Sprott Asset Management is a Toronto-based alternative asset manager founded by billionaire Eric Sprott, a widely-knowninvestor usually bullish on the resource sector, particularly precious metals. Although Mr. Sprott is no longer involved in the day-to-day portfolio management operations at Sprott Asset Management, his investment firm continues to believe in the long-term prospects of precious metals to some extent. Just recently, the Toronto-based firm submitted its quarterly 13F for the first quarter, so this article will discuss several noteworthy non-resource related moves implemented by the firm during the first three months of this year. Sprott’s equity portfolio was valued at $1.27 billion at the end of March, as compared to $2.65 billion registered a quarter earlier. However, this does not necessarily imply that the fund had a terrible performance in the first three months of 2016, as it implemented a thorough rebalancing process during the period.
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#5. CGI Group Inc. (NYSE:GIB)
– Number of shares held by Sprott as of March 31: 811,550
– Value of Sprott’s holding as of March 31: $38.78 Million
CGI Group Inc. (NYSE:GIB) represents the fifth-largest equity holing in Sprott Asset Management’s equity portfolio as of the end of March, consisting of 811,550 shares valued at $38.78 million. The Toronto-based alternative asset manager held its stake in CGI Group unchanged during the first three months of this year. The Montreal-based information technology (IT) and business process services (BPS) firm has seen its shares advance by 21% since the beginning of 2016. The company has been deploying more capital towards developing cybersecurity services, which may drive both bottom- and top-line growth in the upcoming years considering the growth in cybersecurity threats. CGI Group’s revenue for fiscal 2015 that ended September 2015 was $10.29 billion, which decreased $212.6 million year-on-year. While most U.S. multinational companies have been impacted by the stronger green buck in recent years, the Montreal-based firm’s revenue was positively impacted by foreign currency fluctuations, with the positive impact reaching $211.7 million. CGI Group’s stock trades only 13.0-times expected earnings, below the forward PE multiple of 16.3 for the Information Technology sector. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management held 940,643 shares of CGI Group Inc. (NYSE:GIB) in its equity portfolio at the end of December.
