Managers at Spain’s azValor Value Management added three new stocks to their Iberia FL portfolio in the first quarter, they reported Friday.
Alvaro Guzman de Lazaro and Fermando Bernad, partners of the firm, chose three Spanish stocks: Promotora de Informaciones SA (XMCE:PRS, Financial), Codere SA (XMCE:CDR, Financial) and Obrascon Huarte Lain SA (XMCE:OHL, Financial). The fund invests only in Spanish and Portuguese companies.
azValor aims to select “undervalued companies that are good businesses, easy to understand, with sustainable competitive advantages over time, high return on capital employed (ROCE), led by quality management teams and whose intrinsic value is not reflected in their share price,” according to its website.
The portfolio consists of 26 stocks with an aggregate value of $150 million. Quarter-over-quarter turnover was 22%. Industrials formed the largest represented sector at 25.9% of stocks, followed by communications services at 18%.
Since inception in February 2015 through year-end 2018, the Iberian portfolio returned 36%, compared to 10% appreciation in the benchmark MSCI Daily Net TR Europe Euro.
“The present focuses on the quality of the companies within the Iberian portfolio and the prices we paid for them. On both measures, we are optimistic: as unitholders, we own 27 companies that are highly relevant in their business sectors. They are generally well managed, and, more importantly, were purchased at attractive prices. This combination usually warrants some optimism with regard to future returns,” the fund’s fourth-quarter shareholder read.
New buys
Promotora de Informaciones SA (XMCE:PRS, Financial)
The fund purchased 4,404,118 shares of Promotora de Informaciones, giving it 4.99% space in the stock portfolio. The stock’s first-quarter price averaged 2 euros per share.
Promotora de Informaciones SA has a market cap of $1.15 billion; its shares were traded around 2.07 euros with and P/S ratio of 0.25. Promotora de Informaciones SA had an annual average earnings growth of 0.60% over the past five years.
Codere SA (XMCE:CDR, Financial)
The fund purchased 451,265 shares of Codere, giving it 2.74% portfolio space. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged 10 euros per share.
Codere SA has a market cap of $1.14 billion; its shares were traded around 9.93 euros with and P/S ratio of 0.72.
Obrascon Huarte Lain SA (XMCE:OHL, Financial)
The fund purchased 943,931 shares of Obrascon Huarte Lain, giving it 2.18% portfolio space. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged 5 euros per share.
Obrascon Huarte Lain SA has a market cap of $1.11 billion; its shares were traded around 3.87 euros with and P/S ratio of 0.34.
See azValor Iberia Fl’s portfolio here.
