Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial) CEO Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) disclosed on Friday that he raised his stakes in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (AXTA, Financial).
According to GuruFocus real-time picks, the “Oracle of Omaha” invested in 940,000 shares on July 26 for $30.36 per share. Buffett increased his holdings to 24.264 million shares, or approximately 10.09% of total shares outstanding.
Company background
Philadelphia-based Axalta Coating Systems provides customers with innovative, colorful and sustainable coatings solutions. The company operates in two business segments: Performance Coatings and Transportation Coatings. The end-markets for the former include building facades and other industrial applications while those for the latter include lightweight and heavyweight vehicles.
Axalta CEO Charles Shaver said on July 25 that second-quarter results met expectations despite headwinds from light vehicle production interruptions and footprint realignment costs in Europe. Net sales of $1.206 billion increased 10.8% year over year, driven primarily due to higher sales and average price growth in all regions except for the Asia Pacific. Light vehicle net sales declined 1.5% primarily due to lower average prices especially in China.
Even though the company’s revenues have declined over the past five years, GuruFocus still lists three positive investing signs for Axalta: expanding operating margins, a price-book ratio near a one-year low and a price-sales ratio near a two-year low.
See also
Other gurus with large positions in Axalta include Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio) and Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio).
Disclosure: no positions
