Among a few stocks that had negative returns in the quarter, Veeco Instruments (VECO) and Titan International (TWI) are also among the smaller positions in the portfolio. Titan, which declined 11.4% in the quarter and will be discussed later in this letter, is a relatively new stock in the portfolio and one that we added to as the share price declined.
Among the stocks that we added to in the quarter were Atwood Oceanics (ATW) and Titan International (TWI).
As mentioned above, Titan declined nearly 12% in the quarter and we added to the position as the stock weakened. As you may recall, we initiated the position in TWI in the fourth quarter of 2013 in the mid- teens. Despite our additional TWI purchases, we do not yet own a full position in the stock. However, we have plenty of capacity to take the stock to a normal full position, which is 3%, but this assumes the company earns the right to have more of your capital allocated to the position.
The primary reason why TWI shares sold off recently is that the wheel and tire markets for large construction and mining equipment remain depressed. Investors had hoped that the off-road, large construction equipment and mining business would see some acceleration after the very cold winter season, but that does not appear to be the case. Tire inventory levels for large, off-road equipment were too high for dealers to be aggressive and purchase tires en masse earlier this year. However, there is some recent evidence that much of the excess tire inventory has been reduced to levels that now support some restocking.
Our investment thesis for TWI is not predicated on the wheel and tire market for large, off-road equipment to come roaring back to levels experienced before the financial crisis. Rather we believe the assets TWI has accumulated over the past decade can be managed more efficiently and, therefore, profit margins can improve without a huge increase in revenues. We recently visited one of TWI’s Midwest tire facilities and came away with the impression that simply operating the existing production equipment more efficiently would yield substantial improvements in the plant’s profitability.
Furthermore, we believe most of TWI’s operating plants have ample room for productivity enhancements and, thus, profit improvement. It is encouraging that the company has promoted Paul Reitz as the firm’s President, and that Mr. Reitz has replaced senior plant managers with more capable people. However, more work needs to be done in order to maximize the profit potential the company’s assets are capable of generating for shareholders.
From FPA Capital Fund (Trades, Portfolio)’s Second Quarter 2014 Commentary.
