This Week In Activism – Freeport-McMoRan, Telenav, Ethan Allen by Stock Pucker
We’re back, for now. A lot has changed over the last month. This includes some inner workings at SP that we’ll detail in due time. Sign up for the weekly email on the right.
Here’s the new new though—
We’re starting up a new service, straight from the underground. Built to bring special situations and activist investing to the retail investors
We plan on taking a look at an activist targeted company that fits a strict set of rules. Rules that we feel create the greatest and best opportunity when it comes to following activist investors in event driven opportunities.
The criteria for profiled companies:
- Less than $5 billion market cap
- New or increased activist stake within the last 30 days
- The stock is not trading at more than 20% where activist bought shares
- Activist has at least 10% of its portfolio invested in the name
You can read more on that here.
Now for the week in activist investing.
This Week In Activism – Aug. 31
News—
- Tom Sandell is still pushing for a buyout of Ethan Allen or a spinoff of its real estate – he sent a letter to the board threatening a proxy battle and owns 5.5%.
- TCS Capital upped its Angie’s List stake to 9%. The fund is going to push for three board seats and plans on helping with the selection of the next CEO. The biggest thesis is to get the company sold.
- Larry Seidman sent a letter to ASB Bancorp trying to get the board to accelerate a sale of the small bank.
- Stadium Capital ups its Big 5 Sporting Goods stake to 12.6%. They’ve been an activist here since 2011.
- PW Partners boosted its Town Sports International to 11.7%.
- Cheniere Energy added two of Carl Icahn’s representatives to the board, where he went active last month with an 8.2% stake.
New campaigns—
- Carl Icahn knows no bounds when it comes to commodity-related pain. He’s now active in Freeport-McMoRan with an 8.5% stake. He’s likely looking for a board seat and also has plans to talk with the company about costs and capital allocation.
- Nokomis Capital is an activist at Telenav with an 8.6% stake. The fund has been talking with management about operational issues and board composition. This is only its 2nd activist campaign in the last few years.
From the web—
Email us at [email protected] with questions or feedback. Until next week.
