Three of Hussman's First-Quarter Acquisitions Jump Into His Top 20 Holdings
Guru John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio), the president and principal shareholder of Hussman Strategic Advisors, added three stakes to his portfolio in the first quarter that were large enough to qualify for spots in his top 20 holdings by volume.
Two of those stakes are in the Retail - Apparel and Specialty sector, and one - Staples (SPLS) - was big enough to land in Hussman's top 10.
Hussman bought 400,000 shares of Staples, a Massachusetts-based office supply chain store, for an average price of $16.79 per share. That was enough for Staples to match Texas-based semiconductor supplier Cirrus Logic Inc (CRUS) for #10 on Hussman's list.
Staples, which opened its first store in 1986, has a market cap of $10.64 billion and an enterprise value of $11.14 billion. It has a P/E of 78.3, a Price/Book of 1.9 and a Price/Sales of 0.5. At the end of trading on Friday, May 1, Staples was selling for $16.50 per share.
Four gurus - Donald Yacktman (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio) - have shares of Staples in their portfolios. Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio) sold his stake in Staples in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Just behind Staples and Cirrus Logic on Hussman's top 20 is another new buy, Vasco Data Security International Inc (VDSI), a Chicago-based provider of authentication and digital signature solutions to financial businesses. Hussman bought 350,000 shares of Vasco Data Security International for an average price of $23.7 per share.
Vasco has a market cap of $1.01 billion and an enterprise value of $873.74 million. It has a P/E of 30.4, a Price/Book of 4.7 and a Price/Sales of 4.9. When trading concluded on Friday, Vasco Data Security International was selling for $25.44 per share.
Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) also has shares of Vasco Data Security International in his portfolio.
The third new buy that landed in Hussman's top 20 is Zumiez Inc (ZUMZ), a specialty clothing store chain based in Lynnwood, Washington. Hussman also bought 350,000 shares of that stock, paying an average price of $38.77 per share.
Founded in 1978, Zumiez has a market cap of $940.3 million and an enterprise value of $790.05 million. It has a P/E of 21.7, a Price/Book of 2.7 and a Price/Sales of 1.2. When the closing bell rang on Friday, Zumiez was selling for $31.87 per share.
Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) also has shares of Zumiez in his portfolio.
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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
