John Rogers' Ariel Fund Boosts US Silica Position 35%

Guru real-time pick highlight and new real-time picks page announcement

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Sep 11, 2018
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John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), manager of the Ariel Fund, disclosed on Monday that the fund increased its U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. (SLCA, Financial) position 35.16% on Aug. 31.

Managing a portfolio of 160 stocks, Rogers seeks to invest in small and medium-sized companies whose share prices are undervalued. The guru believes that patience, independent thinking and a long-term outlook are essential to achieving good returns. According to the GuruFocus real-time picks page, which received a new page layout, Rogers’ fund added 2,039,605 shares for $21.19 per share, boosting the position to 7,840,273 shares.

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Company background

U.S. Silica engages in various mining activities, including the exploration of silica used in making sand. GuruFocus lists five positive investing signs for the Katy, Texas-based company, including a strong Piotroski F-score of 7, a dividend yield near a two-year high and a price-sales ratio near a 10-year low. U.S. Silica’s profitability ranks 8 primarily due to returns on equity and capital outperforming over 84% of global competitors.

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SLCA data by GuruFocus.com

U.S. Silica CEO Bryan Shinn said on July 31 that higher sand volumes and strong performance in Sandbox during the second quarter “drove record contribution margins” in the company’s Oil and Gas business segment. The company’s operating margin of 13.05% ranks higher than 71% of global competitors.

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We have launched a new version of the real-time picks page

One of our most-popular Premium features is the real-time picks page. As Figure 1 illustrates, GuruFocus launched a new version of the page.

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Figure 1

The website lists the real-time picks as a table containing several columns, which include the stock ticker, company, trade date, action and portfolio impact. Click on the “chain” icon to view the corresponding 13-D or 13-G filing for a particular real-time trade.

As illustrated in Figure 2, you can filter the list of trades either by action or by list of gurus using the row of buttons.

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Figure 2

By default, the website lists every real-time trade from our Premium list of gurus. If you wish to view “guru buys,” please click on the drop-down menu and change the setting to “new / add.” You can also select “new buys” to view just the new holdings.

You can also narrow the list of real-time picks to those from your personalized list of gurus. Click on the “My Gurus” button and select the desired list of gurus from the drop-down menu.

Disclosure: No positions.