We added to our Citigroup (C) holdings recently and we found out today that we had Sears Holdings (SHLD) Eddie Lampert as a fellow buyer.
According to his filing with the SEC, Lampert’s ESL Investments held 27.8 million Citigroup shares at the end of September up from 24.8 at the end of Q2 and 15 million in Q1. This makes Citi ESL’s third largest holdings behind Sears and AutoNation (AN).
Also during the quarter he sold his 625,000 shares of wireless handset maker Motorola (MOT) during the quarter and bought 16.7 million shares of Home Depot (HD).
Value investor like Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A) Warren Buffett, Bill Miller and Lampert have been buying shares lately and that means two things, there are mis-priced stocks out there and the financial sector seems to be a favorite. Buffet recently bought Bank of America (BAC) Miller is buying Countrywide (CFC) and admittedly is buying others now (although the exact companies he did not disclose) and now Lampert is busy buying Citi.
How is that for company if you are buying financials…
4 replies on “Lampert Adds to Citigroup Stake”
but do you consider the amounts they bought to be significant? there was no major or significant change. nevertheless it reaffirms that this is a good time to buy financials.
sami,
i do consider $1.3 billion invested out of the $13 billion ESL has significant. let’s not forget that this is as of 9/30.
i would be willing to bet that he has been buying a bunch lately since the drop..
couple things here…
Eddie has been raising funds for quite some time and continues to look for new investments.
Buffet invests in BofA and Lowes. Eddie invests in Citi and HD. Seems like some copy-cat investment strategies.
Eddie is likely headed towards a negative return for the year, only his third in the last 20 years. Perhaps he’s investing for the real estate market turn – whenever that may occur. There is no guarantee that will occur anytime in the near future.
SHC still seems lost strategically with no end in sight. No true retail / operational / merchandising management at the senior level. Your post earlier this week about Walmart.com bypassing Sears.com / Kmart.com simply illustrates my point.
anon,
they are always raising and accepting $$
i would not call it “copycatting” as lampert bought his citi stake before buffet bought Bof A and buffett himself did not buy HD, lou simpson did
disagree on retail. the lands end concept is a huge success and being rolled out all over