Ken Fisher Continues to Trade Familiar Stocks

3 of his top 4 2nd-quarter deals are in companies he's been buying and selling for years

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Aug 11, 2016
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Three of Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio)’s top four second-quarter transactions involved stocks he has bought and sold on a quarterly basis for several years. Fisher added to one, cut back on another and divested the third.

In his largest transaction of the quarter, Fisher added 4,652,393 shares to his stake in Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT, Financial), a Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail chain, raising his position by more than 1,671%. Fisher paid an average price of $69.42 per share in a deal that had a 0.66% impact on his portfolio. Fisher’s stake in Walmart is now 4,930,805 shares.

Walmart has a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16.3, a forward P/E of 17.5, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 3.1 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.5. GuruFocus gives Walmart a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10 with return on equity (ROE) of 18.47% that is higher than 82% of the companies in the Global Discount Stores industry and return on assets (ROA) of 7.20% that is higher than 79% of the companies in that industry.

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Walmart sold for $73.8 per share at market close Thursday. The DCF Calculator gives Walmart a fair value of $54.02.

Fisher trimmed his stake in Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN, Financial), a Seattle-based ecommerce company, by nearly 21% with the sale of 518,511 shares for an average price of $675.18 per share. The transaction had a -0.64% impact on Fisher’s portfolio. The guru’s stake in Amazon.com is now 1,984,591 shares.

Amazon.com has a P/E of 191.3, a forward P/E of 84, a P/B of 22.1 and a P/S of 3.1. GuruFocus gives Amazon.com a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10 with ROE of 14.02% that is higher than 74% of the companies in the Global Specialty Retail industry and ROA of 3.21% that is higher than 54% of the companies in that industry.

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Amazon.com sold for $771.24 per share Thursday. The DCF Calculator gives Amazon.com a fair value of $43.13.

Amazon’s second quarter earnings per share (EPS) exceeded analysts’ expectations by more than 60%.

Fisher has only been buying JD.com Inc. (JD, Financial), a Beijing-based ecommerce company, since the beginning of the year when he initiated his position with a buy of 2,269,246 shares. He raised his position in the second quarter by nearly 258% with the addition of 5,851,457 shares for an average price of $24.19 per share. The acquisition had a 0.24% impact on his portfolio.

JD.com has a P/B of 7 and a P/S of 1.1. GuruFocus gives JD.com a Financial Strength rating of 5/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 2/10 with ROE of -27.61% that is lower than 83% of the companies in the Global Internet Content & Information industry and ROA of -11.31% that is lower than 75% of the companies in that industry.

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JD.com sold for $23.29 per share Thursday. The DCF Calculator gives JD.com a fair value of $-11.62.

JD.com reported second-quarter revenue that met its forecast.

Fisher sold his 4,129,003-share stake in Embraer SA (ERJ, Financial), a Brazilian aerospace and defense conglomerate, for an average price of $22.52 per share. The divestiture had a -0.2% impact on Fisher’s portfolio.

Embraer has a P/E of 250.7, a forward P/E of 9.2, a P/B of 0.8 and a P/S of 0.5. GuruFocus gives Embraer a Financial Strength rating of 5/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10 with ROE of 0.35% that is lower than 68% of the companies in the Global Aerospace & Defense industry and ROA of 0.11% that is lower than 65% of the companies in that industry.

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Embraer sold for $18.88 per share Thursday. The DCF Calculator gives Embraer a fair value of 43 cents.

In the wake of second-quarter loss that prompted Embraer to lower its guidance, the company announced plans to pursue an undisclosed number of voluntary layoffs to save $200 million.

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