Value Investor Gayner’s Top Stock Picks For Q4

#4 Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA)

Shares Owned by Markel Corporation (as of September 30): 2.135 million shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $177.418 Million

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) continued to remain Markel Corporation’s fourth largest equity holding at the end of the third quarter with Markel not making any changes to its stake in the pharmacy major during that period. After a decent rally during the first quarter of the year, the stock of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) has remained more or less range bound since then and currently trades with year-to-date gains of 7.38%. On October 27, the company announced that it would be acquiring smaller rival Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) in a $9.4 billion deal. On October 28, Walgreens Boots Alliance declared its fourth quarter fiscal 2015 results, reporting EPS of $0.88 on revenue of $28.50 billion, compared to EPS of $0.81 on revenue of $28.45 billion it reported for the same quarter last year. Stephen Mandel‘s Lone Pine Capital more than doubles its stake in the company to nearly 5.2 million shares during the second quarter.

#3 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B)

Shares Owned by Markel Corporation (as of September 30): 1.51 million shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $197.114 Million

#2 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)

Shares Owned by Markel Corporation (as of September 30): 1079 shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $210.664 Million

Although Markel Corporation kept its stake unchanged in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B)’s class B stock during the third quarter, it added one more share of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s class A stock during the same period. Both Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s stock have had a gradual decline this year and currently trade down more than 10% year-to-date. On November 6 the company reported better than expected third quarter results owing mostly to the $4.4 billion onetime windfall it received during the quarter from the Kraft Foods-H.J Heinz merger. While analysts had expected the company to report operating earnings of $2,760 per Class A equivalent share on revenue of $58.99 billion, Berkshire Hathaway reported operating earnings of $2,769 per Class A equivalent share on revenue of $61.12 billion. Whitney Tilson of Kase Capital is betting big on Berkshire, considering that its class A stock is currently trading below its intrinsic value (see more details).

#1 CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX)

Shares Owned by Markel Corporation (as of September 30): 4.91 Million shares

Value of Holding (as of September 30): $291.443 Million

Finally, even though its stock went down by more than 10% during the third quarter and Markel Corporation didn’t make any changes to its stake in it, CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX) still continued to remain Markel Corporation’s largest equity holding at the end of September. The continuous decline that shares of CarMax, Inc (NYSE:KMX) have suffered since April this year has resulted in it trading down more than 16% year-to-date. For the second quarter of fiscal 2016 the company reported EPS of $0.79 on revenue of $3.88 billion, compared to EPS of $0.70 on revenue of $3.60 billion that it reported for the same quarter last year. On September 25, analysts at Sterne Agee CRT reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, but lowered their price target on it to $73 from $83. After Markel Corp, Gavin M. Abrams‘ Abrams Bison Investments was the largest shareholder of CarMax, Inc at the end of June among the hedge funds we cover; it owned slightly over 2.7 million shares of the company, as of June 30.

Disclosure: None