Value investor Michael Price (Trades, Portfolio) is known for acquiring stock in out-of-favor small cap companies that are believed to be good values. His approach has paid off: Today, he manages MFP Investors, with $1.6 billion under management, much of it his own money.
Price invested in 11 new buys in the first quarter. By volume, the largest was his acquisition of 1,294,000 shares of S&W Seed Company (SANW, Financial), a Fresno, California-based agriculture company specializing in breeding, production and processing for the alfalfa and stevia industries, for an average price of $4.55 per share. The purchase had a 0.79% impact on his portfolio.
S&W Seed has a market cap of $61.7 million and an enterprise value of $105.32 million. It has a Price/Book of 1.1 and a Price/Sales of 0.8. S&W Seed is the fourth-largest stake (by volume) in Price’s portfolio.
The purchase that had the greatest impact on his portfolio was Price’s purchase of 1,141,875 shares of Towne Bank (TOWN, Financial), a Portsmouth, Virginia-based financial institution, for an average price of $15.48 per share. The buy had a 2.43% impact on Price’s portfolio.
Towne Bank has a market cap of $564.36 million and an enterprise value of $840.16 milion. It has a P/E of 14.0, a Price/Book of 1.1 and a Price/Sales of 2.2. It is the eighth-largest stake in his portfolio.
Price bought 550,000 shares of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARIA, Financial), a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based oncology company, for an average price of $7.39 per share. The acquisition had a 0.6% impact on his portfolio.
ARIAD has a market cap of $1.7 billion and an enterprise value of $1.77 billion. It has a Price/Book of 45.2 and a Price/Sales of 14.3. Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) also has shares of ARIAD in his portfolio.
Other new buys in Price’s portfolio are First Northwest Bancorp (FNWB, Financial), Avon Products Inc (AVP, Financial), United States Steel Corp (X, Financial), Beneficial Bancorp Inc (BNCL, Financial), Baker Hughes Inc (BHI, Financial), MB Bancorp Inc (MBCQ, Financial), FMC Technologies Inc (FTI, Financial) and American Midstream Partners LP (AMID, Financial).
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