Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. is the founder of private equity firm WL Ross & Co. He is known for distressed investing and restructuring failed companies in industries such as steel, coal, telecommunications, foreign investment and textiles.
His portfolio has a total value of about $804 million, and the following are the worst performing stocks that he recently traded.
During Q3 2014, he reduced his stake by 6.04% in Navigator Holdings Ltd (NVGS) and since then, the stock has dropped by 75%. The company is the owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers which provide international seaborne transportation and regional distribution services of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrochemical gases and ammonia for energy companies, industrial users and commodity traders. These gases are transported in liquefied form, under cooling temperatures and/or pressure, which can reduce volume by up to 900 times depending on the cargo, making their transportation more efficient and economical.
The price of the stock has risen by 215% during the last 5 years, dropped by 19% since the beginning of the year and by 42% during the last 12 months. The current price is -48.40% from its 52-week high and +9.73% from its 52-week low.
The company has a profitability and growth rating of 8/10 with positive returns (ROE 11.95%, ROA 7.00%).
Wilbur Ross (Trades, Portfolio) is the main guru holding NVGS with 21,863,874 shares, amounting to 39.49% of shares outstanding or 51.94% of total assets of his portfolio, followed by Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) who holds 0.82% of outstanding shares and Scott Black (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.30% of outstanding shares.
During Q1 2015, he bought 35,000 shares of T2 Biosystems Inc (TTOO) and since then the stock has dropped by 46%. The Company is an in vitro diagnostic company that has developed proprietary platform that enables direct detection of pathogens, biomarkers and other abnormalities across various unpurified patient sample types.
The price of the stock has dropped by 11% during the last 5 years, 34% since the beginning of the year and 16% during the last 12 months. The current price is -47.92% from its 52-week high and +2.41% from its 52-week low.
The company has a profitability and growth rating of 2/10 with deeply negative returns (ROE -275.01%, ROA -61.93%).
Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio) is the main guru holding TTOO with 90,909 shares, amounting to 0.45% of shares outstanding or 0.24% of total assets of his portfolio, followed by Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) who holds 0.22% of outstanding shares.
During Q1 2014, he increased his stake by 62% of EXCO Resources Inc (XCO) and since then the stock has dropped by 87%. The company is an independent oil and natural gas company engaged in the exploration, exploitation, development and production of onshore North American oil and natural gas properties with a focus on shale resource plays. Its primary strategy is to appraise, develop and exploit its Haynesville, Bossier and Marcellus shale resources, primarily through horizontal drilling, and to leverage its complementary midstream gathering systems and treating facilities to promptly transport its production to multiple market outlets.
The price of the stock has dropped by 96% during the last 5 years, 71% since the beginning of the year and 86% during the last 12 months. The current price is -86.57% from its 52-week high and +35.42% from its 52-week low.
The company has a profitability and growth rating of 2 out of 10 with very negative returns (ROE -255.49%, ROA -30.05%).
Willbur Ross is the main guru holding XCO with 51,104,050 shares, amounting to 18.44% of shares outstanding or 11.63% of total assets of his portfolio, followed by Howard Marks (Trades, Portfolio) who holds 16.3%, and Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio) with 6.33% of outstanding shares.
During Q4 2014, he bought 444,655 shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc (XENE) and since then the stock has dropped by 51%. The company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing a pipeline of differentiated therapeutics for orphan indications. The Company has built a core enabling discovery platform for the discovery of validated drug targets by studying rare human diseases with extreme traits, including diseases caused by mutations in ion channels, known as channelopathies.
The price of the stock has dropped by 5.87% during the last 5 years, 49% since the beginning of the year and 8% during the last 12 months. The current price is -59.06% from its 52-week high and +11.99% from its 52-week low.
The company has a profitability and growth rating of 3/10 with positive returns (ROE 49.45%, ROA 13.66%) that are topping the Global Biotechnology industry, as it is ranked higher than 92% of the other companies. The company has a very strong financial situation rated 8/10 and is almost out of debt.
Willbur Ross is the main guru holding XENE with 444,655 shares, amounting to 3.12% of shares outstanding, or 0.95% of total assets of his portfolio, followed by Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) who holds 0.77% of outstanding shares.
