At the end of the second quarter of 2015, hedge fund Moody Lynn & Lieberson reported a total value of its portfolio of $628 million, with no substantial changes since the previous quarter. During the quarter, it bought 35 new stocks and increased 72 of its stakes. The following are the most heavily weighted buys during the quarter.
It bought shares of Prudential Financial Inc (PRU) with an impact of 2.35% on its portfolio. The company through its subsidiaries and affiliates offers financial products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. It offers these products and services to individual and institutional customers through proprietary and third party distribution networks. The company's businesses are separated into the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business.
Prudential Financial has a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10 with weak returns (ROE 6.05%, ROA 0.33%) that are underperforming 75% of the Global Insurance - Life industry. Financial strength has a rating of 6 out of 10 with very low ratios, an interest coverage of 1.34, and a cash to debt of 0.54 that are performing worst than 91% of the company’s competitors.
The price of the stock has risen by 56% during the last 5 years, has dropped by 14% year to date and by 14% during the last 12 months. The current price is -17.86% from its 52-week high and +4.60% from its 52-week low.
In the last quarter its operating earnings rose 16.9%, helped in part by an increase in revenue from premiums. Pre-tax adjusted operating income for U.S. businesses was up by 8% from the year-ago quarter and U.S. Individual Life sales was up by 26% from the year-ago quarter, with increases in universal, term, and variable life.
The main hedge fund holding shares of the company is Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.55% of outstanding shares, followed by Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.27% and Ken Heebner (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.21%.
It bought shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) with an impact of 2.31% on its portfolio. The company provides analytical instruments, equipment, reagents and consumables, software and services for research, manufacturing, analysis, discovery and diagnostics.
TMO has a profitability and growth rating of 8 out of 10 with good returns (ROE 9.62%, ROA 4.61%) that are outperforming 68% the Global Diagnostics & Research industry. Financial strength has a rating of 7 out of 10 but despite this, both interest coverage ratio of 5.22 and cash to debt ratio of 0.06 are far from the average value of competitors, since the average cash to debt of the industry is 3.28 and the average interest coverage is 1009.34.
The price of the stock has risen by 196% during the last 5 years, has dropped by 2% since the beginning of the year and has risen by 4% during the last 12 months. The current price is -11.32% from its 52-week high and +16.71% from its 52-week low.
In the last quarter, the company had delivered a 1.24% positive surprise leading to a trailing four-quarter average beat of 2.79%. TMO launched a number of new products, including the Orbitrap Fusion Lumos Tribrid mass spectrometer for proteomics, Q Exactive GC-MS/MS for research and applied markets, and the cloud-enabled QuantStudio 3 and 5 real-time PCR systems for genomics applications.
During the last quarter, it acquired Alfa Aesar to enhance offering of laboratory chemicals, solvents and reagents for research applications; it is expected to complete transaction by year end.
For the second quarter of 2015, adjusted EPS grew by 7% compared to the second quarter of 2014 and adjusted operating income for the second quarter of 2015 increased 3% compared with the year-ago quarter.
The main shareholder of the company is Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio) who holds 2.33% of outstanding shares, followed by PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.39% and First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.87%.
It bought shares of Allergan plc (AGN) with an impact of 1.89% on its portfolio. The company is engaged in development, manufacturing, marketing, sale and distribution of generic, branded generic, brand name, biosimilar and over-the-counter pharmaceutical products. It also develops and out-license generic pharmaceutical products in Europe through its Medis third-party business. It operates in three segments, Pharma, Specialty Brands and Anda Distribution.
The company has a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10 but has negative returns (ROE -6.23%, ROA -3.09%) that are outperforming 95% of the Global Drug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic industry. Financial strength has a rating of 6 out of 10 with a cash to debt of 0.04 that is very low even when compared to the industry median of 2.34.
The price of the stock has risen by 607% during the last 5 years, by 18% since the beginning of the year and by 35% during the last 12 months. The current price is -10.10% from its 52-week high and +46.65% from its 52-week low.
Net revenue increased 116% and diluted earnings per share increased 29% compared to the second quarter 2014 and driven by strong revenues and higher gross margins across their segments. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter had an increase of 203% versus the prior year.
Allergan recently entered into an agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) for the sale of its global generics business and the deal is slated to go through in the first quarter of 2016.
The main hedge fund holding shares of the company is Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio) with 2.3% of outstanding shares, followed by John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.82% and Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.73%.
It bought shares of Citigroup Inc (C) with an impact of 1.23% on its portfolio. It is a financial services holding company, whose businesses provide consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a range of financial products and services, including consumer banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage and wealth management.
Citigroup has a profitability and growth rating of 5 out of 10 with easy returns (ROE 5.78%, ROA 0.69%) that are underperforming 69% of the Global Banks - Global industry. Financial strength has a rating of 6 out of 10 with an interest coverage of 1.05 and a cash to debt of 0.65 that is few low if compared to the industry median of 1.38.
The price of the stock has risen by 42% during the last 5 years and has dropped by 4% year to date.
The current price is -14.22% from its 52-week high and +12.19% from its 52-week low.
Citigroup delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations as it was its highest quarterly profit in eight years as restructuring efforts and cost cuts paid off and legal expenses plunged and Its revenues was approximately unchanged from the prior year period.
Driven by lower operating expenses, lower net credit losses and a lower effective tax rate, net income increased 18%.
The main shareholder of the company is James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.73% of outstanding shares, followed by HOYCHIKS & WILEY with 0.57% and Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.39%.
Increased stakes
The hedge fund also increased seven of its stakes, and the most important are the following: Walt Disney Productions (DIS) by 5%, Vanguard Tax (VEA) by 12%, Facebook Inc (FB) by 14%, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA) by 39%, Nike Inc Class B (NKE) by 25%, Wells Fargo New (WFC) by 14.71% and Sealed Air Corp New (SEE) by 21.82%
| Harvest Capital Strategies Top Buys Q2 2015 | |||
| Ticker | Value (x1000) | Impact % | Trade |
| PRU | 14,790 | 2.35% | New Buy |
| TMO | 14,511 | 2.31% | New Buy |
| AGN | 11,853 | 1.89% | New Buy |
| C | 7,698 | 1.23% | New Buy |
As of the latest quarter, the hedge fund has its portfolio divided by the following sectors:
| Main Sectors | |
| Finance | 31% |
| Information Technology | 17% |
| Health Care | 16% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 13% |
| Other | 6% |
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