The Yacktman Fund (Trades, Portfolio) disclosed in a portfolio update filing that its top trades during the fourth quarter of 2022 included the shift of its U-Haul Holding Co. position from voting shares (UHAL, Financial) to non-voting shares (UHAL.B, Financial), a boost to its holdings in Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW, Financial) and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD, Financial) and the closure of its position in FirstCash Holdings Inc. (FCFS, Financial).
Managed by Stephen Yacktman and Joseph Subokty, the Austin, Texas-based fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in growth stocks trading at low valuations. The fund emphasizes stocks that have good businesses, shareholder-oriented management and low purchase prices.
As of December, the fund’s $7.05 billion equity portfolio contains 60 stocks with a quarterly turnover ratio of 3%. The top four sectors in terms of weight are communication services, consumer defensive, energy and technology, representing 17.31%, 17.28%, 15.67% and 13.58% of the equity portfolio.
Investors should be aware that portfolio updates for mutual funds do not necessarily provide a complete picture of a guru’s holdings. The data is sourced from the quarterly updates on the website of the fund(s) in question. This usually consists of long equity positions in U.S. and foreign stocks. All numbers are as of the quarter’s end only; it is possible the guru may have already made changes to the positions after the quarter ended. However, even this limited data can provide valuable information.
U-Haul
The fund converted 2.97 million voting shares of U-Haul (UHAL, Financial) to non-voting shares (UHAL.B, Financial). Voting shares averaged $57.53 during the fourth quarter, while non-voting shares averaged $57.91.
Shares of U-Haul are fairly valued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.09 as of Thursday.
The Reno, Nevada-based truck rental and self-storage company announced on Nov. 15, 2022 that it transferred its listing from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange effective Dec. 19. The company also changed its name from Amerco to U-Haul Holding Co. to reflect its key moving and self-storage business segment.
For the fiscal year ending March 2022, U-Haul reported $5.4 billion in moving and storage revenue, representing approximately 94.1% of total revenue.
U-Haul has a GF Score of 93 out of 100, driven by a growth rank of 10 out of 10 and a rank of 9 out of 10 for profitability and momentum despite financial strength and GF Value ranking just 5 out of 10.
U-Haul's profitability ranks 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a 4.5-star business predictability rank and an operating margin that has increased by approximately 5.8% per year on average over the past five years and outperforms more than 90% of global competitors.
Charles Schwab
The fund added 550,000 shares of Charles Schwab (SCHW, Financial), boosting the position by 30.14% and its equity portfolio by 0.65%.
Shares of Charles Schwab averaged $77.61 during the fourth quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.98 as of Thursday.
The Westlake, Texas-based brokerage company has a GF Score of 83 out of 100 based on a momentum rank of 10 out of 10, a growth rank of 8 out of 10, a profitability rank of 7 out of 10, a GF Value rank of 5 out of 10 and a financial strength rank of 4 out of 10.
Charles Schwab’s profitability ranks 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a four-star business predictability rank and a net profit margin that outperforms approximately 77% of global competitors.
Warner Bros. Discovery
The fund added 1.5 million shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD, Financial), boosting the position by 51.72% and its equity portfolio by 0.20%. Shares averaged $11.29 during the fourth quarter.
GuruFocus’ GF Value Line labeled the New York-based media giant a possible value trap based on the low price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.51 as of Thursday and a rank between 3 and 4 out of 10 for financial strength and momentum.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s low financial strength rank stems from several warning signs, which include a low Piotroski F-score of 3, a low Altman Z-score of 0.32 and a debt-to-Ebitda ratio that is above 4 and underperforms more than 70% of global competitors.
Despite low financial strength, Warner Bros. Discovery has a GF Score of 80 out of 100, driven by a growth rank of 9 out of 10 and a profitability rank of 8 out of 10. GuruFocus gave the stock the business predictability rank of 3.5 out of five stars.
FirstCash Holdings
The fund sold all 460,000 shares of FirstCash Holdings (FCFS, Financial), trimming 0.54% of its equity portfolio.
Shares of FirstCash Holdings averaged $88.56 during the fourth quarter; the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.87 as of Thursday.
The Forth Worth, Texas-based pawn loan company has a GF Score of 85 out of 100 based on a rank of 7 out of 10 for growth and GF Value, a profitability rank of 8 out of 10, a momentum rank of 6 out of 10 and a financial strength rank of 5 out of 10.
