As you’ve no doubt noticed, some portfolio managers on Covestor choose individual sectors to invest in within their portfolios. But some just look for strong, undervalued companies in any sector. This week we’ve seen quite a few new positions purchased by managers with these free-thinking portfolios.
Manager Douglas Estadt, who focuses on a company’s growth story and seeks to buy those that have a credible and powerful story that the market hasn’t caught onto yet, bought Total SA (NYSE:TOT) an oil and gas company with worldwide operations. The company has a solid and consistent balance sheet and income statement and has over 16,000 retail station all over the globe. TOT had been steadily declining this year then, two weeks ago, it started to climb again. Though this week, it looks like it may be falling once again.
Manager Tab Buford reviews the financial reports of companies and finds those who show that they are able to grow their book values, sales and cash flows over a string of cycles and invests in them. This week, Buford bought VF Corp (NYSE:VFC) a company that designs and manufactures clothing lines like Lee®. Their balance sheet shows increasing stockholder equity, although their income statement shows mixed results in net income over the years. Their cash flows, however, have been increasing substantially over the past 3 years. Their stock value has been pretty rocky this year, and last week it started to steadily decline. Their price to earnings ratio is on par with competitors.
