Nelson Peltz’s Firm Crushes Mondelez Stake

Nelson Peltz (Trades, Portfolio), a founding partner and CEO of Trian Fund Management, disclosed this week that his firm axed a major chunk of its holding in Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ, Financial) and added to its stake in Janus Henderson Group PLC (JHG, Financial)(JUHDY, Financial) according to GuruFocus Real-Time Picks, a Premium feature. During the third quarter, the firm also pared its holdings in Sysco Corp. (SYY, Financial) and Proctor & Gamble Co. (PG, Financial).

Trian invests in a concentrated portfolio of undervalued and underperforming companies and seeks operational and strategic initiatives to enhance long-term shareholder value. The firm focuses on companies that offer a favorable risk-reward dynamic and have less competition among peers given barriers to entry.

As of Sept. 30, the firm’s $8.04 billion equity portfolio contains nine stocks with a turnover ratio of 1%. The top three sectors in terms of weight are consumer defensive, industrials and financial services, representing 28%, 27.21% and 24.06% of the equity portfolio.

Mondelez

Trian sold 5,468,968 shares of Mondelez (

MDLZ, Financial), chopping 68.38% of the holding and 4.24% of its equity portfolio.

Shares of Mondelez averaged $62.31 on the Nov. 18 transaction date; the stock is fairly valued based on Friday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.97.

GuruFocus ranks the Chicago-based confectioner company’s profitability 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 7 and an operating margin that has increased approximately 4.40% per year on average over the past five years and outperforms more than 87% of global competitors.

Gurus with holdings in Mondelez include

Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio) and Pioneer Investments.

Janus Henderson Group

The firm added 1,714,291 shares of Janus Henderson Group (

JUHDY, Financial), increasing the position by 6.97% and its equity portfolio by 0.52%.

Shares of Janus Henderson averaged $41.55 during the third quarter; the stock is significantly overvalued based on Friday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.40.

GuruFocus ranks the U.K.-based asset management company’s financial strength 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a high Piotroski F-score of 8, a strong Altman Z-score of 3.68 and debt ratios that are outperforming more than 71% of global competitors.

Sysco

Trian sold 4,493,098 shares of Sysco (

SYY, Financial), slicing 25.14% of the position and 4.08% of its equity portfolio.

Shares of Sysco averaged $76.29 during the third quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Friday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.01.

GuruFocus ranks the Houston-based food service distribution company’s financial strength 5 out of 10 on the back of interest coverage and debt ratios underperforming more than 70% of global competitors despite having a strong Altman Z-score of 4.73.

Proctor & Gamble

Trian sold 522,262 shares of Proctor & Gamble (

PG, Financial), trimming 9.02% of the position and 0.82% of its equity portfolio.

Shares of P&G averaged $141.69 during the third quarter; the stock is fairly valued based on Friday’s price-to-GF Value ratio of 1.05.

GuruFocus ranks the Cincinnati-based consumer products company’s profitability 7 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include profit margins and returns outperforming more than 90% of global competitors despite three-year revenue growth rates outperforming just over 62% of global consumer products companies.