Those looking at what "smart money" investors are buying for clues on where bargains might lie may be interested in this S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) share.
Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest from Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) just pumped in another $13 million plus into the Austal Ltd (ASX: ASB).
He did this through his investment vehicle Tattarang Ventures, which now owns 15.4% of the shipbuilder. This is up from its previous holding of 13.8%.
The ASX 300 share that's in the money for Twiggy
Tattarang started its latest on-market purchase on 18 June and it seems to have picked a good time to make the purchase.
The average price Twiggy paid in the latest round is circa $2.29. The Austal share price is currently trading down 0.74% at $2.68.
Meanwhile, the ASX 300 benchmark is shedding 0.57% of its value.
Timing is everything, or is it?
Perhaps Twiggy's growing stake in the Austal share price is bolstering investor confidence during these volatile times. Austal hasn't issued any market-sensitive news recently and Twiggy's increased investment comes ahead of the company's full year results.
You would think that one would wait for a company to hand in its earnings report card before committing many more millions to the investment.
But Tattarang tend to be long-term shareholders and Austal is facing several medium to longer-term tailwinds.
Rising tide lifts this ASX 300 share
Not least is the increase global defence spending due to rising geopolitical tensions in Europe and in our neck of the woods. There's no need to mention names here.
While concerns about Austal's sales pipeline had sunk the ASX 300 share to the depth of $1.80 on June 30 this year, management has managed to win back investors.
It announced last month that the US Navy awarded it a US$156.2 million ($225.5 million) contract to build two Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships.
Significantly, these are steel hull ships. There were concerns that Austal might miss out on more US Navy contracts if the customer looked to build more of such ships. Austal's legacy has arguably been in the construction of lighter aluminium hulled vessels.
Further, Austal also announced in July this year that it was awarded a contract that could be worth as much as US$3.3 billion. This time, the contract is for the design and construction of up to 11 Offshore Patrol Cutters for the United States Coast Guard.
Other ASX shares that Twiggy has been buying
Maybe these developments were enough to convince Twiggy to up his investment in the ASX 300 share.
After all, Tattarang is no stranger to investing in ASX shares. It also has substantial holdings in the likes of Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) and Swoop Holdings Ltd (ASX: SWP), among others.
