Tracking Iam Cumming's portfolio - Q1 2012 Update

This article is the first of a series that provides ongoing analysis of the changes made to Ian Cumming’s Leucadia National's (LUK) US stock portfolio on a quarterly basis. Ian Cumming is the chairman of Leucadia National (LUK) since 1978 and he along with Joseph Steinberg built the company into a $5B market-cap entity with interests in a diverse set of establishments that include real-estate, wineries, mines, etc.Their focus is on turning around financially distressed companies and selling it eventually for huge returns. As such, their US long portfolio has just four names.

The spreadsheet below show Cumming's US stock holdings as of Q1 2012:

 The investments in Jefferies Corp (JEF) and Mueller Industries Inc (MLI) represent very large 68% and 30% of Leucadia's ~$1.2B portfolio. As such, the positions indicate a clear bullish bias. Jefferies (JEF) currently trades well below the price range Cumming could have bought itat - it was purchased in 2009 and his average cost basis was $22.61 with the stock currently trading around $13. MLI was purchased last quarter (Q4 2011) when the share price varied between $35.50 and $46 and the stock currently trades at around $41.