It's been a busy time for the listed investment company (LIC) space in the past couple of years with a number of high-quality offerings coming to market.
One LIC which has only been listed since December 2014 is Perpetual Equity Investment Company Ltd (ASX: PIC) – a company whose portfolio is managed by the well regarded funds management company Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT).
Unlike most LICs, this company has a mandate which allows it to invest offshore. This means shareholders can also gain exposure to quality, undervalued companies listed on foreign exchanges.
Perpetual Equity Investment Company also publishes an estimate of its net tangible asset (NTA) backing on a daily basis which is not standard practice amongst LICs. As of Thursday's close, the NTA after tax was $1.01, while the share price is currently trading at $0.97.
Given the historic track record of many of Perpetual's funds, this LIC could well be worth keeping an eye on for more passive investors who look to utilise fund managers. Likewise for investors who prefer to pick their stocks directly, it can always be useful for generating ideas to take a look at a fund manager's key picks.
Here are the top five current stocks in Perpetual Equity Investment Company portfolio:
- Caltex Australia Limited (ASX: CTX)
- BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL)
- Reckon Limited (ASX: RKN)
- Sky Network Television Ltd (ASX: SKT)
- Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN)
While it can often be difficult to gauge the price a fund may have paid to acquire specific stock and hence their view on value, given the relatively short time that this LIC has been listed, investors can narrow it down.
With the exception of Reckon, the share prices of all companies are lower now than they were at the beginning of 2015, and in the case of BlueScope and Sky Network substantially so.
