Investment Guru Warren Buffett acquired Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP) for $37.2 billion on Monday, marking a potentially bullish outlook for aerospace manufacturing and sector-related exchange traded funds.
Precision provides parts like fasteners and turbine blades to aircraft makers, along with pipes and other equipment for power states and oil-and-gas industry, reports Chelsey Dulaney for the Wall Street Journal.
The firm also uses complex, proprietary technology to produce components for some of the world’s largest aerospace companies, which helps provide the company with a kind of economic moat, or long-term competitive advantage.
“I’ve admired PCC’s operation for a long time,” Buffett said in the statement, according to Bloomberg. “It is the supplier of choice for the world’s aerospace industry, one of the largest sources of American exports.”
Precision shares surged 19.1% Monday, following Buffett’s weekend announcement.
The deal also suggests that Buffett has a more positive outlook on the industrial space, notably aerospace manufacturers, which has helped lift the whole industry Monday.
On Monday, the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSEArca: ITA) rose 2.7%, PowerShares Aerospace & Defense Portfolio (NYSEArca: PPA) increased 2.6% and SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSEArca: XAR) gained 2.6%. ITA and PPA are now trading back above their 50-day moving averages while XAR broke above its 200-day moving average.
PCP makes up 4.8% of ITA’s underlying portfolio, 4.3% of PPA and 3.5% of XAR.
ITA and PPA are both top heavy, tilting toward large companies in the space, such as Boeing (NYSE: BA), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN). XAR, on the other hand, takes a slightly more equal-weight approach with the majority of its holdings at about 3% to 4% of its portfolio.
Consequently, while ITA and PPA may lean toward mega- and large-cap stocks, XAR includes around a position 30% in small- and mid-caps.
iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF
For more information on the aerospace sector, visit our aerospace & defense category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.