What Covestor managers are buying: KBR Inc (KBR, KWK, MDY)

For the Macro Plus Income portfolio, Covestor model manager Capital Ideas, a Texas based RIA co-founded by CJ Brott (pictured), aims to provide current income

for investors who are five years either side of retirement.  That is, we try to invest in securities suitable for income reinvestment before retirement.  However, after retirement, the investor can choose to take the dividends and interest in cash rather than reinvesting them.  Thus, the investor gets compounding growth pre-retirement and high income post retirement all from the same portfolio.

Current top holdings include SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust (NYSE: MDY), Quicksilver Resources Inc (NYSE: KWK) and Baltic Trading Ltd (NYSE: BALT).

On 3/28, Capital Ideas added to the portfolio KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR), a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, petrochemicals, government services, industrial and civil infrastructure sectors.

On 3/28, KBR announced that it received an award fee from the US Army:

KBR announced today that it received a $15.5 million award fee related to its LogCAP III work in Iraq for the six month period of performance beginning March 2010 and ending in August 2010.
On March 21, 2011, KBR received its LogCAP III award fee determination letter confirming the award fee from the United States Army. For this period, KBR’s performance was recognized as “Very Good” and the program received high customer satisfaction ratings.

Note that KBR was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research on 3/15:

KBR, Inc. last announced its quarterly results on Wednesday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the previous quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.43 EPS by $0.08. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that KBR, Inc. will post $0.54 EPS next quarter.

Here’s how KBR has performed over the past year, via Google Finance:

Sources:

“KBR Receives LogCAP III Award Fee” KBR Inc, 3/28.

“KBR, Inc. (KBR) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Neutral”” Zacks Investment Research, 3/17. http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2011/03/17/kbr-inc-kbr-downgraded-by-zacks-investment-research-to-neutral/