Robert Bruce Invests in Allergan in 2nd Quarter

Guru made fewest quarterly transactions in more than a year

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Sep 07, 2016
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Robert Bruce (Trades, Portfolio) of Bruce & Co. made transactions in five stocks in the second quarter, his fewest in more than a year, but the guru’s activity included deals in some well-known stocks, such as pharmaceutical company Allergan PLC (AGN, Financial) and Amerco Inc. (UHAL, Financial), the company that owns U-Haul.

Bruce invested in 25,000 shares in Allergan, which has offices in Ireland and New Jersey, for an average price of $231.14 per share. The acquisition had a 1.64% impact on the portfolio.

The holding is 0.01% of Allergan’s outstanding shares and 1.64% of the guru’s total assets. Allergan’s leading shareholder among the gurus is Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio) with a stake of 12,066,307 shares. The stake is 3.05% of Allergan’s outstanding shares and 5.91% of Vanguard’s total assets.

Allergan has a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.61, a forward P/E of 14.06, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 1.30 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 5.85. GuruFocus gives Allergan a Financial Strength rating of 4/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 6/10 with return on equity (ROE) of 5.45% that is lower than 55% of the companies in the Global Drug Manufacturers – Specialty & Generic industry and return on assets (ROA) of 3.23% that is lower than 53% of the companies in that industry.

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Allergan sold for $238.42 per share at market close Wednesday. The DCF Calculator gives Allergan a fair value of $-65.39.

The guru bought 62,870 shares in Petroquest Energy Inc. (PQ, Financial), an oil and gas company based in Lafayette, Louisiana, for an average price of $2.94 per share. The purchase had a 0.06% impact on the portfolio.

The holding is 0.36% of Petroquest’s outstanding shares and 0.06% of the guru’s total assets. Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) is Petroquest’s leading shareholder among the gurus with 220,325 shares in the portfolio. The holding is 1.25% of Petroquest’s outstanding shares.

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Petroquest’s PQ shares sold for $2.86 per share Wednesday. The DCF Calculator gives PQ a fair value of $-116.22.

The guru added more than 13% to the position in Petroquest’s PTQEP component, purchasing 30,010 shares for an average price of $6.34 per share. That transaction also had a 0.06% impact on the portfolio.

The holding, now 259,840 shares, is 0.52% of the guru’s total assets. Bruce is the only PTQEP shareholder among the gurus.

PQ has a P/S of 0.54. PTQEP has a P/S of 0.59.

GuruFocus gives Petroquest a Financial Strength rating of 2/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 3/10 with ROA of -49.17% that is lower than 77% of the companies in the Global Oil & Gas E&P industry.

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The guru exited Titan International Inc. (TWI, Financial), an Illinois-based tire company, selling 150,000 shares for an average price of $6.2 per share. The divestiture had a -0.25% impact on the portfolio.

Simons is Titan International’s leading shareholder among the gurus with a stake of 2,050,400 shares. The stake is 3.79% of Titan International’s outstanding shares and 0.02% of Simons’ total assets.

Titan International has a P/B of 1.47 and a P/S of 0.39. GuruFocus gives Titan International a Financial Strength rating of 4/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 5/10 with ROE of -30.94% that is lower than 92% of the companies in the Global Farm & Construction Equipment industry and ROA of -7.05% that is lower than 86% of the companies in that industry.

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Titan International sold for $9.36 per share Wednesday. The DCF Calculator gives Titan International a fair value of $-23.54.

Bruce trimmed his position in Amerco, a Reno, Nevada-based holding company, by 200 shares. The guru sold the shares for an average price of $361.3 per share in a deal that had a -0.02% impact on the portfolio.

The remaining holding of 193,365 shares is 0.99% of Amerco’s outstanding shares and 20.58% of the guru’s total assets. Columbia Wanger (Trades, Portfolio) is Amerco’s leading shareholder among the gurus with 220,158 shares in the portfolio. The holding is 1.12% of Amerco’s outstanding shares and 0.96% of Columbia Wanger (Trades, Portfolio)’s total assets.

Amerco has a P/E of 14.58, a P/B of 2.83 and a P/S of 2.04. GuruFocus gives Amerco a Financial Strength rating of 5/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10 with ROE of 20.96% that is higher than 88% of the companies in the Global Rental & Leasing Services industry and ROA of 5.94% that is higher than 73% of the companies in that industry.

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Amerco sold for $348.08 per share Wednesday. The DCF Calculator gives Amerco a fair value of $675.27 with a 49% margin of safety.

Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned in this article.

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