Source: finviz.com
Source: Ycharts.com
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)
The firm also increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by a huge 86% or more than 6 million shares, bringing the total holding to 13,137,455 shares. This is equivalent to 1.12% of the asset manager’s total portfolio. The company has failed to meet earnings estimates in the last 2 consecutive quarters. This may be attributed to its sliding net margin since the company has been doing quite well in terms of revenue growth. In fact, its quarterly revenue growth has been positive in the last 8 successive quarters. The company’s dividend payment record that goes as far back as 2000 is truly impressive. Its actual P/E ratio in 2012 of 20.77, and the lower forward ratios being estimated show that there is more value to this stock than is currently being shown. Also, the free cash flow of $10.08 billion in 2012 clearly shows that it has the capacity for a strong growth performance in the immediate future. This has been clearly picked up by investors as the stock price has already started to gain a momentum.
Source: finviz.com
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM)
Blackrock has nearly doubled its position in the cigarette company when it bought more than 2.8 million more shares. As of the end of December 2012, the stake was equivalent to 1.02% of the firm’s total portfolio. In the latest quarter, Philip Morris has exceeded earnings estimates. The company is in for a great 2013 as earnings expectations for the first 3 quarters of 2013 have been raised. Recent data on Philip Morris are sweet – a positive revenue growth of 4.59% in the latest quarter, double-digit net margin, and a low P/E ratio of 17.58 for 2012. Investors seeking steady flow of income highly favor PM for its outstanding dividend growth. Within the past 4 years, the annualized dividend payment has grown by an average rate of 21 percent. The latest dividend has a relatively high value of 85 cents per share. Moreover, the company has a large sum of free cash flow, $8.37 billion in 2012. Given these qualities of the stock, I can only laud the asset manager for picking and buying a great deal of Philip Morris shares in the fourth quarter.
There are times when asset managers seem to be making intriguing and thought-provoking decisions but their big moves are always interesting to analyze for these are great candidates to get useful investment ideas from. These big buys by Blackrock Investment Management have several things in common; they have high potential for appreciation as given by the low P/E ratios and all of them are awesome dividend stocks that exhibit high growth potentials. I believe, each of these is worth the space it occupies at the asset manager’s portfolio.
The article 5 Big Buys by Blackrock Investment Management originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Aubrey Tabuga.
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