GuruFocus has been digging into Bruce Berkowitz’s 2009 Annual Report to Fairholme Fund’s shareholdersand found the exact costs that Bruce Berkowitz paid for some of his stock.
As a mutual fund, Fairholme only need to report to its shareholders twice a year the exact holdings (number of shares and value at the end of the period) in the fund. It needs to report the exact portfolio (again, number of shares and value at the end of the period) to SEC each quarter. Either way, mutual fund managers do not need to tell the shareholder or SEC or anybody else how much exactly they paid for the stocks in the portfolio.
Situation changes completely when the fund owns more than 5% percent of the shares outstanding of a stock. At the threshold of 5%, a stock became that of an affiliated company, per Investment Company of 1940. Mutual fund needs to disclose the securities held (equity and debt) and the COSTs of the affiliated companies.
Now that success has fed Berkowitz with more than $12 billion of asset under management, and he tends to concentrate on a few good ideas rather than diversifying among many mediocre stocks, he routinely owns more than 5% of a stocks.
Among them, all the domestically traded stocks are listed in this table:
Observations:
1. Berkowitz was able to take advantage of the low prices offered by the market’s dramatic decline. The current prices for most the stocks on the list are higher than much higher than the 2009 acquisition price. His double-down strategy worked handsomely.
2. Several stocks still sell at prices paid by Berkowitz paid prior to 2008 year end: FRX, JOE, URI, WCG. With the markets at 18 months high, these stock may warrants a deeper look. Two of the stocks are in Health Care sector (FRX and WCG).
Holding History:
GuruFocus has holding history data for these stocks:
AmeriCredit Corp. (ACF, Financial)
AmeriCredit Corp. is a independent automobile finance company that provides financing solutions indirectly through auto dealers and directly to consumers in the United States and Canada. Americredit Corp. has a market cap of $3.13 billion; its shares were traded at around $23.38 with a P/E ratio of 28.2 and P/S ratio of 1.5.
Berkowitz’s holding history with ACF:
As a mutual fund, Fairholme only need to report to its shareholders twice a year the exact holdings (number of shares and value at the end of the period) in the fund. It needs to report the exact portfolio (again, number of shares and value at the end of the period) to SEC each quarter. Either way, mutual fund managers do not need to tell the shareholder or SEC or anybody else how much exactly they paid for the stocks in the portfolio.
Situation changes completely when the fund owns more than 5% percent of the shares outstanding of a stock. At the threshold of 5%, a stock became that of an affiliated company, per Investment Company of 1940. Mutual fund needs to disclose the securities held (equity and debt) and the COSTs of the affiliated companies.
Now that success has fed Berkowitz with more than $12 billion of asset under management, and he tends to concentrate on a few good ideas rather than diversifying among many mediocre stocks, he routinely owns more than 5% of a stocks.
Among them, all the domestically traded stocks are listed in this table:
| As of 11/30/2008 | 2009 Gross Additions | ||||||||||
| Symbol | Company | Price | Shares | Cost | Price | Shares | Cost | Price | |||
| 1 | ACF | AmeriCredit Corp. | $23.38 | 16,692,000 | $199,228,670 | $11.94 | 15,122,670 | $86,437,475 | $5.72 | ||
| 2 | FRX | Forest Laboratories | $32.07 | 16,556,100 | $546,918,488 | $33.03 | 100,000 | $2,127,110 | $21.27 | ||
| 3 | HTZ | Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. | $9.78 | 18,630,100 | $127,456,844 | $6.84 | 30,863,400 | $182,452,500 | $5.91 | ||
| 4 | HUM | Humana, Inc. | $49.02 | 7,563,500 | $249,984,758 | $33.05 | 7,557,900 | $253,283,113 | $33.51 | ||
| 5 | RRR | RSC Holdings | $7.89 | 7,598,800 | $52,914,631 | $6.96 | |||||
| 6 | SHLD | Sears Holdings Corp. | $108.85 | 11,239,671 | $1,056,090,389 | $93.96 | 2,979,300 | $151,359,650 | $50.80 | ||
| 7 | JOE | The St. Joe Co. | $31.28 | 9,654,700 | $310,621,238 | $32.17 | 13,829,302 | $304,577,663 | $22.02 | ||
| 8 | URI | United Rentals, Inc. | $8.39 | 8,291,818 | $144,230,328 | $17.39 | |||||
| 9 | WCG | Wellcare Health Plans, Inc. | $31.23 | 4,145,200 | $146,541,372 | $35.35 | 73,000 | $965,183 | $13.22 | ||
| 10 | FUR | Winthrop Realty Trust | $12.96 | 2,988,648 | $27,048,650 | $9.05 | |||||
Observations:
1. Berkowitz was able to take advantage of the low prices offered by the market’s dramatic decline. The current prices for most the stocks on the list are higher than much higher than the 2009 acquisition price. His double-down strategy worked handsomely.
2. Several stocks still sell at prices paid by Berkowitz paid prior to 2008 year end: FRX, JOE, URI, WCG. With the markets at 18 months high, these stock may warrants a deeper look. Two of the stocks are in Health Care sector (FRX and WCG).
Holding History:
GuruFocus has holding history data for these stocks:
AmeriCredit Corp. (ACF, Financial)
AmeriCredit Corp. is a independent automobile finance company that provides financing solutions indirectly through auto dealers and directly to consumers in the United States and Canada. Americredit Corp. has a market cap of $3.13 billion; its shares were traded at around $23.38 with a P/E ratio of 28.2 and P/S ratio of 1.5.
Berkowitz’s holding history with ACF:
| QuarterEnd Date | Value ($1000) | Shares | QuarterEnd Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20091231 | 673,047 | 35,349,099 | $ 19.04 |
| 20090930 | 510,133 | 32,307,322 | $ 15.79 |
| 20090630 | 437,764 | 32,307,322 | $ 13.55 |
| 20090331 | 189,321 | 32,307,322 | $ 5.86 |
| 20081231 | 246,828 | 32,307,322 | $ 7.64 |
| 20080930 | 213,228 | 21,049,200 | $ 10.13 |
| 20080630 | 129,262 | 14,995,600 | $ 8.62 |
| 20080331 | 130,662 | 12,975,400 | $ 10.07 |
