Manning & Napier's Top 5 Stock Selections of Q1
Manning & Napier is an investment company that uses both macro and bottom-up approaches to select stocks. It had $47.8 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2014.
Manning & Napier managers wrote about their strategy in their annual report letter from October:
"In regards to current portfolio positioning, we are focused on finding companies with growth drivers that are not tied to the broad economy. We believe the key to generating attractive returns in the prevailing environment is the ability to identify individual businesses that can innovate and disrupt the competitive environment in which they operate. This involves finding businesses that are generating growth by creating new markets, expanding existing markets, or simply by taking share from their rivals."
At the end of the first quarter, the company's portfolio contained 369 stocks with a value of $21.1 billion. Of the 19 new first-quarter buys, the top five were: DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (DVA), Danaher Corp (DHR), Post Holdings Inc. (POST), Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) and Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWR).
DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (DVA)
Manning & Napier purchased 1,380,360 shares of DaVita HealthCare Partners, a 0.53% portfolio holding. The stock's quarterly average price was $77.
DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1994. DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. has a market cap of $17.94 billion; its shares were traded at around $83.12 with a P/E ratio of 24.8 and P/S ratio of 1.4. DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 15.1% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. the business predictability rank of 5-star.
Danaher Corp (DHR)
Manning & Napier purchased 1,029,830 shares of Danaher Corp, a 0.41% portfolio weight. The stock's average price was $85.
Danaher Corp originally DMG Inc. was organized in 1969 as a Massachusetts real estate investment trust. Danaher Corp has a market cap of $60.13 billion; its shares were traded at around $85.20 with a P/E ratio of 23.5 and P/S ratio of 3.10. The dividend yield of Danaher Corp stocks is 0.5%. Danaher Corp had an annual average earnings growth of 12.9% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Danaher Corp the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.
Post Holdings Inc. (POST)
Manning & Napier purchased 495,320 shares of Post Holdings, a 0.11% portfolio weight. The company's share price averaged $47.