GMT Capital, led by Thomas E. Claugus, has raised its exposure to Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG). The investor purchased around 174,800 shares in two transactions at an average price of $11.52 per unit. Following the acquisition of additional shares, GMT Capital owns over 14.10 million shares of Entegris. Following the increase, GMT Capital owns around 10.1% of Entegris’ common stock.
GMT Capital has been one of the largest shareholders of Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG) for several years, which is in line with Mr. Claugus strategy to focus on long-term value. Even though, GMT’s stake is passive by nature, the investor still got significant profits from the holdings, since the stock surged by over 150% over the last five years. Among the investors that we track, GMT Capital is the largest shareholder, outrunning by a significant margin other investors. For example, the second-largest investor, among those that we track, is Clifton S. Robbins‘ Blue Harbour Group, which owns around 3.03 million shares. Among larger hedge funds betting on the stock, David E. Shaw‘s D. E. Shaw is also betting on the company holding approximately 576,100 shares.
Entegris has been recording a significant growth in its revenues for the last several quarters, while for the second quarter, the company posted a double-digits revenue growth to some $250 million, from $178 million a year ago. The upsurge in revenue is related to Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG)’s acquisition of ATMI in April, which expanded the company’s portfolio consisting of products and materials for the production process of semiconductors and other high-tech manufacturing. The acquisition, however, affected the bottom line of Entegris, which reported a net loss of $0.11 per share for the second quarter, from a profit of $0.14 a year ago.
Entegris Inc (NASDAQ:ENTG) also seems to be well priced in comparison with its peers among small-cap semiconductor equipment and materials companies. It trails a P/E of 42.60, which is slightly below the industry average of 42.90. One of its closest peers in terms of market cap is Ambarella Inc (NASDAQ:AMBA), which trades at around $42 per share, but has much better performance in terms of stock price, which surged by 120% only during the past year.
In GMT’s equity portfolio, the Technology sector does not amass a significant stake, but Entegris is GMT’s largest bet on the tech, and the eight largest position in terms of value. Mr. Claugus has made some good picks in its equity portfolio. GMT’s largest holding, Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE), gained around 200% since GMT initiated a stake, back in 2007, while United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) and Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) have also been gaining ground. Judging by the performance of other picks by Mr. Claugus, and the company’s relatively cheap valuation, we can assume that his bulishness on Entegris might also represent a good bet, but not just for GMT, but for retail investors tracking the activity of hedge funds as well.
Disclosure: none
