Whitney Tilson (Trades, Portfolio) manages Kase Capital, a hedge fund founded in 1999 and focused on a concentrated, low-turnover portfolio. Tilson resumed leadership of the fund last year. He is primarily interested in U.S. stocks, but is branching out into more global opportunities, per his 2013 annual letter. This is not, however, because he expects trouble in the U.S. economy, as he said in his letter:
“My current view is that a crisis isn’t likely in the near future. While there are plenty of things that could upset the current complacency in the markets, my best guess is that the U.S. economy will continue to muddle along as it has been doing for the past few years.”
In the first quarter, Tilson added three new stocks to his $64 million long portfolio, for 14% turnover and a total of 23 stocks listed. The portfolio has the highest concentration in Industrials at 25.9%, Financial Services at 21.4% and Real Estate at 13%.
Tilson’s new first-quarter long buys are: United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL, Financial), SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA, Financial) and Platform Specialty Products Corp. (PAH, Financial).
United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL, Financial)
Tilson purchased 16,000 shares of United Continental Holdings Inc., for a 1.1% space in his portfolio. The company traded at an average price of $45 per share during the quarter.
United Continental Holdings Inc. was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on Dec. 30, 1968. United Continental Holdings Inc. has a market cap of $14.68 billion; its shares were traded at around $39.30 with a P/E ratio of 44.20 and P/S ratio of 0.40. United Continental Holdings Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 1.20% over the past five years.
SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA, Financial)
Tilson bought 73,000 shares of SodaStream International, for 5% of his portfolio. The company’s average share price was $41 per share during the quarter.
SodaStream International Ltd. was incorporated in Israel. Sodastream International Ltd. has a market cap of $841.40 million; its shares were traded at around $40.29 with a P/E ratio of 17.60 and P/S ratio of 1.60.
Platform Specialty Products Corp. (PAH, Financial)
As his largest new position, Tilson acquired 227,400 shares of Platform Specialty Products Corp., which had an average price of $18 per share. The position represents 6.8% of the portfolio.
Platform Acquisition Holdings PLC is a cash shell company looking to undertake an acquisition of a target company or business that is expected to have an enterprise value of between $750 million and $2. Platform Specialty Products Corp has a market cap of $2.35 billion; its shares were traded at around $19.58 with and P/S ratio of 3.20.
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