Spanish investing fund Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) acquired 18 new holdings in the second quarter. Among them are Bayer AG (XTER:BAYN, Financial), Volvo AB (OSTO:VOLVB, Financial) and Signet Jewelers Ltd. (SIG, Financial).
Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) is run by Bestinver, a Spanish investment firm founded in 1987. The firm utilizes a variety of characteristics and sources to determine the value of a company. The firm does not limit its activity to European-based companies but occasionally branches out to the U.S. market, Asia and South America. Until 2014, the fund was managed by Francisco Garcia Parames.
Bayer
In Bayer, the fund purchased 256,933 shares for an average price of 95.67 euros ($107.54) per share. The transaction had an impact of 2% on the portfolio.
Bayer, a German drug manufacturer, is involved in Life Science research relating to health care and agriculture. Some of its products include Claritin, Alka Seltzer, Aspirin, Aleve and Coppertone Sunscreen. Bayer has a market cap of 77.4 billion euros with an enterprise value of 96.4 billion euros. It has a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16.9 with a forward P/E of 11.9. It has a price-book (P/B) ratio of 3.4 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 1.6.
GuruFocus ranked the company’s financial strength 5 of 10. Its Piotroski F-Score is 7, indicating a healthy financial condition. Its Altman Z-Score is 1.9, placing it in the grey zone. Its Beneish M-Score of -2.6 indicates it does not manipulate its financial records. Bayer’s cash-debt ratio is 0.10, far below the industry median of 3.22.
GuruFocus ranked Bayer’s profitability and growth 8 of 10. Its operating margin is 11.5% and its net margin is 9.7%. It has a return on equity (ROE) of 19.5% and a return on assets (ROA) of 5.9%, ranking above 82% and 63% of other companies in the industry.
The DCF Calculator gives the stock a fair value of 75.34 euros; it was trading at 93.55 euros on Tuesday.
Causeway International Value (Trades, Portfolio) is Bayer’s largest shareholder.
Volvo
In Volvo Class B, Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) purchased 2,315,068 shares for an average price of 91.23 krona ($10.73) per share. The transaction had an impact of 1.7% on the portfolio.
The Swedish auto manufacturer has a market cap of 196.3 billion krona with an enterprise value of 319.3 billion krona. It has a P/E ratio of 17.1 with a forward P/E of 12.7. It has a P/B of 2.3 and a P/S of 0.64.
GuruFocus ranked Volvo’s financial strength 5 of 10. Its Piotroski F-Score is 7, indicating a healthy financial condition. Its Altman Z-Score is 1.3, placing it in the distress zone which implies the possibility of bankruptcy in the near future. Its Beneish M-Score of -2.5 indicates the company does not manipulate its financial records. Volvo’s cash-debt ratio is 0.15, below the industry median of 0.34.
GuruFocus ranked the company’s profitability and growth 6 of 10. Its operating margin is 6.03%, and its net margin is 3.7%. Its ROE is 13.7% and its ROA is 2.9%, ranking above 82% and below 52% of other companies in the industry.
The DCF Calculator gives the stock a fair value of 59.93 krona; it was trading at 96.65 krona on Tuesday.
Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) is the largest shareholder in Volvo.
Signet
In Signet, the fund purchased 112,237 shares for an average price of $101.63 per share. The transaction had an impact of 0.7% on the portfolio.
Signet is a specialty jewelry retailer. It has a market cap of $5.9 billion with an enterprise value of $7.4 billion. It has a P/E of 11.9, a forward P/E of 9.8, a P/B of 2.1 and a P/S of 0.95.
GuruFocus ranked Signet’s financial strength 6 of 10. Its Piotroski F-Score is 8, indicating a healthy financial condition. Its Altman Z-Score is 3.9, placing it in the safe zone. Its Beneish M-Score of -2.4 implies the company does not manipulate its financial records. Signet’s cash to debt ratio is 0.08, below the industry median of 0.96.
GuruFocus ranked the company’s profitability and growth 8 of 10. Its operating margin is 11.6% and its net margin is 7.8%. Its ROE is 17.5% and its ROA is 8.12%, ranking above 79% of other companies in the industry.
The DCF Calculator gives the stock a fair value of $69.99; it was trading at $78.73 on Tuesday.
Select Equity Group is Signet’s largest shareholder. Gurus with an interest in Signet include Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Alan Fournier (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments, Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Ruane Cunniff (Trades, Portfolio) and David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio).
Disclosure: I do not own stock in any companies mentioned in the article.
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