Billionaire Edward Lampert’s Latest Stock Moves

Edward Lampert’s ESL Investments, in its latest 13F, revealed its holdings for the fourth quarter of 2013. The value of the fund’s equity portfolio totaled $2.49 billion, down from $3.48 billion in the third quarter.

Lampert is the chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) and founder, chairman and CEO of ESL Investments. Lampert is also an ex-Goldman Sachs analyst. He started Connecticut-based ESL Investments in 1988 with $28 million. According to Forbes, he is ranked 316th on the list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $3 billion.

In this piece we will discuss the positions revealed by ESL in its latest 13F.

The first one is Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD), in which the fund owns 26.44 million shares, with a reported value of around $1.30 billion. The stake has been reduced significantly by almost 7.4 million shares during the October-December period.

On the second spot is AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN), an automotive retailer in the United States, in which ESL trimmed its stake to 15.77 million shares, worth $783.38 million, from 19.44 million shares held at the end of the third quarter. At the beginning of the month, AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) announced that its total retail new vehicle unit sales in January this year were 19,434, compared to 19,351 in January 2013.

The third-largest holding is The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS), in which the fund owns 6.77 million shares, with a reported value of $264.73 million. The stake was slightly down from 6.59 shares disclosed at the end of the third quarter. The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) is a global retailer, offering clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, children, and babies under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, Athleta, and Intermix brands.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc (NASDAQ:SHOS), a spin-off of the aforementioned Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD), is on the fourth spot. ESL reported holding 5.79 million shares, worth $147.55 million. The position remained unchanged over the quarter.

Disclosure: none

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