The latest 13F filing for Q4 from Chou Associates, which is run by Francis Chou, shows that between Q3 and Q4, assets under management have fallen from $548.25M to $352.19M.
Francis Chou is a fund manager and an example of a classic rags-to-riches story. Read about him on ValueWalk here.
Major fund divestments
During the fourth quarter, Chou Associates disposed off the following stocks:
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)
MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD)
PRIMUS TELECOM GROUP (OTCMKTS:PMUGW)
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH)
Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S)
Compucredit Hldgs Corp
The above holdings aggregated $125.96M when valued at the end of the third quarter.
Holdings reduced
Chou Associates cut back on holdings in Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK), Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT) and Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT).
New investments
The fund made a relatively small new investment of 13,000 ADRs valued at $0.76M in AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN), a global pharmaceutical company. Chou also invested in 18,000 ADRs valued $0.48M in GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK), a global healthcare group.
Holdings augmented
Chou ramped up its level of investment in Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP) and in Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V).
Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. Chou increased its holdings in the company from 41,27,259 shares in the third quarter to 42,27,259 shares in the fourth quarter.
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications. Chou increased their holdings from 5,00,000 ADRs to 50,00,000 ADRs during the fourth quarter.
Resolute Forest tops the five portfolio holdings
As at the end of the fourth quarter, the following were the top five holdings in the fund as a percentage of total portfolio value:
Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP) – 19.23%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) – 15.15%
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) – 11.51%
Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) – 11.19%
Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY) – 6.24%
