David Nadel (Trades, Portfolio), portfolio manager of the Royce International Premier Fund at the small-cap firm Royce Funds, announced on Wednesday that he purchased four stocks in the fourth quarter.
The fund’s portfolio consisted of 51 positions at the end of the fourth quarter and was valued around $342.5 million. Its two largest sectors, technology and industrials, combined represented almost 60% of holdings.
Nadel invests primarily in small-cap stocks with market caps up to $3 billion that meet a number of criteria, such as possession of a competitive advantage, high return on invested capital and strong financial history. Since the fund’s inception on Dec. 31, 2010, the strategy has garnered it a 5.8% annualized return in its institutional class, beating the 2.66% return in its Russell Global ex-U.S. Small Cap benchmark index.
In November, Nadel said trade wars were creating opportunities for him but companies in his portfolios were not “in the front line of trade wars.”
“What tends to be in the front line of trade wars are high profile consumer products, things like steel, very basic industries. We tend to be focused, by contrast, on businesses that are much more below the radar of that type of a dynamic. So, for example, B2B companies that are providing a mission-critical product or service to a corporate buyer that represents a small portion of that corporate buyer’s operating expense,” Nadel said in an interview.
In the fourth quarter, the international small cap positions Nadel started were: IMCD NV (XAMS:IMCD, Financial), Fuchs Petrolub SE (XTER:FPE3, Financial), SimCorp A/S (OCSE:SIM, Financial) and Loomis AB (OSTO:LOOM B).
New buys
IMCD NV (XAMS:IMCD, Financial)
Nadel purchased 123,000 shares of IMCD NV, giving it 2.3% portfolio weight. The stock’s fourth-quarter share price averaged 59 euros.
IMCD NV has a market cap of 3.3 billion euros; its shares were traded around 63.00 euros with a price-earnings ratio of 37.72 and price-sales ratio of 1.73. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of IMCD NV stocks is 0.98%. The forward dividend yield of IMCD NV stocks is 0.98%.
Fuchs Petrolub SE (XTER:FPE3, Financial)
Nadel purchased 179,000 shares of Fuchs Petrolub, giving it 2.15% portfolio weight. The stock’s fourth-quarter share price averaged 40 euros.
Fuchs Petrolub SE has a market cap of 5.53 billion euros; its shares were traded around 41.22 euros with a price-earnings ratio of 19.97 and price-sales ratio of 2.26. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Fuchs Petrolub SE stocks is 2.21%. The forward dividend yield of Fuchs Petrolub SE stocks is 2.21%. Fuchs Petrolub SE had an annual average earnings growth of 9.20% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Fuchs Petrolub SE the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.
SimCorp A/S (OCSE:SIM, Financial)
Nadel purchased 80,200 shares of SimCorp A/S in the fourth quarter, giving it 1.6% portfolio weight. The stock’s share price for the quarter averaged 471 kroner.
Simcorp A/S has a market cap of 20.46 billion kroner; its shares were traded around 517.00 kroner with a price-earnings ratio of 36.73 and price-sales ratio of 7.51. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Simcorp A/S stocks is 1.26%. The forward dividend yield of Simcorp A/S stocks is 1.26%. Simcorp A/S had an annual average earnings growth of 10.40% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Simcorp A/S the business predictability rank of 3-star.
Loomis AB (OSTO:LOOM B)
Nadel purchased 163,000 shares of Loomis AB, giving it 1.54% portfolio weight. The stock’s fourth-quarter share price averaged 284 kroner.
Loomis AB has a market cap of 22.37 billion kroner; its shares were traded around 297.40 kroner with a price-earnings ratio of 14.09 and price-sales ratio of 1.25. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Loomis AB stocks is 3.03%. The forward dividend yield of Loomis AB stocks is 3.03%. Loomis AB had an annual average earnings growth of 21.30% over the past 10 years.
See David Nadel (Trades, Portfolio)’s portfolio here.
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