GAMCO Investors, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio)’s, purchased 32 stocks in the fourth quarter, for 3% turnover in its portfolio of 861 stocks.
At fourth quarter-end, GAMCO had assets under management of $47.5 billion. The company described its guiding two-pronged investing approach in its fourth quarter letter:
“…We are fundamentally bottom up stock pickers. We have chosen to focus on the companies in a subset of industries in which sustainable competitive advantages can be cultivated. Volatile and unpredictable crude prices, for example, are reasons we tend to avoid the energy sector and gravitate to less commoditized industries.
Managers added:
“Our contribution to the body of work begun by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd has been the concept of Private Market Value (PMV) with a CatalystTM – we seek businesses selling in the public markets at a substantial discount to their PMVs and for which we can identify one or more events that will narrow that discount. We tend to gravitate toward hard assets and cash flow and away from visions of grandeur that may or may not occur in the future.”
The most highlighted sector at GAMCO at quarter-end was Consumer Cyclical, which represented 24.6% of the portfolio. Industrials followed, representing 21.5% of the portfolio.
Gabelli’s five largest new stock buys of the fourth quarter were: Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CBST, Financial), Chiquita Brands International Inc. (CQB, Financial), PetSmart Inc. (PETM, Financial), Volcano Corp (VOLC, Financial) and Covance Inc. (CVD, Financial).
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CBST, Financial)
Gabelli purchased 236,700 shares of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a 0.12% portfolio holding. Cubist Pharmaceuticals’ share price averaged $77 in the fourth quarter.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1992. Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a market cap of $7.68 billion; its shares were traded at around $101.94 with a P/E ratio of 126.00 and P/S ratio of 7.23.
Chiquita Brands International Inc. (CQB, Financial)
Gabelli purchased 970,500 shares of Chiquita Brands International Inc., a 0.073% portfolio position. The stock’s quarterly average price was $14.
Chiquita Brands International operate as a marketer and distributor of bananas and pineapples sold under the Chiquita and other brand names in nearly 70 countries packaged salads sold under the Fresh Express and other brand names primarily in the United States. Chiquita Brands International Inc. has a market cap of $681.244 million; its shares were traded at around $14.49 with and P/S ratio of 0.22.
PetSmart Inc. (PETM, Financial)
Gabelli purchased 131,800 shares of PetSmart, a 0.056% portfolio position. The stock’s quarterly average price was $74.
PetSmart Inc. was incorporated in the State of Delaware in 1986. PetSmart Inc. has a market cap of $8.21 billion; its shares were traded at around $82.55 with a P/E ratio of 19.60 and P/S ratio of 1.20. The dividend yield of PetSmart Inc. stocks is 0.90%. PetSmart Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 14.00% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated PetSmart Inc. the business predictability rank of 5-star.
Volcano Corp (VOLC, Financial)
Gabelli purchased 572,500 shares of Volcano Corp, a 0.053% portfolio holding. The stock’s fourth quarter quarterly price averaged $12.
Volcano Corp incorporated in the state of Delaware in January 2000. Volcano Corp has a market cap of $927.31 million; its shares were traded at around $17.99 with and P/S ratio of 2.36.
Gabelli purchased 81,200 shares of Covance Inc., a 0.044% portfolio holding. The stock’s quarterly price averaged $94.
Covance Inc. is a Delaware Corporation, founded in 1987. Covance Inc. has a market cap of $6.03 billion; its shares were traded at around $106.53 with a P/E ratio of 34.0 and P/S ratio of 2.30. Covance Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 3.80% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Covance Inc. the business predictability rank of 2-star.
See more Gabelli stocks at his portfolio here. Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Try it free for 7 days here.
