Charles Brandes Sells Western Digital, Reduces Bank of America Position

The guru's largest sales of the 4th quarter

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Feb 14, 2018
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Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio), the chairman of Brandes Investment Partners, reduced or closed his position in the following stocks during the fourth quarter.

The guru closed his Willis Towers Watson PLC (WLTW, Financial) holding, impacting the portfolio by -2.2%.

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The risk management, insurance bokerage and advisory company has a market cap of $20.52 billion and an enterprise value of $24.15 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 6 out of 10. While the return on equity (ROE) of 5.61% is underperforming the sector, the return on assets (ROA) of 1.78% is outperforming 50% of companies in the Global Insurance Brokers industry. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.23 is below the industry median of 12.29.

VA Partners I LLC is the company's largest shareholder among the gurus with 5.04% of outstanding shares, followed by David Herro (Trades, Portfolio) with 3.88% and First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) with 3.04%.

Brandes exited his position in Western Digital Corp. (WDC, Financial). The trade had an impact of -1% on the portfolio.

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The computer data storage company has a market cap of $24.69 billion and an enterprise value of $30.44 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10. The ROE of 3.42% and ROA of 1.30% are underperforming 66% of companies in the Global Data Storage industry. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.52 is below the industry median of 1.37.

The company's largest shareholder among the gurus is David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.87% of outstanding shares, followed by Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.82% and PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.29%.

The Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial) position was trimmed 17.52%. The transaction had an impact of -0.45% on the portfolio.

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The bank has a market cap of $320.76 billion and an enterprise value of $422.55 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 3 out of 10. The ROE of 6.12% and ROA of 0.80% are underperforming 67% of companies in the Global Banks - Global industry. Its financial strength is rated 4 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.65 is below the industry median of 2.10.

Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder with 6.6% of outstanding shares, followed by Dodge & Cox with 1.65%, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss with 0.56% and Hotchkis & Wiley with 0.25%.

Brandes sold out of Ternium SA (TX, Financial), impacting the portfolio by -0.4%.

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The steel producer has a market cap of $6.74 billion and an enterprise value of $10.33 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 5 out of 10. The ROE of 17.92% and ROA of 8.91% are outperforming 85% of companies in the Global Steel industry. Its financial strength is rated 6 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.17 is below the industry median of 0.29.

With 0.29% of outstanding shares, Simons is the company's largest guru shareholder, followed by Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.16%.

The investor reduced his Invacare Corp. (IVC, Financial) holding by 82.32%. The trade had an impact of -0.34% on the portfolio.

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The company, which manufactures non-acute medical equipment like wheelchairs and walkers, has a market cap of $605.83 million and an enterprise value of $690.74 million.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 3 out of 10. The ROE of -18.10% and ROA of -7.79% are underperforming 65% of companies in the Global Medical Devices industry. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10. Its cash-debt ratio of 0.41 is below the industry median of 2.36.

Mariko Gordon (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder with 7.85% of outstanding shares, followed by Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss with 7.18% and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) with 4.8%.

The guru exited his Nortel Inversora SA (NTL, Financial) holding, impacting the portfolio by -0.3%.

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The company, which provides fixed-line public telecommunications services and basic telephone services, has a market cap of $596.17 million and an enterprise value of $1.49 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 6 out of 10. The ROE of 24.84% and ROA of 7.78% are outperforming 81% of companies in the Global Telecom Services industry. Its financial strength is rated 6 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.78 is above the industry median of 0.40.

Brandes cut his Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH, Financial) position by 55.49%. The transaction had an impact of -0.29% on the portfolio.

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The construction company has a market cap of $536.21 million and an enterprise value of $1.68 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 5 out of 10. The ROE of -15.44% and ROA of -4.49% are outperforming 90% of companies in the Global Residential Construction industry. Its financial strength is rated 4 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.13 is below the industry median of 0.56.

Simons is the company's largest shareholder among the gurus with 2.68% of outstanding shares, followed by Royce with 2.44% and Donald Smith (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.85%.

The Aegon NV (AEG, Financial) holding was reduced by 27.40%, impacting the portfolio by -0.26%.

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The life insurance company has a market cap of $13.44 billion and an enterprise value of $17.08 billion.

GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 2 out of 10. The ROE of 6.49% and ROA of 0.41% are underperforming 86% of companies in the Global Insurance – Diversified industry. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10 with a cash-debt ratio of 0.77.

The company's largest guru shareholder is Dodge & Cox with 5.21% of outstanding shares, followed by Brandes with 0.28%.

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