstanding. The guru did not alter his holdings in AMAT over the past quarter. In fact the last time he made a move in the company was in the fourth quarter of 2012, and since then the price per share is up about 101%.

Rogers’ historical holding history:

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Applied Materials provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the global semiconductor, flat panel display, solar photovoltaic and related industries. The company operates in four reportable segments: Silicon Systems Group, Applied Global Services, Display, and Energy and Environmental Solutions.

Applied Materials’ historical revenue and net income:

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The Peter Lynch Chart suggests that the company is currently overvalued:

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Applied Materials has a market cap of $26.45 billion. Its shares are currently trading at around $21.73 with a P/E ratio of 55.70, a P/S ratio of 3.20 and a P/B ratio of 3.80. The dividend yield of Applied Materials stocks is at 1.80%.

Consol Energy (CNX)

Another of Rogers’ Midyear picks was in the energy company Consol Energy. The guru is excited about the stock and in the interview claims, “I haven’t sold any shares.” At the time of this interview, the stock was trading at $47.00 per share, which is up 30% this year. Rogers also claims that the company’s earnings and cash-flow growth have been outstanding, yet the stock isn’t too expensive.

As of the close of the second quarter Rogers holds on to 5,500,000 shares of Consol Energy stock. This position makes up for 0.89% of the guru’s portfolio as well as 2.39% of the company’s shares outstanding. The guru did not alter his position over the past quarter. The last move Rogers made was in the first quarter of 2013, and since then the price per share has increased approximately 26.8%.

Rogers’ holding history as of Q2:

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Consol is a multi-fuel energy producer and energy services provider that mainly serves the electric power generation industry in the United States.

Consol Energy’s historical revenue and net income:

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The Peter Lynch Chart suggests that the company is currently undervalued:

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Consol Energy has a market cap of $9.36 billion. Its shares are currently trading at around $40.73 with a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/S ratio of 2.70 and a P/B ratio of 1.90. The company had an annual average earnings growth of $3.50% over the past ten years.

Cablevision Systems (CVC)

Rogers’ third pick was in Cablevision Systems, which was trading at $17.32 at the time of his midyear interview. The guru likes the company for its strong cash flow and its yield of 4%. While Rogers is currently optimistic about the company and the stock he also voices hesitation for the longer term, “With all the deal activity in the cable business – Comcast buying Time Warner Cable, divesting subscribers to Charter Communications, spinning out a new cable company and so forth – will Cablevision be isolated?”

As of the close of the second quarter Rogers holds on to 7,415,400 shares of the company’s stock. This position makes up for 0.46% of his total assets managed as well as 2.74% of the company’s shares outstanding. He did not alter his position over the past quarter, and since his last move in the company during the second quarter of 2013 the price per share is trading up approximately 27.6%.

Rogers’ holding history as of the close of the second quarter:

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Cablevision owns all of the outstanding membership interests in CSC Holdings and its liabilities. CSC Holdings is a cable operator in the United States based on the number of basic video subscribers. The Company also operates cable programming networks, entertainment businesses, telecommunications companies and a newspaper publishing business.

Cablevision’s historical revenue and net income:

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The Peter Lynch Chart suggests that the company is currently overvalued:

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Cablevision has a market cap of $5.18 billion. Its shares are currently trading at around $19.13 with a P/E ratio of 9.10 and a P/S ratio of 0.80. The dividend yield for the company is at 3.10%, and they had an annual average earnings growth of 1.00% over the past ten years.

Newmont Mining (NEM)

Despite the fact that Newmont’s shares are trading slightly down from Rogers’ pick of the company in January, he remains optimistic in the company. Rogers reports that there are talks of a merger with Barrick Gold (ABX) which he claims would be smart because of their massive properties in Nevada. At the time of this report Newmont was trading at $23.09 per share.

Rogers holds on to 5,250,000 shares of the company’s stock as of the close of the second quarter. This position makes up for 0.47% of his total portfolio holdings as well as 1.05% of the company’s shares outstanding. Rogers increased his position 10.53% during the second quarter, adding 500,000 shares to his holdings near the estimated average quarterly price of $24.07 per share. The price per share is up 3.9% from this average.

Rogers’ historical holding history:

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Newmont Mining Corporation is engaged in the exploration for and acquisition of gold properties. It is also engaged in the production of copper, mainly through its Batu Hijau operation in Indonesia and Boddington operation in Australia.

Newmont Mining’s historical revenue and net income:

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Newmont Mining Corporation has a market cap of $12.35 billion. Its shares are currently trading at around $24.78 with a P/B of 1.20 and a P/S ratio of 1.60. The company’s dividend yield is currently at 2.50%.

Avon Products (AVP, Financial)

Rogers’ last stock pick was in the company Avon Products, and at the time of this article the stock was trading at $14.76 per share. Rogers likes this stock because despite the fact that its fallen over 40% in the last year, “the story has gotten better.” Rogers has faith in the company’s CEO Sherilyn McCoy who is currently building out the management, and he likes that insiders continue to buy the shares. Rogers also claims that he’d like Avon to be up 15% to 20%, but that that might be a little too optimistic.

As of the most recent quarter Rogers holds on to 10,582,400 shares of the company’s stock. This position represents 0.54% of his total assets managed as well as 2.44% of the company’s shares outstanding. The guru added 4.44% to his holdings over the past quarter, purchasing 450,000 shares of Avon. Since this buy the price per share is trading down approximately -8.9%.

Roger’s historical holdings:

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Avon is a manufacturer and marketer of beauty and related products. The company's product categories are Beauty, Fashion and Home. Beauty consists of color cosmetics, fragrances, skin care and personal care.

Avon Products’ historical revenue and net income:

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The analysis on Avon reports that the company’s price is near a 10-year low, its revenue per share has been in decline over the past three years and its Piotroski F-Score is low.

Avon Products has a market cap of $5.72 billion. Its shares are currently trading at around $13.17 with a P/S ratio of 0.60 and a P/B ratio of 6.30. The dividend yield of Avon Products is at 1.80%.

Check out more of Brian Rogers (Trades, Portfolio)’ portfolio holdings here. Also check out his top five holdings as of the close of the second quarter.

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