Guru Whitney Tilson (Trades, Portfolio) comes from an education-oriented family. His parents were both teachers who met in the Peace Corps, married and subsequently retired to Kenya.
After finishing college, Tilson, now manager of Kase Capital (previously T2 Partners LLC), established himself as an advocate for education by helping launch Teach for America, which actively seeks teachers who will instruct low-income students across the country.
With that kind of background, you might expect to see more activity on his part in education-oriented stocks, but his main interest appears to be in industrial companies. However, he did purchase one stock in the fourth quarter that, from the sound of it, appears to be educational – Reading International Inc (RDI, Financial) – the only new addition to Tilson’s portfolio.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Reading International was known as the Reading Railroad, which was most famous for being included in the original Monopoly board game. It is now a Conrail operation based in Philadelphia.
Tilson bought 351,606 shares in Reading International for an average price of $10.82 per share. The transaction had a 7.9% impact on his portfolio. It is the second-largest stake in his portfolio behind Spark Networks Inc (LOV, Financial), a Los Angeles-based online personal websites company.
Tilson added to his stake in Spark Networks in the fourth quarter, buying 174,650 shares for an average price of $4 per share. That transaction had a 1.06% impact on his portfolio.
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Tilson added to his existing stakes in 11 other companies – Platform Specialty Products Corp (PAH, Financial), magicJack VocalTec Ltd (CALL, Financial), Micron Technology Inc (MU, Financial), Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL, Financial), Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ, Financial), Avis Budget Group Inc (CAR, Financial), JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU, Financial), SodaStream International Ltd (SODA, Financial), Howard Hughes Corp (HHC, Financial), American Airlines Group Inc (AAL, Financial) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS).
Tilson bought 61,450 shares of Platform Specialty Products, a Miami-based producer of technology products and technical services, for an average price of $24.73 per share. The acquisition had a 2.4% impact on his portfolio.
Tilson bought 165,250 shares of magicJack VocalTec, an Israel-based producer of telephone service products, for an average price of $8.64 per share. That purchase had a 2.27% impact on Tilson’s portfolio.
He bought 34,425 shares of Micron Technology, a Boise, Idaho-based manufacturer of semiconductors, for an average price of $33.08 per share. The transaction had a 2.03% impact on his portfolio.
Tilson added 24,375 shares of Delta Air Lines, an airline based in Atlanta, to his portfolio at an average price of $42.01 per share. His purchase had a 2.01% impact on his portfolio.
Reductions and divestitures
Tilson sold his stakes in four companies in the fourth quarter – Boeing Co (BA), Citigroup Inc (C), Netflix Inc (NFLX) and United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL).
He reduced his holdings in three others – Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B), Air Products & Chemicals Inc (APD) and American International Group Inc (AIG).
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