Fairfax Buys Atwood Oceanics, Dresser-Rand; Boosts BlackBerry

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Fairfax Financial Holdings, the financial services holding company controlled by Prem Watsa disclosed that its equity portfolio has a market value of $1,419,881,000 based on its 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first quarter of 2015.

Fairfax Financial new stockholdings

During the quarter, Fairfax Financial acquired new positions Atwood Oceanics, Dresser-Rand Group, Talisman Energy, and Helmerich and Payne.

Fairfax Financial bought 8,000 shares of Atwood Oceanics for $225,000. The company is a global drilling contractor with operations in the United States, Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, and in the offshores of Australia, Southeast Asia, and West Africa.

Last month, Atwood Oceanics reported second quarter fiscal 2015 earnings of $1.89 per diluted shares and $350.4 million revenue. Its financial results were higher than its earnings of $0.71 per diluted share on $351.7 million revenue.

The shares of the Atwood Oceanics declined more than 5% to $33.53 per share on Thursday. Brokerage firms covering the stock have average Hold rating.

Watsa’s firm purchased 16,200 shares of Dresser-Rand Group worth $1,302,000. Dresser-Rand Group is a supplier of custom-engineered rotating equipment solutions (long-life, critical applications) for companies in the energy, chemical, petrochemical, power generation, military and other industries.

Dresser-Rand Group recently showcased its various products that feature productivity and reliability for oil & gas clients during the 2015 World Gas Conference. Its products include DATUM centrifugal compressors, reciprocating compressors and LNGO natural gas production system, gas turbines and steam turbines for FPSO vessels.

TheStreet recently downgraded its rating for the shares of Dresser-Rand Group to Hold. Zacks Equity Research also recommended a Hold rating. The stock closed $84.24 per share on Thursday. The company gained 38% of stock value over the past year.

During the quarter, Fairfax Financial acquired 58,500 shares of Talisman Energy for $449,000. Talisman Energy is a global upstream oil & gas company based in Canada. Repsol SA completed its acquisition of all the outstanding common stock and preferred stock of Talisman Energy for $8.00 per share and CDN $25 per share last week.

Talisman Energy has been delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) following the acquisition.

Fairfax Financial acquired 3,157 shares of Helmerich & Payne for $215,000. The company is a contractor of oil & gas drilling wells. Last month, the company posted second-quarter net income of $150 million or $1.37 per diluted share and operating revenues of $883 million.

Helmerich & Payne is scheduled to pay a cash dividend of $0.6875 per share to shareholders on June 1, 2015. The shares of the company closed $74.28 per share, down by 2%. Over the past 52-weeks, the stock traded between $54.00 and $11.95 per share. The company lost 30% of its stock value over the past year.

Fairfax Financial increased positions

During the quarter, Fairfax Financial increased its positions in Patterson-UTI Energy by 13,000 shares to 25,000 shares worth $469,000. Analysts at Citigroup recently downgraded their rating on the stock from Buy to Neutral with a price target of $22 per share. The stock closed $20.99 per share, down by 1.66% on Thursday.

The financial services holding company also bought additional 45,000 shares of BlackBerry. Watsa now owns 46,699,700 shares of the Canadian smartphone manufacturer worth $416,510,000. BlackBerry is the second largest stockholding of Fairfax Financial during the quarter.

Last month, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said the company is open to partner with Apple on security solutions in an interview with CNN Money. “Yes, if Apple would ever come to us and would love to have our security, we could talk,” said Chen.

Fairfax Financial boosted its stake in MBIA by 20,000 shares to 50,000 shares. Its stake in the company has a market value of $465,000. It also purchased additional 3,000 shares of BP bringing its stake to 14,000 shares worth $548,000.

Fairfax Financial reduced positions

During the quarter, Fairfax Financial reduced its stockholding in Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock by 3,000 shares to 21,500 shares. Its stake in Warren Buffett’s conglomerate has a market value of $3,111,000.

Watsa’s firm also sold 10,000 shares of USG bringing its stake down to 32,800 shares worth $875,000.

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