Stocks Investing Superstars Are Buying

Scraping together enough coin to win the annual luncheon auction with Warren Buffett is probably beyond the means of most investors, but we can still see his best investment ideas through his SEC filings The same can be done for other investing superstars, too.

Today we'll pore over the reports of some of the top investors and then check in with Motley Fool CAPS members to get their thoughts.

First, a few caveats ...
There's a delay from when the stocks were bought and when the paperwork is filed so they might have sold out since. And these legends may be hot investors now, but even Bill Miller had a cold snap after 15 consecutive market-beating years. So, as always, you should do your own due diligence before investing.

In the meantime let's take a look at the folks at PRIMECAP Management, which employs a team-based investment approach and has a long history as a subadvisor to Vanguard's family of funds.

Fund: PRIMECAP Management
No. of Stocks Owned: 242
Top 5 Holdings: Amgen, Eli Lilly, Google, Novartis, FedEx
Top Sectors: Information Technology, Health care, Industrials

Unlike many of the investing legends we've looked at, PRIMECAP's portfolio is more diverse than most, and recent SEC filings show it has added 10 new positions to the portfolio, some of which are shown below.

Source: GuruFocus and CAPS.

Price is what you pay
While there's a lot to be hopeful about in the recent March retail reports, the big jump in same-store sales experienced by Nordstrom, Kohl's (NYSE: KSS), and even Macy's (NYSE: M) could be fleeting. The numbers were helped by an early Easter, meaning April's sales report could be disappointing. Indeed, Kohl's already says it expects April comps to fall by double-digit percentages.

With more outlets available for purchasing luxury items at lower costs and lapping a quarter where the easy money was already made, it's right that investors are cautious about Nordstrom's ability to repeat its results throughout the year. Fully 27% of CAPS members rating the high-end retailer think it will underperform the market, though All-Star members are more upbeat in their outlook with only 17% saying it will lag the broad index.

Jacobs Engineering might also be enjoying a temporary boost, but it's probably a result of a CNBC talking head suggesting last week that the construction and engineering firm might be the target of a private equity takeover. Not that the company needed any more support. The CAPS community resoundingly thinks it will beat the market with 97% of the nearly 1,100 members that have rated it marking it to out perform.

Member ewald1414 says with the nation's infrastructure in desperate need of repair, firms will turn to Jacobs for assistance, particularly if last year's stimulus package ever trickles down to the companies that do the actual work. But many of those businesses are still waiting to be stimulated, and even if it arrives, it won't be the end game to achieving a sustainable recovery. Steelmaker Nucor (NYSE: NUE) simply likens it to a jobless welfare package.

An economic recovery could ensure that Canadian oil sands developer Cenovus Energy benefitted from oil prices that trended higher, says CAPS member alfred13. At sustained higher price points, it becomes more economically feasible to tap into the tar sands. The collapse of energy prices two years ago put a lot of these projects on hold, but they're coming back with a vengeance these days.

Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) is selling off oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere while bulking up its oil sands properties. It bought half the interest in BP's Kirby oil sands property just last month.

While new to the public markets, being freshly spun out of EnCana, Cenovus has 10 oil sands projects it has identified for development and expects 10% to 15% production increases in two particular areas. With its Foster Creek project the largest steam-driven oil sands development, Cenovus wants to double over the next decade the current level of 105,000 barrels a day being pumped out.

It's an ambitious plan, but you can add your opinion on the Cenovus Energy CAPS page on whether this developer will just get stuck in the mud.

Value is what you get
Become an investing superstar yourself by starting your own research on these stocks on Motley Fool CAPS. Read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made, all from a stock's CAPS page.

Sign up today for the completely free service and tell us whether these stocks are as good a value as these investing legends think they are.