5 Unheralded Finance Picks of Billionaire Michael Price

#3 CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT)

– Shares Owned by MFP Investors (as of June 30): 520,000

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $16.59 Million

While MFP Investors didn’t make any change to its stake in CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT) during the second quarter, Michael Blitzer‘s Kingstown Capital Management did, upping its stake in the company by 8% to 2.15 million shares. Unlike the stocks of the other two bank holding companies discussed previously, CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT)’s stock hasn’t had a great 2016, losing 12.61% of its value this year. In June, the banking company sold its Canadian operations to Laurentian Bank of Canada for an undisclosed sum of money. CIT Group is currently engaged in selling its aircraft leasing business and according to recent reports, Avolon (NYSE:AVOL) might could end up acquiring it with a bid of between $3 billion and $4 billion.

Several analysts who track CIT Group feel that the intrinsic value of its stock is around $45 to $50 or more, which suggests upside potential of greater than 30%. According to them, if the company uses the proceeds of the sale of its aircraft leasing business for share buyback, the stock could see a major up move in the coming months. Ownership of CIT Group among the funds tracked by Insider Monkey came down by four to 30 during the second quarter and the aggregate value of their holdings in it also fell by $77 million to $1.03 billion.

#2 Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY)

– Shares Owned by MFP Investors (as of June 30): 1.42 Million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $17.93 Million

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY)’s stock has been on a gradual rise since May 2015, when it converted from a mutual savings & loan company to a publicly-traded bank holding company, with shares having appreciated by over 26% since then. For its fiscal year 2016 fourth quarter, the company reported EPS of $0.05 on revenue of $27.44 million, whereas analysts had expected it to report EPS of $0.05 on revenue of $26.47 million. Earlier this month, analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated their ‘Market Perform’ rating on the stock, while upping their price target on it $13.50 from $13.00, which is very close to where the stock is trading currently. MFP Investors was the only hedge fund that we track which didn’t make any change to its stake in Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) during the second quarter, out of the 19 that were long the stock.

#1 Waterstone Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBF)

– Shares Owned by MFP Investors (as of June 30): 1.19 Million

– Value of Holding (as of June 30): $18.24 Million

Finally, as with its stakes in the other stocks already discussed, MFP Investors kept its stake in Waterstone Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBF) unchanged during the second quarter. Waterstone Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBF) has been one of the best performing bank holding companies in the last five years, returning 545% during that time. Despite such a stellar return, which includes appreciating by over 17% in 2016, the stock still sports a respectable annual dividend yield of almost 2%. Most analysts who cover the stock feel that it will continue moving upwards in the coming years, as even at these levels it represents a good buying opportunity for long-term value investors. Hedge funds as a group were also equally optimistic about the company going into the third quarter. The number of funds tracked by Insider Monkey that were long Waterstone Financial inched up by two to 13 and the aggregate value of their holdings in it rose by 13.6% to $73.62 million during the June quarter.

Disclosure: None