Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), founder of $44 billion Fisher Investments, writes a regular column for Forbes in which he stated in June that he is excited for the stock market because of what he calls the “midterm election year fourth-quarter effect.”
“Since 1925 the S&P 500 has risen in 19 of 22 midterm-election-year fourth quarters,” he said. “That’s a whopping 86.4%. One of the other three wasn’t negative–but 0.0%. Hence it’s been negative only 9.1% of fourth quarters. One was merely -5%. Only once was it down much, -16.4% way back in 1930–during the crash. You have to love it.”Fisher’s firm tends to use a “top-down” approach looking for trends that other don’t see in analyzing global markets and most attractive investment categories.
His stock portfolio, valued at $47.6 billion contained 558 stocks as of the second quarter, in which he purchased 80 new ones. The top new stocks are: PacWest Bancorp (PACW, Financial), Umpqua Holdings Corp. (UMPQ, Financial), UMB Financial Corp (UMBF, Financial), AAR Corp (AIR, Financial) and Omnicell Inc. (OMCL, Financial).
PacWest Bancorp (PACW, Financial)
Fisher purchased 2,305,378 shares of PacWest Bancorp, whose share price averaged $42 for the quarter. The position equates to 0.21% of the portfolio.
PacWest Bancorp was organized on Oct. 22, 1999 and incorporated in the state of California. PacWest Bancorp has a market cap of $4.23 billion; its shares were traded at around $41.45 with a P/E ratio of 33.20 and P/S ratio of 5.52. The dividend yield of PacWest Bancorp stocks is 2.41%.
Umpqua Holdings Corp. (UMPQ, Financial)
Fisher purchased 603,215 shares of UMB Financial Corp, whose stock price averaged $60 a share for the quarter. The position equates to 0.08% of the portfolio.
Umpqua Holdings Corp is a financial holding company, which is engaged in the business of commercial and retail banking and the delivery of retail brokerage services. Umpqua Holdings Corp has a market cap of $3.75 billion; its shares were traded at around $17.27 with a P/E ratio of 20.70 and P/S ratio of 3.56. The dividend yield of Umpqua Holdings Corp stocks is 3.47%.
UMB Financial Corp (UMBF, Financial)
Fisher purchased 697,620 shares of AAR Corp in the second quarter, when the price averaged $26. The position equates to 0.04% of the portfolio.
UMB Financial Corporation was organized as a corporation in 1967, under Missouri law for the purpose of becoming a bank holding company registered under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. UMB Financial Corp has a market cap of $2.57 billion; its shares were traded at around $56.56 with a P/E ratio of 19.70 and P/S ratio of 2.88. The dividend yield of UMB Financial Corp stocks is 1.57%. UMB Financial Corp had an annual average earnings growth of 9.20% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated UMB Financial Corp the business predictability rank of 5-star.
Fisher purchased 697,620 shares of AAR Corp, whose stock price averaged $26 for the quarter. The purchase equates to 0.04% of the portfolio.
AAR Corporation was founded in 1951, organized in 1955 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1966. AAR Corp has a market cap of $1.06 billion; its shares were traded at around $26.88 with a P/E ratio of 14.60 and P/S ratio of 0.51. The dividend yield of AAR Corp stocks is 1.12%. Aar Corp had an annual average earnings growth of 10.60% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Aar Corp the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.
Omnicell Inc. (OMCL, Financial)
Fisher purchased 410,000 shares of Omnicell Inc. in the second quarter, when the price averaged $27. The position equates to 0.025% of the portfolio.
Omnicell Inc. was formerly Omnicell Technologies Inc. Omnicell Inc. has a market cap of $996.774 million; its shares were traded at around $27.23 with a P/E ratio of 37.00 and P/S ratio of 2.49. Omnicell Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 18.0% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Omnicell Inc. the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
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