'Mini-Berkshire' Looks for Value in Eclectic Names
Thursday September 18, 9:35 am ET
By the tickerspy.com Staff
Diversified holding company Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK - News) has frequently been called a "mini-Berkshire Hathaway" (NYSE: BRK-A - News, BRK-B - News) because of the firm's ability to bring in impressive returns from investments in a wide variety of sectors, ranging from medical products, to telecommunications, to wineries.
Chairman and CEO Ian Cumming's and President and COO Joseph Steinberg's biggest move during Q2 was to take a significant stake in investment bank Jefferies (NYSE: JEF - News), helping the company stave off the challenges of the credit crunch. Given that Jeffries has largely avoided the turmoil on Wall Street over the last few weeks, it appears to have been a very shrewd move for both parties. Jeffries CEO Richard Handler recently told Reuters that the funding from Leucadia put the bank "in a position to play offense," even as the rest of Wall Street is in a defensive crouch.
Investors clued into Leucadia's incredible track record have watched the firm's moves closely; an investment in Cumming and Steinberg's firm has returned an astonishing compounded annual growth rate of 33.9% since inception, according to Leucadia's most recent annual report.
Though Leucadia invests in a wide range of firms, it has stakes in only a handful of U.S.-listed equities Aside from Jeffries, Leucadia has been looking selectively for value elsewhere in the financial sector.
Leucadia's most recently disclosed holdings, from the end of Q2, include independent auto finance company Americredit (NYSE: ACF - News; and Leucadia has continued to up its stake there since the end of Q2, according to SEC filings) and financial services firm International Assets Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: IAAC - News). Leucadia also has a very small stake in independent oil and gas company GeoResources (Nasdaq: GEOI - News) and opened a small stake in utility small-cap Maine & Maritimes (AMEX: MAM - News).
In addition, Leucadia has looked overseas. The firm holds a stake in Argentinean agricultural company Cresud (Nasdaq: CRESY - News).
Looking at tickerspy.com's graph charting the performance of Leucadia's end-of-Q2 holdings so far during Q3, one can see that the holdings have been holding up well, though they are showing high volatility. If you want to see how your performance stacks up to this "mini-Berkshire" or to see some other Leucadia holdings, visit tickerspy.com to see the firm's top holdings and a chart of their combined performance.
