AltaRock Partners 13F: Scott Bradford and Mark Massey Value These Stocks

4. Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

AltaRock’s position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) amassed 18.60% of its equity portfolio at the end of June, as the fund held 1.08 million shares worth $131.71 million. In the interview, Massey said that AltaRock held Moody’s since the company was spun off from Dan & Bradstreet in 2000, but sold their stake in 2007 on the back of concerns that rating agencies might be blamed for the financial crisis. The fund bought back shares in the fourth quarter of 2014. Massey and Bradford believe that Moody’s has one of the best business moats in the world, as the company alongside its peer S&P are the global referees of debt capital markets. Both companies enjoy a strong networking effect as executives prefer to engage the services of these two companies and keep a close relationship with them, which in turn leads to debt investors subscribing to Moody’s and S&P data products. In addition, AltaRock likes that Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is still growing its revenue organically at a double-digit rate, despite being over 100 years old (it was founded in 1909), and this trend can be sustained for at least another 10 years. One of the largest shareholders of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is Berkshire Hathaway, which owns over 24.60 million shares of the company.