Guru	Date	Action	Impact	Price Range (Average)*	Change from Average	Comment	Current Shares

John Rogers Comments on Nielsen Holdings - Jan 18, 2018

Nielsen Holdings, plc (NYSE:NLSN) also underperformed during the quarter, declining -11.35% after announcing a negative guidance revision for the legacy Developed Buy business. Unsurprisingly, Nielsen cited continued challenges in the U.S. consumer goods environment. In the meantime, we view the core Watch business as solid, expect the new subscription analytics platform to eventually stabilize the Buy business in developed markets and find growth in emerging economies to be promising. At today’s valuation, the Watch business appears underappreciated and a turnaround in the Buy business is likely a free call option. At 14.1x cash EPS and a 35% discount to our estimate of private market value, the stock is trading at historical lows on both an EBITDA and free cash flow basis. We think the margin of safety1 at these levels is more than sufficient and are adding to our position on weakness.



From John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio)' Ariel Funds 2017 shareholder letter.

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John Rogers Comments on Nielsen Holdings Plc - Jul 24, 2017

Nielsen Holdings Plc (NYSE:NLSN), the global provider of critical data and analytics about what consumers watch and buy, was the lone addition to Ariel Fund during the quarter. The company’s television ratings are the de facto currency for media and advertising decisions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars globally. Its consumer purchase data is unmatched in scope and scale, and therefore mission-critical information for the world’s leading consumer packaged goods players. As both television viewership and purchasing behavior become more fragmented across online and mobile devices, investors are concerned that Nielsen’s dominance is at risk. But, in our view, this fragmentation only makes Nielsen’s data more valuable. As such, we see the current fears as an opportunity to own a market share leading information services brand with highly recurring and growing free cash flows. We did not eliminate any positions during the quarter.

As we look ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic about the economy. During our recent earnings calls, we noticed a shift from cost- cutting to top-line earnings growth, as well as increased optimism from company CEOs on the future of the economy, particularly within small companies. That said, we believe current valuations are difficult to overlook. As of June month-end, the S&P 500 Index traded at 18.5X forward earnings and the Russell 2000 Index traded at 19.3X forward earnings. While these figures are definitely above average, we do not yet consider them to be in dangerous territory. We remain disciplined with our approach and are confident in our portfolio positioning, which is at a deep discount relative to the indexes. Historical patterns have suggested this is a positive leading indicator for strong performance going forward.

• From John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio)' Ariel Fund second quarter 2015 shareholder letter.

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Baron Asset Fund Comments on Nielsen Holdings plc - Jan 30, 2017

Shares of global information and measurement company Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE:NLSN) fell on disappointing financial results and guidance. End-market conditions for its large consumer packaged goods clients slowed, leading to tighter budgets. Nielsen management is divesting non-core products and restructuring the remainder of its portfolio to be more data and software platform-oriented, rather than project consulting-oriented. Although this strategy will create near-term headwinds to growth, we expect it to be ultimately accretive to Nielsen’s margins and multiple.

From Barron Asset Fund fourth quarter 2016 commentary.

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