Whitney Tilson Deals in Transportation Stocks in Third Quarter

Guru acquires stake in General Electric

Nov 03, 2015

Whitney Tilson (Trades, Portfolio), founder and managing partner of Kase Capital Management, bought and sold some big-name holdings in the third quarter. Many of those transactions were in transportation stocks, primarily railroads and airlines.

Tilson bought three new stakes in the third quarter – Union Pacific Corp. (UNP, Financial), General Electric Co. (GE, Financial) and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP, Financial) – and each had a significant impact on his portfolio.

Tilson purchased 31,280 shares of Union Pacific, the Omaha, Neb.-based parent company of Union Pacific Railroad, for an average price of $91.26 per share. The deal had a 5.49% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

Union Pacific has a market cap of $75.76 billion and an enterprise value of $88 billion. It has a P/E of 15.3, a forward P/E of 14.8, a P/B of 3.7 and a P/S of 3.4. GuruFocus has given Union Pacific a Financial Strength rating of 7/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10.

Tilson acquired a 101,950-share stake in General Electric, a Schenectady, N.Y.-based conglomerate, for an average price of $25.57 per share. The transaction had a 5.11% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

General Electric has a market cap of $298.75 billion and an enterprise value of $429.6 billion. It has a forward P/E of 19.4, a P/B of 2.7 and a P/S of 2.0. GuruFocus has given General Electric a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 6/10.

Tilson purchased a 10,700-share stake in Canadian Pacific Railway, a Calgary, Alberta-based rail carrier, for an average price of $150.79 per share. The acquisition had a 3.05% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

Canadian Pacific Railway has a market cap of $21.7 billion and an enterprise value of $28.31 billion. It has a P/E of 20.7, a forward P/E of 15.6, a P/B of 7.2 and a P/S of 4.5. GuruFocus has given Canadian Pacific Railway a Financial Strength rating of 7/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.

Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio), Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio) and PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Canadian Pacific Railway in their portfolios.

Tilson added to seven existing stakes in his portfolio – Platform Specialty Products Corp. (PAH, Financial), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B, Financial), Micron Technology Inc. (MU, Financial), SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA, Financial), Spark Networks Inc. (LOV, Financial), Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC, Financial) and Avis Budget Group Inc. (CAR, Financial).

Tilson bought 96,180 shares of Platform Specialty Products, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based specialty chemical products maker and technical services provider, for an average price of $20.6 per share. The deal had a 2.42% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

Platform Specialty Products has a market cap of $2.59 billion and an enterprise value of $5.63 billion. It has a forward P/E of 5.0, a P/B of 1.0 and a P/S of 1.3. GuruFocus has given Platform Specialty Products a Financial Strength rating of 3/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 3/10.

Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio), John Griffin (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors Inc., Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Platform Specialty Products in their portfolios.

Tilson acquired 8,695 shares of Berkshire Hathaway, an Omaha, Neb.-based conglomerate, for an average price of $137 per share. The transaction had a 2.25% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

Berkshire Hathaway has a market cap of $338.3 billion and an enterprise value of $359.45 billion. It has a P/E of 19.0, a forward P/E of 14.0, a P/B of 1.4 and a P/S of 1.7. GuruFocus has given Berkshire Hathaway a Financial Strength rating of 4/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.

Tilson sold out two existing stakes in his portfolio – Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (HTZ, Financial) and American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL, Financial).

Tilson sold his 138,493-share stake in Hertz, an Estero, Fla.-based rental and leasing company, for an average price of $17.45 per share. The deal had a -4.52% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

Hertz has a market cap of $8.56 billion and an enterprise value of $25.7 billion. It has a forward P/E of 21.0, a P/B of 3.6 and a P/S of 0.8. GuruFocus has given Hertz a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 5/10.

Tilson sold his 42,428-share stake in American Airlines, a Fort Worth, Texas-based airline, for an average price of $41.06 per share. The deal had a -3.05% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

American has a market cap of $29.31 billion and an enterprise value of $39.47 billion. It has a forward P/E of 8.5, a P/B of 1.2 and a P/S of 0.8. GuruFocus has given American a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 6/10.

PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio) and Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of American in their portfolios.

Tilson reduced six stakes in his portfolio, the most noteworthy being his sale of 116,000 shares of JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU), a Long Island, N.Y.-based airline, for an average price of $23.57 per share. The sale had a -4.34% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.

JetBlue has a market cap of $8.01 billion and an enterprise value of $8.89 billion. It has a P/E of 19.0, a forward P/E of 11.8, a P/B of 2.7 and a P/S of 1.4. GuruFocus has given JetBlue a Financial Strength rating of 5/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.

PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Donald Smith (Trades, Portfolio), David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Robert Olstein (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) and Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of JetBlue in their portfolios.

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