Chou Associates Buys Verizon; Continues To Hold BlackBerry Ltd, Nokia

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Chou Associates Management released its latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm made very few changes during the first quarter, adding just one stock, dumping another stock and cutting its holdings in two others. Chou’s top 10 holdings made up nearly 90% of its portfolio at the end of March.

Chou Associates’ top holdings

At the end of March, Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP) made up more than 22% of Chou’s portfolio, while Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) made up approximately 15.5% of it. The firm had about 10.6% of its portfolio in Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) and 10.1% of its portfolio in Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK). The firm’s fifth largest holding was JPMorgan Chase & Co. W EXP.

Chou Associates buys Verizon

During the first three months of the year, Chou Associates established a tiny position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), picking up just 2,630 shares of the mobile carrier, valued at $125,000. The firm dumped 4,546 shares of Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD), leaving it with 5,454 shares of the European mobile carrier. Although Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP) remained Chou Associates’ top holding, the firm sold off 110,000 shares of the company’s stock. That still left Chou with more than 4.1 million shares of the company’s stock, however.

Chou continues to hold BlackBerry, Nokia

The firm left most of its holdings the same during the quarter, continuing to hang on to 5 million shares of Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) as it moves through a transformation from smartphone maker to a company focused in wireless network infrastructure. Chou also hung on to its 529,040 shares of BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY), the struggling Canadian handset maker that’s also trying to complete a turnaround. Other significant holdings in Chou’s portfolio are Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), MBIA Inc. (NYSE:MBI), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK), Actavis plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:ACT), AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK).

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