Ahead of a pre-Labor Day weekend slump, four gold stocks broadly owned by gurus as of the second-quarter filing are Barrick Gold Corp. (GOLD, Financial), Newmont Corp. (NEM, Financial), Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI, Financial) and Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD, Financial) according to the Aggregated Portfolio of Gurus, a Premium feature of GuruFocus.
Stock market tumbles from highs on tech selloff
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,133.31, down 159.42 points from Thursday's close of 28,292.73 and 967.19 points from Wednesday's close of 29,100.50. Big Tech companies like Facebook Inc. (FB, Financial), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, Financial)(GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial) sank 2.88%, 2.96% and 1.40%, continuing their decline from near-record highs set earlier this week.
Scott Knapp, chief market strategist at CUNA Mutual Group, said that tech stocks have seen "excessive valuations" over the past few days, especially the run-up in shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial) and Tesla Inc. (TSLA, Financial) following the companies' stock splits. Shares of the Cupertino, California-based tech giant closed relatively unchanged from its previous close of $120.88 despite sinking to an intraday low of $110.89 earlier in the day.
Berkshire takes a small position in Barrick Gold
Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)'s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B) purchased 20,918,701 shares of Barrick Gold during the second quarter, with shares averaging $24.86. With shares occupying just 0.28% of Berkshire's equity portfolio, one of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate's lieutenant portfolio managers, Ted Weschler or Todd Combs, likely made the trade instead of Buffett himself. CNBC added that the purchase in Barrick Gold is "unusual" considering that Buffett prefers assets with cash flows and dividends.
Berkshire joins 10 other gurus with holdings in Barrick Gold, with a combined weight of 15.08%. Other gurus with holdings include First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)' Renaissance Technologies.
GuruFocus ranks the Toronto-based company's financial strength and profitability 6 out of 10: Although the company has expanding operating margins and a high Piotroski F-score of 7, debt ratios and three-year revenue growth rates are underperforming over 73% of global competitors.
Newmont
Thirteen gurus own shares in Newmont with a combined weight of 18.44%.
GuruFocus ranks the Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company's profitability 6 out of 10: Although the company's margins and returns are outperforming over 90% of global competitors, Newmont's three-year average revenue growth rate of 1.7% underperforms 54.93% of global metals and mining companies.
Alamos
Ten gurus own shares in Alamos with a combined weight of 3.89%.
GuruFocus ranks Alamos' financial strength 8 out of 10 on the back of debt ratios outperforming over 63% of global competitors. Additionally, Alamos has a high Piotroski F-score of 7 and a debt-to-Ebitda ratio of 0.36, well within the safe zone according to Joel Tillinghast.
Royal Gold
Nine gurus own shares in Royal Gold with a combined weight of 2.24%.
GuruFocus ranks the Denver-based company's financial strength and profitability 7 out 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 7, a double-digit Altman Z-score and an operating margin that has increased approximately 0.60% per year on average over the past five years and outperforms over 94% of global competitors.
Disclosure: Long Apple.
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