“Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) is a global asset management company providing investment management and related services to institutional and individual clients, company-sponsored mutual funds and other pooled investment vehicles. It has $654 billion in assets under management as of January 31, 2013, up from $649 billion a month earlier.
“Legg Mason has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 22, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up about 7.9% year to date. Analysts praise the company in several areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, increase in stock price during the past year and increase in net income. Share price rose recently on news that investment firm Gabelli announced it had obtained a 5% share in LM. ... In the last 12 months, management has reduced shares outstanding by 5.7%. Buy.”
David R. Fried, The Buyback Letter, February 14, 2013
