Shares of Financial Engines (FNGN) are down 20% so far this year, but the retirement solutions provider should see its fortunes improve once its latest acquisition starts paying off, said Sandy Villere, portfolio manager for the Villere Balanced Fund (VILLX). ‘They just bought the Mutual Fund Store from Warburg Pincus and Warburg is going to stay on,’ said Villere. ‘Warburg took stock rather than cash, which is really a sign of confidence to me, and now they will own 13% of the whole.’ The Villere Balanced Fund is down 1.7% thus far in 2016, according to fund-tracker Morningstar. The $94 million fund has returned an average of 5.4% annually over the past 10 years, outpacing 69% of its peers in Morningstar’s small growth category. Villere is also bullish on Taser (TASR), up 12% year-to-date, despite its rich valuation of 39 times its 2017 earnings. Villere said the company has been relying on its non-lethal weapons to carry the sales load in recent years, but is now seeing more top-line input from its body camera software.
Subscribe to TheStreetTV on YouTube:
For more content from TheStreet visit:
Check out all our videos:
Follow TheStreet on Twitter:
Like TheStreet on Facebook:
Follow TheStreet on LinkedIn:
Follow TheStreet on Google+:
source
