Hedge Funds Have Bought Altisource, Beazer Homes, and More

Page 2 of 2

Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE:RDC), a $4.4 billion market cap contract driller, had First Pacific Advisors report owning 7.3 million shares of the stock or nearly 6% of the company. First Pacific is managed by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick (check out more stocks First Pacific owns). While Rowan’s sales have been up, this seems to have been due to higher production with poorer pricing conditions contributing to a steep fall in net income. While the drop in prices has resulted in Rowan being valued at 26 times trailing earnings, the sell-side expects the company to recover and so the current-year P/E and the five-year PEG ratio are 15 and 0.5 respectively.

First Pacific also reported that it had increased its ownership of Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TRN) to a total of 3.1 million shares. Trinity is a $3.3 billion market cap company which is primarily a manufacturer and lessor of railcars. Its other lines of business include construction materials and barges. In the third quarter of 2012, the company reported a 19% increase in revenue versus a year earlier and earnings were up sharply. Being as tied to transportation as it is the stock carries a beta of 2.4. At 14 times trailing earnings, it is a candidate for value status given its strong performance as long as investors are comfortable with that level of exposure to the broader economy.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.

Page 2 of 2