John Griffin
, president of hedge fund Blue Ridge Capital, has added more than
4.1 million shares to his holding of residential and commercial
building material producer Owens Corning (
OC
), reported on Oct. 9 on GuruFocus
Real Time Picks
.
Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Owens Corning operates facilities
in more than 28 countries, producing such materials as fiberglass
reinforcements, insulation, roofing and asphalt; the company made
$5.3 billion in sales last year, according to its website.
On Oct. 17, Owens Corning announced an underwritten public
offering of the company's senior notes, intending to use the
acquired net proceeds for purchasing $250 million aggregate
principal amount of 6.5 percent of its senior notes due 2016, and
up to $100 million aggregate principal amount of 9 percent of its
senior notes due 2019. The company also intends to use its
proceeds from the offering to repay outstanding debt as well as
for general corporate purposes, looking to induce a debt
extinguishment of about $75 million for this year's fourth
quarter.
The tender offer is scheduled to expire Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. EST.
Owens Corning has reported weakened demands in the U.S. roofing
and fiberglass markets in this year's second quarter, whereas
insulation production is set to anticipate higher volumes due to
an improving housing market for the rest of 2012, according to an
Owens Corning press release.
Griffin's latest transaction with Owens Corning places his
ownership at 5.63 percent.
Starting off with a little over 2.5 million shares, Griffin first
purchased Owens Corning in the second quarter. Now, Griffin's
shares total to 6,670,000.
Out of his 41 stocks, industrials make up about 13.7 percent of
Griffin's portfolio
, in third place after consumer services and technology.
Other than Owens Corning, Griffin is also shareholder of fluid
handling product-supplier Colfax Corp. (
CFX
) where he is 5.73 percent owner, insurance and financial
services provider American International Group Inc. (
AIG
) where he is 5.1 percent owner and website security solutions
provider VeriSign Inc. (
VRSN
) where he is 4.1 percent owner.
Besides Griffin, the following fellow Gurus also hold stakes of
Owens Corning: David Tepper of Appaloosa Management LP, Lee
Ainslie of Maverick Capital, Richard Pzena of Pzena Investment
Management LLC and Steve Mandel of Lone Pine Capital.
Trading at $31.75 per share, Owens Corning has a market cap of
$3.82 billion; it has a P/E (ttm) ratio of 23.6, a P/B ratio of
1.1 and a P/S ratio of 0.7.
The company also has a Financial Strength rank of 5 out of 10, a
Profitability and Growth rank of 7 out of 10 and three Severe
Warning signs that denote a bankruptcy possibility in the next
two years, declining revenue in the last five years and severely
divergent cash flow reported from its net income.
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