Mario Gabelli‘s GAMCO Investors has disclosed a 17.97% position in CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR). The stake is held in aggregate by GAMCO, Gabelli Funds, and Teton Advisors and amasses around 3.18 million shares. GAMCO holds around 1.72 million shares out of the aggregate stake, down from approximately 1.77 million shares disclosed in its latest 13F filing.
CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR) is engaged in design, manufacturing and sale of valves and other engineered products and sub-systems for the energy, aerospace and other markets. GAMCO has been a long-term shareholder of Circor, holding shares of the company for more than 10 years, while the stock gained over 170% in the same period. The fund is the largest shareholder of the company out of more than 700 investors that we track at Insider Monkey, followed by Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, which owns around 1.05 million shares as of the end of September.
However, so far this year, CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR)’s stock slid by more than 25% significantly underperforming in comparison to the diversified industrial companies, whose average return amounted to around 6% year-to-date. The decline was mainly caused by a decrease in the company’s financial results. For the third quarter, its revenue fell to $204 million, from $215 million a year ago, while its net income dropped to $0.83 per share, from $1.00 per share a year ago. Nevertheless, a couple of months ago, CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR) has opened two offices in Brazilia and Malaysia, which will allow the company to better capitalize on emerging markets in Asia and South America. Analysts, so far have mixed sentiments regarding the company as earlier this month, Sidoti upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’, while BB&T downgraded it to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’. At the end of November, Zacks also upgraded the stock to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ with a price target of $71.50.
So, since Mr. Gabelli has been a long-term shareholder of CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR), its latest move is relatively insignificant and most likely was done for portfolio rebalancing purposes, since there haven’t been any major events related to the company that have been reported recently. Mr. Gabelli generally invests in many companies, as GAMCO has a very diversified equity portfolio with more than 800 positions, valued at $18.59 billion. Among other moves, a couple of weeks ago, GAMCO reported a new 8.24% stake in Oplink Communications, Inc (NASDAQ:OPLK) and it has also recently raised its stake in Strattec Security Corp. (NASDAQ:STRT) to around 608,500 shares, equal to 17% of the company, from 439,600 shares held earlier.
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