Martin Whitman (Trades, Portfolio) is founder and portfolio manager of the Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVFX). Whitman is a 1949 graduate of Syracuse University, which recently renamed its School of Management after Whitman, after a large gift from him in June 2003. He is an adjunct faculty member at Yale School of Management.
Web Page:http://www.thirdavenuefunds.com/
Read the Q1 Shareholders Letter 2015
His portfolio is composed of 38 stocks with a total value of $1,889 million, and it is performing an average +6% since inception and a +7.5% over the last 5 years.
During the month of January he increased his stacks to eight companies and reduced his shares of 12 companies.
The most weighted trades were with shares of:
1) Comerica Inc (CMA) of which he added 18.45% shares; that is a +0.73% on total value of his portfolio;
He is currently holding 2,152,249 shares of CMA. Since 2012Q2 he never sold this company; he averaged the price up reaching now an average price of $34.79/share with an average gain of 33%.
CMA looks fairly valued at current price based on the DCF model. The Peter Lynch Value suggest a fair price of 79$ with a current margin of safety of 41%.
Paul Tudor Jones increased his position by 336% on CMA while Caxton Associates and Pioneer Investments Sold out their positions
2) Covanta Holding Corp (CVA) of which he reduced by 39.44% his shares with an impact of -2.52% on total value of his portfolio
He is currently holding 3,606,707 shares of CVA at an average price of $16.07/share with an average gain of 32%.
CVA looks overpriced at current price based on both the DCF model and the Peter Lynch Value. The Peter Lynch Earnings Line suggests a price of $11.6 that says the company is currently overpriced by 90%.
Pioneer Investments and Jim Simons bought shares of CVA during recent quarters.
3) CBS Corp (CBS) of which he added 14.13% shares (+0.33% on total value of his portfolio)
He is currently holding 923,300 shares of CBS and since 2014Q4 he has been increasing his position of this company at a current average price of $53.81/share with an average gain of 15%.
CBS looks fairly valued based on the Peter Lynch Earnings Line while the DCF model says it is overpriced by 74% (based on the low business predictability, the DCF model result may not be accurate).
Recently, 10 Gurus bought shares of CBS. Of that 10 Gurus, Richard Perry is the one that bought most shares of CBS (an impact of 3.9% on his portfolio).
Other 10 Gurus sold out their shares, and David Tepper is the leader. His sales had an impact of 2.3% on his portfolio.
4) Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK) of which he reduced by 7.8% his shares with an impact of -0.44% on total value of his portfolio
He is currently holding 2,798,013 shares of BK that he started to buy three years back. Then he sold small stacks on almost every quarter, reaching now an average price of $21.92/share with an average gain of 86%.
BK looks undervalued by 34% based on the Peter Lynch Earnings Line.
Just Caxton Associates increased his stack on BK over the last quarter of 2014, other Gurus such as Mason Hawkins, Chris Davis, Andreas Halvorsen, Steven Romick, First Pacific Advisors, Third Avenue Management and Pioneer Investments sold Out or reduced their stacks.
