Tweedy Browne Buys Banco Santander; Adds Devon, Cisco

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Tweedy Browne is a mutual fund owned and co-managed by William H. Browne, Thomas Sharager, John D. Spears, and Robert Q. Wyckoff Jr. The mutual fund has 50 stocks in its portfolio with $4.002 billion market value as of August 12, 2013.

Tweedy Browne Buys Banco Santander; Adds Devon, Cisco

The mutual fund manages four funds including Global Value Fund, Global Value Fund II, Value Fund, and Worldwide High Dividend Fund. According to Tweedy Browne, the performances of its funds were marginally negative except Value Fund with slightly positive returns in the second quarter. The mutual fund managed to recover from its losses in June by the end of the quarter. Tweedy Browne said the returns of its funds ranged from 13,89% to 19.12% over the past 12 months.

According to Tweedy Browne, the strong results of its funds in general were driven by its investments in several Japanese automotive companies such as NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD. (TYO:5334) and Takata Corporation (TYO:7312) as well as its media stockholdings including Mediaset Espana Comunicacion SA (MCE:TL5) and Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LON:DMGT) (LON:DMGO). The mutual fund also gained from its stakes in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG).

On the other hand, some of its positions produced disappointing results including Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO) (LON:DGE), Nestle SA (VTX:NESN) (ETR:NESR) (FRA:NESR), and Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM).

Tweedy Browne new positions

During the second quarter, Tweedy Browne acquired 39,984,793 shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (ADR) (NYSE:BSBR) and 196,877 shares of National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV).

The mutual fund explained that Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE:BSBR) was trading at a discount from book value, below 10x 2013 estimated earnings with a dividend yield of approximately 5%. The bank has strong capital position, high net interest margins, and has the highest consumer exposure among its three competitors in the country.

On the other hand, Tweedy Browne said National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV) is the leading global manufacturer of drilling rig equipment and consumables to the energy industry. It has a leading position in the oil and gas industry, and recorded high returns on capital. The mutual fund said the company has a conservative balance sheet with minimal debt, and its stock is trading at a significant discount on its intrinsic value.

Tweedy Browne added positions

During the quarter, Tweedy Browne boosted its stake in Joy Global Inc. (NYSE:JOY) by 154.27% to 3,346,754 shares, Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN) by 13.23% to 4,236,700 shares, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.73% to 11.069,499 shares.

Tweedy Browne reduced positions

Tweedy Browne reduced its position in Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) by 98.95% to 13,925 shares, UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF) by 42.48% to 377,713 shares, and Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) by 6.02% to 1,911,076 shares.

Tweedy Browne sold out positions

The mutual fund sold out its entire stake in Roche Holding Ltd. (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) (VTX:ROG) Honda Motor Co Ltd (NYSE:HMC) (TYO:7267), and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) among others.

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