Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio), manager of the Weitz Value Fund and Weitz Partners Value Fund, disclosed in regulatory portfolio filings that his firm’s top five trades during the fourth quarter of 2021 included a new position in Perimeter Solutions SA (PRM, Financial), boosts to its holdings in Fidelity National Information Systems Inc. (FIS, Financial) and CoStar Group Inc. (CSGP, Financial) and reductions to its positions in Aon PLC (AON, Financial) and Laboratory Corp of America (LH, Financial).
Weitz’s Omaha, Nebraska-based fund combines Ben Graham’s theories of price sensitivity and insistence on margin of safety with a conviction that qualitative factors that allow a company to have control over its destiny can be more important than statistical measures like historical book value and reported earnings.
As of December 2021, the firm’s $2.47 billion equity portfolio contains 56 stocks with a quarterly turnover of 4%. The top three sectors in terms of weight are financial services, communication services and technology, with weights of 27.32%, 25.49% and 15.35%, respectively.
Perimeter Solutions
The firm purchased 2.01 million shares of Perimeter Solutions (PRM, Financial), giving the position a 1.13% weight in the equity portfolio. Shares averaged $12.68 during the fourth quarter.
According to GuruFocus, the Clayton, Missouri-based firefighting lubricant company’s cash-to-debt and interest coverage ratios underperform more than 80% of global competitors, suggesting low financial strength.
Fidelity National Information Systems
The firm added 171,909 shares of Fidelity National Information Systems (FIS, Financial), boosting the position by 41.73% and its equity portfolio by 0.76%.
Shares of Fidelity National Information Systems averaged $112.73 during the fourth quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on Monday’s price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.83.
GuruFocus ranks the Jacksonville, Florida-based payment processing company’s financial strength 4 out of 10 on the back of interest coverage and debt ratios underperforming more than 80% of global competitors despite the company having a high Piotroski F-score of 8.
CoStar
Weitz purchased 189,900 shares of CoStar (CSGP, Financial), increasing the position by 20.21% and its equity portfolio by 0.61%.
Shares of CoStar averaged $83.73 during the fourth quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on Monday’s price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.74.
GuruFocus ranks the Northwest, Washington-based real estate company’s profitability 8 out of 10 on the heels of a five-star business predictability rank despite profit margins outperforming just over 55% of global competitors.
Aon
Weitz sold 144,153 shares of Aon (AON, Financial), slicing 36.49% of the position and 1.74% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of Aon averaged $299.80 during the fourth quarter; the stock is modestly overvalued based on Monday’s price-to-GF-Value ratio of 1.15.
GuruFocus ranks the U.K.-based insurance company’s profitability 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include profit margins and returns outperforming more than 70% of global competitors.
Gurus with holdings in Aon include Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial), Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio)’s FPA Crescent Fund and First Pacific Advisors (Trades, Portfolio).
Laboratory Corp of America
The firm sold 71,631 shares of Laboratory Corp of America (LH, Financial), trimming 19.84% of the position and 0.85% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of Laboratory Corp of America averaged $288.43 during the fourth quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Monday’s price-to-GF-Value ratio of 1.04.
GuruFocus ranks the Burlington, North Carolina-based clinical laboratory company’s profitability 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a four-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 8 and profit margins and returns outperforming more than 73% of global competitors.
