As the chairman and CEO of Fisher Investments, as well as
Forbes Magazine's long-time
Portfolio Strategy
columnist,
Ken Fisher
's judgment in investing is associated with flexibility in
strategy, unique ways to analyze information and the adventurous
act of seeking facts not widely known by other investors.
Recently, he reported updates to his investment portfolio for the
third quarter. In the three months, Fisher had more than 260
transactions, more than 90 of them reductions, densely selling in
the financial, energy, industrial and technology sectors.
His highest reduction amounts belonged to the financial sector,
where the following companies experienced the top percentages:
Barclays Plc (
BCS
) at 99.5 percent, Blackrock Inc. (
BLK
) at 99.6 percent, Goldman Sachs Group (
GS)
at 99.01 percent and Morgan Stanley (
MS
) at 99.5 percent, to name a few. Fisher even reduced in exchange
traded funds such as the iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (
FXI
) and the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index Fund (
AAXJ
).
Additionally, Fisher sold all of his shares of more than 50
companies, a majority experiencing an average of 10 percent price
increase while some declined in price of at least 10 percent.
Among these companies, WindGen Energy (
WGEI
) experienced the lowest change from average price at 50 percent
and financial services company, CPC of America Inc. (
CPCF
) doesn't trail too far back at 23 percent down from its average
price.
Amidst his list of sells, Fisher also introduced about 58 stocks
to his portfolio and added to his shareholding of 57 companies.
(Read more about some of Fisher's latest Q3 purchases on Ken
Fisher's Top Mega-Cap New Purchases.)
Fisher's recent reductions are reflective of his current
portfolio composition, holding a majority of his shares in the
technology and financial sectors.
Several of Fisher's sell decisions in the third quarter truly
highlighted his value investment strategy.
Barclays (BCS)
Fisher reduced by 99.5 percent of his stake of global financial
services provider, Barclays Plc. Out of all of Fisher's
third-quarter reductions, the company experienced the most
increase from its average price, at 33 percent. From more than 16
million shares in Q2, Fisher sold 15,997,785 shares, bringing him
to his current holding of 80,006.
Recently, Barclays announced that it experienced higher levels of
Payment Protection Insurance claims since the end of the first
half of 2012, and predicts its profits before tax in the third
quarter to be broadly in line with the current market consensus
of �1.7 billion, according to Barclays' website.
In September, the opening of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New
York, unveiled a facility made home to the NBA's Brooklyn Nets,
offering about 18,000 seats for basketball games and up to 19,000
seats for concerts.
Barclays is currently selling at $14.93 per share, with a market
cap of $46.57 billion, a P/E(ttm) ratio of 12.3 and a P/S ratio
of 0.9.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX)
Reducing his Freeman shareholding by 99.3 percent in the third
quarter, Fisher currently holds 92,671 shares compared to more
than 14 million in the end of the second quarter. Its market
price jumped 19 percent at the time of the transaction.
Arizona-based Freeman-McMoRan is an international mining company
that produces copper, gold and molybdenum, and owns assets
including a mining complex in Indonesia and operations in South
America and Democratic Republic of Congo.
For the first six months of this year, Freeman reported a net
income of $1.5 billion, attributable to common stock at $1.55 per
share, much lower compared to the $2.9 billion of net income
reported in last year's six months, attributable to common stock
at $3.00 per share.
In September, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend of
$0.3125 per share, payable to its holders this November.
Freeman is currently trading at $41.50, with a market cap of
$38.1 billion. Its P/E (ttm) ratio is close to its one-year high
of 12.1; its P/B ratio is 1.9 and its P/S ratio is 1.8.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP)
Fisher reduced his holding of Check Point Software Technologies
by 91.6 percent in the third quarter. He added the stock to his
portfolio in the second quarter of this year, originally starting
with more than 1.2 million shares. He now has 102,000 shares
after selling about 1.11 million shares.
Check Point experienced the largest decrease from the average
price compared to the rest of Fisher's reductions in the third
quarter upon the time of the transaction. In total, the change
from the average price was 15 percent.
As the company that introduced FireWall-1 to the tech industry,
Check Point is a company that produces software which aids in
securing Internet security, including hacker-, spyware- and
identity theft protection. It had a total revenue of $332.4
million in the third quarter, according to its quarter-end
filings, representing an 8 percent increase compared to the prior
year. Its earnings per share for the third quarter also
increased, this time by 10 percent, at $0.79 per share.
Check Point currently sells at $41.25 per share which has
surpassed its one year low of $44.30. It has a market cap of
$9.43 billion; its P/E (ttm) ratio is 16.3, which is close to its
three-year low. Similarly, both its P/B ratio (2.9) and P/S ratio
(7.5) are both close to their two-year lows.
To view all of his recent transactions for Q3, visit Ken Fisher's
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