Ken Fisher
founded Fisher Investments, a $38 billion firm, in 1979. In the
second quarter, while penning an article titled "Put Them on
Mute" and saying "Don't let the seemingly futile gyrations in
Europe keep you out of the market this summer" in his Forbes
column, Fisher went on a shopping spree, purchasing 79 new
stocks. His biggest new buys are: Priceline.com (
PCLN
), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (
LVS
) and American Express (
AXP
).
Priceline.com
is an online hotel reservations website that provides travel
services to over 180 countries around the world. Fisher bought
598,135 of the shares, which cost an average of $689 each in the
second quarter.
In the last five years, Priceline shares have run up 842%.
Financial growth was likewise robust during that period. Its
annual revenue growth rate was 22.1% EBITDA rate was 59.5%. The
company has built a cash position of $3.6 billion, up from $1.8
billion just one year prior. It has no debt and $1 billion in
long-term liabilities.
Aiding in the company's recent growth is its international
operations, which grew 58.5% in the first quarter, driven by
strong hotel results at its sites Booking.com and Agoda.com, an
Asian hotel-booking site, along with continued growth at
Rentalcars.com.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (
LVS
)
is an owner and developer of resorts and has a 70.3% ownership of
Sands China Ltd. (
SCL
). Fisher purchased 8,970,000 shares of the company in the second
quarter at an average price of $51. Las Vegas Sands shares have
declined 59% over the last five years but gained almost 18% year
to date.
Las Vegas Sands is another quickly growing company. It has grown
revenue at an annual rate of 17.4% and EBITDA at a rate of 14.7%
over the last 10 years. The company has not produced free cash
flow for almost all of the last decade except for 2011, when it
generated $1.2 billion. Its cash holding is $5.6 billion and it
has long-term debt and liabilities totaling approximately $10
billion.
In the second quarter, the company reported all-time industry
record $1.07 billion adjusted property EBITDA, particularly
related to growth at its Macao property portfolio and its Marina
Bay Sands in Singapore, as well as strong performance at its
domestic properties. It also produced record revenue, operating
income and adjusted earnings per share.
American Express (
AXP
)
is a global financial advisory services and international banking
services company. Fisher cashed out an investment in American
Express previously in the first quarter of 2009 at an average
price of $15. In the second quarter, he bought 6,620,346 shares
at an average price of $57.
American Express' stock has declined almost 14% over the last
five years, but had an 18% resurgence year to date. The company
has produced modest revenue growth of 4.5% annually on average
over the last 10 years. Its EBITDA over the same period declined
at an average annual rate of 1.7%. It has produced solid free
cash flow through the last decade.
In the second quarter, American Express reported net income of
$1.3 billion, up 1 percent from the prior year, with per-share
net income of $1.15, up 5% from the prior year. The company's
total revenues net of interest expense rose 5% to $8 billion, as
cardmembers spending was up 7%.
See the rest of
Ken Fisher
's latest buys and sells in
his portfolio here
.
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