Credit: Shutterstock photoFrom today's GuruFocus Real Time Picks reports, mutual fund company Columbia Wanger has increased its Exa Corp. ( EXA ) stake by 816.78 percent, turning the miniscule position into 10.8 ownership of the company's outstanding shares.
Massachusetts-based Exa is simulation-driven software products and services provider, largely serving the transportation market through its array of products that help companies test such things as fluid flow and heat transfer. Through its simulation software, Exa enables companies to improve the efficiencies of their design and engineering processes as well as improve costs, without having to spend money on expensive physical prototypes and tests.
Having only been declared a public company since June 2012, Exa's stock price has slightly gone down since its IPO, trading today at $9.47 from $11 seven months ago.
Columbia purchased Exa stock in the third quarter of last year, starting off with 157,517 shares. This placed the fund at 1.19 percent owner, and represented 0.0079 percent of its portfolio, barely making any impact at all to the 323-stock portfolio. Today, Columbia holds a little over 1.4 million shares, and is the only investor on GuruFocus who has dabbled in the company's shares ( EXA: Guru Trades ).
Exa's revenue grew by 9 percent comparable to year-over-year data, according to its third quarter financial results. Exa President and CEO Stephen Remondi noted that its revenue growth represented 13 percent on a constant currency basis, which is slightly below what the company anticipated, and is due to what he believes are near-term budget constraints for Exa's customers, as well as the delay of new projects and license activity.
"We believe customers became incrementally more cautious with expenses going into calendar year-end, due to increased macroeconomic uncertainty, particularly in the manufacturing markets we serve," Remondi said. "With new budgets opening up in the New Year and short-term deliverables which still must be met...we are optimistic that these delays will be short-lived. Furthermore, we are confident that the long-term drivers of our growth remain firmly intact and that Exa is well positioned to lead our customers' efforts in simulation-based design in order to meet their increasingly stringent requirements for fuel efficiency, noise, and thermal management."
Exa's new presence in public market trading is accompanied by a 1-star ranking in Business Predictability on GuruFocus. Its stock is up 2 percent this afternoon.
As the eighth largest manager of long-term mutual fund assets, many of Columbia Wanger 's managed funds have delivered double-digit returns in 2012. They include: the Columbia Acorn Emerging Markets Fund A, which returned 30.86 percent; the Columbia Large Cap Growth Fund A, which returned 20.15 percent; the Columbia Contrarian Core Fund A, which returned 18.33 percent; and the Columbia Mid Cap Value Opportunity Fund, which returned 18.2 percent. (Columbia's Mutual Fund Performance)
Some of Columbia's largest holdings include Ametel Inc. ( AME ), Lululemon Athletica Inc. ( LULU ), Donaldson Company Inc. ( DCI ) and Mettler-Toledo International Inc. ( MTD ).
To view more of Columbia Wanger's latest trades, view Stock Picks. Also view its undervalued stocks, it high-yield companies and its top growth stocks.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
