Baron Capital Management founder Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio) gained 28 new holdings in the first quarter. His top four purchases for the quarter are Momo Inc. (MOMO, Financial), Capitol Acquisition Corp. III (CLAC, Financial), Welbilt Inc. (WBT, Financial) and John Bean Technologies Corp. (JBT, Financial).
Investing in mostly small to midsized companies, Baron’s firm utilizes a long-term, fundamental, active approach. The portfolio is composed of 323 stocks valued at $18.8 billion.
Baron’s largest new purchase for the quarter was a 1.56 million-share stake of Momo for an average price of $26.68 per share. The holding was given 0.28% portfolio space.
The mobile-based social networking platform has a market cap of $7.8 billion; its shares were trading around $40.4 per share on Tuesday with a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 54.6, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 12.4 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 14.9.
The Peter Lynch chart below shows the stock is trading above its fair value.
Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) is Momo’s largest guru shareholder with 0.9% of outstanding shares. Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) also own the stock.
Baron purchased 3 million shares of Capitol Acquisition for an average price of $10.11 per share, giving it 0.17% portfolio space.
The public investment vehicle has a market cap of $424.5 million; its shares were trading around $10.45 on Tuesday with a P/B ratio of 84.9.
The chart below shows the stock’s price trend since the company’s inception in December 2015.
With his purchase, Baron became Capitol Acquisition’s largest shareholder among the gurus with 7.4% of outstanding shares. Alan Fournier (Trades, Portfolio) and Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio) also hold the stock.
Baron’s third-largest buy for the quarter was 1.4 million shares of Welbilt for an average price of $19.15 per share, expanding the portfolio 0.15%.
The commercial foodservice equipment manufacturer has a market cap of $2.7 billion; its shares were trading around $19.83 on Tuesday with a P/E ratio of 41.3 and a P/S ratio of 1.9.
According to the Peter Lynch chart below, the stock is trading above its fair value.
Among the gurus invested in the company, Carl Icahn (Trades, Portfolio) is Welbilt’s largest shareholder with 7.6% of outstanding shares. David Abrams (Trades, Portfolio), Simons, Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) and Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss also hold the stock.
Baron bought 300,000 shares of John Bean Technologies for an average price of $86.65 per share. The trade had an impact of 0.14% on the portfolio.
The food processing and airport transportation equipment manufacturer has a market cap of $2.7 billion; its shares were trading around $84.5 on Tuesday with a P/E ratio of 31.2, a P/B ratio of 7 and a P/S ratio of 1.7.
The Peter Lynch chart below indicates the stock is trading above its fair value.
Keeley Asset Management Corp (Trades, Portfolio) is John Bean’s largest shareholder among the gurus with 1.8% of outstanding shares. RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), Simons, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) and Jones also own the stock.
During the first quarter, Baron also gained positions in Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (WYN, Financial), REV Group Inc. (REVG, Financial), Bitauto Holdings Inc. (BITA, Financial), CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE, Financial), Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD, Financial) and Invitation Homes Inc. (INVH, Financial) among others.
Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned in the article.
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