Mario Gabelli has raised his exposure to Lawson Products Inc. (NASDAQ:LAWS), a newly amended filing with the SEC showed. According to the filing, Gamco Investors, Gabelli Funds, and Teton Advisors own in aggregate 551,340 shares of Lawson, up from 464,300 reported previously. The new stake amounts to 6.4% of the outstanding common stock.
Lawson Products Inc. (NASDAQ:LAWS) is an industrial distributor of approximately 300,000 maintenance and repair products. The company serves the industrial, commercial, institutional and government maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) market. It ships products to customers in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean from five strategically located distribution centers in North America. The company has a market cap of $125.5 million.
For the fourth quarter of 2013, LAWS reported net sales of $65.7 million, slightly up from $64.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. The company, also, reported a net loss of $2.9 million, or $0.33 per share, as compared to an income of $1.7 million, or $0.20 per share, for the same period last year. However, for the full 2013, Lawson Products narrowed significantly its net loss to $5.1 million, from almost $62.6 million in 2012.
Another major investor in Lawson Products Inc. (NASDAQ:LAWS) is Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, which owns 55,400 shares of the company.
Gamco has beaten the S&P 500 by a little over 2% per year since inception in 1986, and his small cap picks have done even better. No wonder the firm now invests over $30 billion. Gabelli, who was named Morningstar’s Fund Manager of the Year in 1997 and The Institutional Investor’s Money Manager of the Year in 2010, is one of a number of investors who have started with value investing founding fathers Graham and Dodd and added their own twist on that long-standing advice.
Last month, Mario Gabelli’s funds also reported initiating an 8.1% stake in Zale Corporation (NYSE:ZLC).
Disclosure: none
Recommended reading:
Mario Gabelli Initiates 8% Stake in Zale Corporation (ZLC)
Gamco Investors Reports Position In Nobility Homes, Inc. (NOBH), Tredegar Corporation (TG) and Telephone & Data Systems Inc. (TDS)