John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio) began his passion for investing at the ripe age of 12, when his father began buying him securities for Christmas and his birthday. As Rogers grew older, his passion for investing grew with him. Rogers attended Princeton University, where he majored in economics, and his thirst for learning about equities continued to grow. He then founded Ariel Investments in 1983.
In the first quarter of 2016, Rogers added 3,957,480 shares of Cowen Group Inc. (COWN, Financial).
Cowen Group offers comprehensive investment banking services, including equity, equity-linked and debt financings and mergers and acquisitions advisory services. The company also offers its clients access to research, institutional sales and trading services and a comprehensive suite of prime brokerage services. As of Feb. 26, Cowen Group had 769 employees.
Cowen Group has a market cap of $410.05 million, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a P/B ratio of 0.51, and a quick ratio of 3.26.
Below is a Peter Lynch Chart for Cowen Group.
Cowen Group has five severe warning signs according to GuruFocus. The Altman Z-Score is 1.15, which is in the distress zone and implies possibility of bankruptcy in the next two years. The company’s Piotroski F-Score is 2, which is low and usually implies poor business operation. The operating margin has been decreasing at an average rate of -32.6% annually over the previous five years. The company continues to issue new debt, and over the previous three years has issued $213.537 million in debt. Cowen Group’s assets are also growing faster than its revenue growth. This is a strong indication that the company may be becoming less efficient.
It is possible that Rogers decided to increase his stake in Cowen Group because of the company’s dedication to thorough research. According to the company’s most recent 10-K filing as of Dec. 31, 2015, the company has a research team of 54 senior analysts that are covering and researching 825 companies. The company is doing its best to leave no stone unturned to gain an edge on the competition within its industry. Of the companies that Cowen Group focuses their research on, 26% are health care companies, 19% are TMT (technology, media and telecom) companies, 20% are energy companies, 12% are capital goods and industrial companies, 4% are basic materials companies, 13% are consumer companies and 6% are REITs.
Cheers to your investment success.
(Disclaimer, author does not currently own any shares of this holding)
