Bestinver’s new managers posted another quarter of holdings they selected after the loss of their star portfolio manager, Francisco Garcia Parames, whose 16% average annual returns earned him the moniker “Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) of Spain.”
Before his September 2014 departure, Parames earned his stellar record over 25 years at Bestinver by applying value principles of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio). Parames will likely join an independent fund two of his fellow former coworkers started, azValor, after their non-compete agreements end.
Parames’ successor at Bestinver, Beltra de la Lastra, took over the funds in as the director of general investment in September 2014. Lastra continues the fund’s value investing philosophy and criteria that also led him to top returns in his previous positions. Before joining Bestinver, he managed funds at JPMorgan, where some of his portfolios ranked in the first quartile of their strategy. Recently, Lasta returned 7.5% in the first half of 2014, 18.1% in 2013 and 20.3% for the last three years, according to the company.
Bestinver’ Spanish Equity Fund returned 9.98% in 2015 before declining 7.47% year to date in 2016. He shuffled the portfolio primarily by reducing its exposure to BMW (XTER:BMW3), Paremes’ top holding through much of 2013 and 2014 at as much as 7.8% of the portfolio, to the fourth largest holding at 3.7%. Lasta also spread the top 10 holdings from 45.2% of the portfolio when Parames left to 33.9% at fourth quarter-end. The top position in Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio is British publishing company Informa (LSE:INF).
In the fourth quarter, Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) established 17 new positions for a total of 98 stocks held and worth $1.3 billion in total market value.
The top new picks were: Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA (XPAR:CO, Financial), Swedish Match AB (OSTO:SWMA, Financial), Aperam SA (XMCE), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:RDSA, Financial) and Royal Philips NV (XAMS:PHIA, Financial).
Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA (XPAR:CO, Financial)
Bestinver purchased 531,047 shares of Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, a 1.8% portfolio weighting. The company’s stock price averaged €51 per share for the fourth quarter.
Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA was incorporated on Aug. 3, 1898. Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA has a market cap of $5.5 billion; its shares were traded around $47.68 with a P/E ratio of 26.79 and P/S ratio of 0.11. The dividend yield of Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA stocks is 6.54%. Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA had an annual average earnings growth of 5.8% over the past 10 years.
Swedish Match AB (OSTO:SWMA, Financial)
Bestinver purchased 562,338 shares of Swedish Match AB, a 1.5% portfolio weighting. The company’s stock price averaged kr280 per share.
Swedish Match AB develops, manufactures, markets and sells quality products with the product areas Snus and snuff, other tobacco products (cigars and chewing tobacco) and lights (matches and lighters). Swedish Match AB has a market cap of $52.35 billion; its shares were traded around $271.60 with a P/E ratio of 18.49 and P/S ratio of 3.71. The dividend yield of Swedish Match AB stocks is 2.76%. Swedish Match AB had an annual average earnings growth of 8.1% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Swedish Match AB the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
Aperam SA (XMCE:APAM, Financial)
Bestinver purchased 409,874 shares of Aperam SA, a 1.1% portfolio weighting. The company’s stock price averaged €31 per share.
Aperam is a Luxembourg public limited liability company incorporated on Sept. 9, 2010. Aperam SA has a market cap of $2.61 billion; its shares were traded around $32.25 with and P/S ratio of 0.53. The forward dividend yield of Aperam SA stocks is 3.44%.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:RDSA, Financial)
Bestinver purchased 603,342 shares of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, a 1% portfolio weight. The company’s stock price averaged £16.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC was incorporated in England and Wales on Feb. 5, 2002, as a private company under the Companies Act 1985, as amended. Royal Dutch Shell PLC has a market cap of $105.88 billion; its shares were traded around $16.90 with a P/E ratio of 82.95 and P/S ratio of 0.49. The dividend yield of Royal Dutch Shell PLC stocks is 7.57%. Royal Dutch Shell PLC had an annual average earnings growth of 3.9% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Royal Dutch Shell PLC the business predictability rank of 3-star.
Royal Philips NV (XAMS:PHIA, Financial)
Bestinver purchased 470161 shares of Royal Philips NV, a 0.88% portfolio weight. The company’s stock price averaged €24 per share.
Royal Philips NV is a diversified technology company that manufactures consumer electronics, appliances and equipments for health care, lighting and consumer well-being industry. Royal Philips NV has a market cap of $22.03 billion; its shares were traded around $23.82 with a P/E ratio of 34.03 and P/S ratio of 0.91. The dividend yield of Royal Philips NV stocks is 2.76%. Royal Philips NV had an annual average earnings growth of 0.3% over the past five years.
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