Charles Brandes' Top 5 New Stock Buys
Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio) is the chairman of Brandes Investment Partners and former acquaintance of Benjamin Graham. In his second quarter letter he outlined his firm's three underlying principles: price always matters, time in the market has trumped timing in the market and allocations in Brandes strategies reflect our focus on long-term business valuations.
He also wrote:
"If there is one lesson investors may have learned in the past five years, it is that market swings create risks and opportunities. Additionally, as market sentiment oscillates between pessimism and optimism, we believe it is important to stay with value, anchoring our investment decisions on the long-term fundamental valuations of businesses. This remains our focus at Brandes as we continuously seek potential mispricing opportunities created by market swings to pursue excess returns for our clients."
In the second quarter, Brandes purchased 22 new stocks, for a total of 161 in a portfolio valued at $8.3 billion.
Top new buys
Express Scripts (ESRX)
Brandes purchased 2,102,152 shares of Express Scripts, his largest new holding. The average price was $70 for the second quarter. The position is 1.8% of his portfolio.
Express Scripts Inc. was incorporated in Missouri in September 1986, and reincorporated in Delaware in March 1992. Express Scripts has a market cap of $53.52 billion; its shares were traded at around $71.79 with a P/E ratio of 32.20 and P/S ratio of 0.60. Express Scripts had an annual average earnings growth of 25.70% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Express Scripts the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.
Target Corp (TGT)
Brandes purchased 184,853 shares of Target Corp, for 0.13% of the portfolio. The stock's price averaged $59 in the second quarter.
Target Corp was incorporated in Minnesota in 1902. Target Corp has a market cap of $36.98 billion; its shares were traded at around $58.36 with a P/E ratio of 19.60 and P/S ratio of 0.50. The dividend yield of Target Corp stocks is 3.00%. Target Corp had an annual average earnings growth of 7.70% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Target Corp the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
CBS Outdoor Americas Inc. (CBSO)
Brandes purchased 188,769 shares of CBS Outdoor Americas, of 0.075% of the portfolio. The share price averaged $31 in the second quarter.
CBS Outdoor Americas Inc. has a market cap of $4.01 billion; its shares were traded at around $33.41 with a P/E ratio of 119.40 and P/S ratio of 2.61. The dividend yield of CBS Outdoor Americas Inc. stocks is 1.10%.
Diageo PLC (DEO)
Brandes purchased 31,080 shares of Diageo Plc, for 0.048% of the portfolio. The stock's price averaged $126 in the quarter.