For PICO Holdings, the pick o' the litter might look like a diamond in the rough. The company invests in what it believes to be undervalued businesses involved in real estate and other industries. PICO owns Vidler Water Company, a firm that acquires and develops water resources and water storage operations in the American Southwest. In 2007 PICO formed UCP to acquire and develop finished and unfinished residential lots in selected markets in California in the hopes of taking advantage of the depressed housing market there. In 2011 PICO divested Nevada Land & Resource, one of the largest private land owners in the state, which sells property and underlying water, mineral, and geothermal rights.