Century Management portfolio manager Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio) added five stock positions during the second-quarter: Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSX:FFH, Financial)(FRFHF, Financial), Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR, Financial), Dollar General Corp. (DG, Financial), Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR, Financial) and Synalloy Corp. (SYNL, Financial).
Fairfax Financial Holdings
Van Den Berg invested in 27,559 shares of Fairfax Financial for an average price of $444.27 per share. The guru expanded his portfolio 1.87% with this transaction.
Fairfax, led by CEO Prem Watsa (Trades, Portfolio), offers reinsurance, property and casualty insurance in Canada, the U.S. and other international markets. The company has modest financial strength and profitability: although the company’s three-year revenue growth rate of 20.20% outperforms 87% of global competitors, the company has negative margins and returns.
Dollar Tree
Van Den Berg added 112,471 shares of Dollar Tree for an average price of $77.31 per share. The fund manager increased his portfolio 1.23% with this transaction.
Dollar Tree has a profitability rank of 8 and a GuruFocus business predictability rank of five stars. The company’s operating margin outperforms 85% of global competitors even though it is just 2% higher than its 10-year low.
Dollar General
Van Den Berg added 100,830 shares of Dollar General for an average price of $72.08 per share. With this transaction, the guru increased his portfolio 1.14%.
Dollar General has five positive investing signs, including consistent revenue growth. The company’s three-year revenue growth of 13% outperforms 81% of global discount stores.
Dollar General also has strong margins and returns, which are near a 10-year high and outperform over 88% of global competitors. Based on these characteristics, GuruFocus ranked the company’s profitability an 8. The company has a financial strength rank of 6, driven by strong Piotroski, Altman and Beneish scores.
Murphy Oil
Van Den Berg purchased 168,090 shares of Murphy Oil for an average price of $26.07 per share. The guru added 0.68% to his portfolio with this transaction.
Murphy Oil’s price valuations are near a 52-week low even though the company has modest financial strength and profitability. The company’s operating margin of 9% outperforms 74% of global competitors.
Synalloy
Van Den Berg added 368,244 shares of Synalloy for an average price of $12.02 per share. With this transaction, the fund manager increased his portfolio 0.65%.
Synalloy has a poor profitability rank of 3 as the company’s three-year revenue growth rate, operating margin and return on equity are near a 10-year low and underperform 82% of global competitors.
Disclosure: The author has no positions in the stocks mentioned.
