Leon Cooperman, chairman and chief executive officer of Omega Advisors acquired a huge stake in dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA), a multi-channel retail company, based on his latest 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Based on his filing, Cooperman purchased 4,761,905 shares or a 6.93% stake in dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA). The stock price of the company rose by more than 12% to $1.50 per share after the billionaire investor reported his pos.
Over the past 52-week range, the shares of the retail company traded from $0.63 to $1.83 per share. It has a market cap of $69.98 million.
Whitney Tilson’s T2 Partners Management LP was the largest shareholder of dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA) with 2,652,099 shares or a 5.53% stake as of June 30, 2013. Given the size of Cooperman’s investment, he is now the largest shareholder of the company.
Some of the other large institutional investors of the retail company include North Run Capital LP with 2,598,048 shares or 5.42%, Royce and Associates, LLC with 2,228,805 shares or 4.65%, and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) with 1,835,874 shares or 3.83%.
During the second quarter, dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA) reported a 16% decline in revenue to $33.2 million. Revenue from its retail and direct segments dropped by 14.7% and 21.8%, respectively. The company lost $11.1 million from continuing operations, and its gross margin decreased to 20.9%
dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA) obtained approximately $14.8 million in proceeds from an underwritten follow-on public offering of its common stock during the period. Back then, Tracy Gardner, CEO of the company, stated that its financial results showed challenging traffic trends and underperforming legacy inventory.
According to Gardner, dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA) is expected to deliver similar trends in the third quarter as it moves through its inventory. She added that the management team of the company is “focused on stabilizing the business, amplifying the dELiA*s brand image and driving improved execution in the near term.”
Huge positions of Cooperman and Tilson in dELiA*s
The company is also concentrating on executing its go-forward strategy to achieve a better position and more consistent long-term growth. “While we acknowledge that this turnaround will take time, we remain excited about our future potential,” said Tracy.
The huge positions of Cooperman and Tilson in the company demonstrate that dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA) is a good investment opportunity, and it has the ability to grow in the future.
