Based on the aggregated intelligence of 165,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, diversified holding company Loews
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Loews' business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Loews facts
Headquarters (Incorporated) |
New York City (1954) |
Market Cap |
$15.6 billion |
Industry |
Multiline insurance |
Trailing-12-Month Revenue |
$14.8 billion |
Management |
Co-Chairman Andrew Tisch |
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) |
3.6% |
Major Holdings |
Diamond Offshore |
Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 93% of the 534 members who have rated Loews believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include Valyoo and All-Star TMFDeej, who is ranked in the top 1% of our community.
Late last month, Valyoo highlighted one of the holding company's most attractive holdings: "I like that they own [Diamond Offshore], and that they're under book value. To me, this is what Buffett describes as "the fat pitch."
Fools continue to like Loews primarily as a deeply discounted way to invest in a mix of publicly traded stocks. Specifically, our community believes that the combined value of Loews' 90% stake in insurer CNA, 50% ownership of driller Diamond Offshore, and 67% investment in pipeline operator Boardwalk Pipelines, is about equal to its current market cap. That's even leaving Loews' 100% ownership of both Loews Hotels and HighMount Exploration out of the equation.
But while Loews certainly has tremendous value, CAPS All-Star TMFDeej explains why it's not exactly a lock to get unlocked:
As I have mentioned in my previous several posts, companies that I purchase usually have three key attributes ... they are cheap, they have a catalyst that will unlock value down the road, and they paid a solid dividend that one can collect while they wait for the company's hidden value to be unlocked.
Loews passes the "cheap" test with flying colors, but it currently only pays a 0.7% dividend. Investors are not really being paid to wait for the Tisch Family to unlock the company's true value. ...
Loews did attempt to unlock some value by spinning off its stake in Lorillard tobacco back in May 2008. [Lorillard] has essentially been flat since then and it pays an attractive dividend (that now sits at over 5%). ...
Still I don't know of any specific catalyst that will unlock value in Loews' stock and I'm not sure that I want to wait. I'll keep the stock on my radar and look for news that the company is starting to take actions to enhance shareholder returns in the future.
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