Seminole Capital Management Co. is a New York based hedge fund incorporated in 1995. According to the latest 13F submission made to the SEC this May, the fund manages a total portfolio of more than $1,803 million. Most of the portfolio of the fund is composed of stocks and holdings from the technology sector, almost 1/3 of the total. The next big portion is reserved to stocks and holdings from the basic materials (mostly raw materials) industry, almost 1/4 of the portfolio. The rest of the portfolio is from the following sectors: financial services, general services, consumer goods, industrial goods, utilities and healthcare.
The fund has been managed since its inception by Michael Messner, who is also a partner in the company. Mr. Messner is a graduate of Georgia Tech Institute in Civil Engineering. He had various civil engineering position holdings in various companies in Atlanta, Georgia, and other cities but since 1995 he has been engaged in managing Seminole Capital. Being a good civil engineer helped him become an even better fund manager.
Seminole Capital has a total of 78 stocks in its portfolio. During last quarter it removed 11 securities from its portfolio and added eight new ones. They removed the following stocks:
Company Name | Ticker | Value | Activity | Return |
AGRIUM INC |
| Sold Out | -7,4% | |
ARVINMERITOR INC | ARM |
| Sold Out | N/A |
DOVER CORP |
| Sold Out | -7,1% | |
FORD MOTOR CO DEL |
| Sold Out | -10,5% | |
GENERAL MOTORS CO |
| Sold Out | -7,0% | |
GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBR CO |
| Sold Out | 0,1% | |
LEAR CORP |
| Sold Out | -0,9% | |
MOTOROLA INC | MOT |
| Sold Out | N/A |
RIO TINTO PLC |
| Sold Out | -6,4% | |
U S AIRWAYS GROUP INC NEW |
| Sold Out | -7,0% | |
TYCO ELECTRONICS LTD |
| Sold Out | 1,0% |
Except two of these stocks (Motorola Inc. and Arvinmeritor, Inc.), for which data is not available, seven of other had a negative return value ranging from -0.9% (Lear Corp.) to -10.5% (Ford Motor). Agrium and Dover Corp. also declined by more than 7%.
The eight new stocks added to the portfolio were:
Company Name | Ticker | Value | Activity | Return |
BLACKROCK INC | 1407 | New | -6,9% | |
BOEING CO | 74034 | New | -1,2% | |
HALLIBURTON COMPANY | 7122 | New | -3,5% | |
INTEL CORP | 23654 | New | 6,8% | |
POTASH CORP SASKATCHEWAN | 1473 | New | -6,3% | |
SANDISK CORP | 23771 | New | -7,7% | |
TESORO CORP | 2959 | New | -21,6% | |
VALERO ENERGY CORP NEW | 7500 | New | -16,1% |
Boeing Co. was Messner's largest stock purchase. Seminole had $74 million in BA at the end of March. The other two largest purchases were Intel and SanDisk . The Intel purchase has been very timely, The stock gained nearly 7%. Paul Ruddock's Lansdowne Partners bet more than $500 Million on INTC during the first quarter, as well.
Seminole sold almost all its Citigroup (C) and Navistar (NAV) holdings during the first quarter. Both of these stocks didn't perform well since then. Seminole also increased its holdings in BP (BP), Fedex (FDX), Chesapeake (CHK), and Micron (MU). Its best performing stocks were its utilities holdings. Below is a list of the most interesting positions from the retained stocks.
Company Name | Ticker | Value | Activity | Return |
CITIGROUP INC | 332 | -95% | -14,2% | |
NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL CORP | 1964 | -91% | -21,3% | |
MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC | 62275 | 36% | -26,4% | |
EXPEDIA INC | 15114 | 142% | 19,5% | |
P P L CORP | 3924 | 0% | 7,9% | |
FIRSTENERGY CORP | 19253 | 0% | 18,1% | |
D P L INC | 3451 | 0% | 10,8% | |
CISCO SYSTEMS INC | 26720 | 2413% | -11,8% | |
B P PLC | 140222 | 512% | -1,5% | |
CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP | 12423 | 542% | -12,8% | |
FEDEX CORP | 47430 | 582% | -8,7% | |
EMBRAER S A | 5096 | 967% | -9,5% |
Overall Seminole's 13F portfolio is underperforming the S&P 500 index by 0.4 percentage points. However his three largest purchases outperformed it by 3 percentage points. We like concentrated portfolios and when a fund manager has several dozens of stocks in his portfolio, it is usually better to focus on his highest conviction purchases.
Disclosure: I am long FE, C.
