Julian Robertson
's top first-quarter new buys are: HCA Holdings (
HCA
), Starbucks Corp. (
SBUX
), Sherwin William (
SHW
), Verisign Inc. (
VRSN
) and XPO Logistics (
XPO
).
Julian Robertson
began hedge funding in 1980 and is considered the founder of the
long-short strategy, at which he was eminently successful,
turning his initial $8 million into over $22 billion by the late
'90s. He closed his fund, Tiger Management, to outside investment
after several down years but still manages internal investment,
primarily his own money.
He is famously quoted as saying, "Our mandate is to find the 200
best companies in the world and invest in them, and find the 200
worst companies in the world and go short on them. If the 200
best don't do better than the 200 worst, you should probably be
in another business."
Robertson bought 506,600 shares of HCA
Holdings (
HCA
)
in the first quarter at an average price of $25. HCA Holdings
owns, manages or operates hospitals, freestanding surgery
centers, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and diagnostic
and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers,
rehabilitation and physical therapy centers and various other
facilities.
HCA's stock price fell almost in half from July to August 2011 as
it announced lower than anticipated second-quarter revenue
growth, an earnings decline, and surgical admissions decline of
1.6 percent on a same facility basis (excluding international
facilities). Net income totaled $229 million, down from $293
million in the prior-year period. Revenue increased 4 percent to
$8.1 billion from $7.8 billion.
Revenue for the first quarter of 2012 had a 13.5% increase in
revenue to $8.4 billion, and net income increased to $540 million
from $240 million in the prior-year period. Positive
first-quarter results were driven by strong increases in patient
volumes, effective cost management and continued focus on quality
and patient service agendas.
Robertson bought 218,500 shares of
Starbucks (
SBUX
)
at an average price of $50. In the last year the stock has
increased almost 52%.
In the last ten years, Starbucks has had annual growth rates of
revenue 16.9%, EBITDA 16.3% 16.3% and free cash flow 28.5%. The
company began paying a dividend of $0.32 in 2010 and raised it to
$0.52 in 2011.
The company is making many big changes. At its March 21 investor
conference, it announced it would expand into the $8 billion
premium single-serve coffee market by partnering with Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters (
GMCR
) to co-produce k-cups for the Keurig coffee machine. It is also
getting into the premium juice market after acquiring Evolution
Fresh stores in November 2011 for $30 million in cash.
The company is focusing on China for store growth and plans to
triple its footprint in the country to 1500 stores by 2015. On
May 2, the company announced that it named Former Defense
Secretary Robert Gates to its board of directors to help it
accelerate its global growth.
Robertson bought 102,800 shares of
Sherwin-Williams (
SHW
)
, the company founded in 1866 that manufactures, distributes and
sells coatings and related products, in the first quarter at an
average price of $101. Year to date, Sherwin-Williams has
increased 39 percent and 46% over the last year.
In the last ten years, Sherwin-Williams has had growth rates of
9.9 percent for revenue, 9 percent for EBITDA and 4.4 percent for
free cash flow. The company has also increased its dividend for
34 consecutive years.
In May, the company introduced its groundbreaking Emerald and
ColorCast Eco Toners, the highest performing, environmentally
responsible paints and colorants in the industry. It will make
Sherwin-Williams "the only company that can tint its full line of
colors with zero VOC colorants," the company said in a statement.
In the first quarter of 2011 the company had record net sales of
$2.14, a 15.1% increase from the prior-year quarter. The increase
was due mainly to higher paint sales volume and selling price
increases, with increases seen across all operating segments. The
company plans to open 60 to 65 new stores for the full year. It
says its balance sheet is flexible and positioned to make future
acquisitions and investments in the business.
Robertson bought 279,000 shares of
Verisign Inc. (
VRSN
)
at an average price of $37. The stock increased only slightly in
2011 and gained almost 12 percent year to date. Verisign was also
one of the
top stocks purchased by hedge funds in 2011
.
Verisign is a provider of Internet infrastructure services and
manages .com and .net domain names. In the last 10 years, revenue
has grown at a rate of 0.5%, EBITDA at 9.5%, and free cash flow
has remained positive. In the first quarter of 2012 it reported a
13 percent year-over-year growth in revenue to $206 million, and
net income of $68 million, compared to $41 million in the
prior-year period. The quarter marked another record for new
domain registrations, and it boosted its cash position by $40
million to $1.39 billion.
Verisign repurchased approximately 1.8 million shares in the
quarter for a cost of $68 million and at quarter end still had
$763 million available and authorized under its current share
repurchase program.
See more of
Julian Robertson
's buys and sells in his portfolio here. Also check out the
Undervalued Stocks, Top Growth Companies and High Yield stocks of
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