BioScrip Inc (BIOS): GAMCO Investors Still Bullish and Buys More Shares

GAMCO Investors and other funds managed by Mario Gabelli continue to aggressively add to their holdings in BioScrip Inc (NASDAQ:BIOS), having increased their position by another 719,418 shares, according to GAMCO’s latest 13D filing with the SEC. All told, GAMCO and its affiliates have now obtained nearly 7.3 million shares, giving them a 10.62% stake in BioScrip, with Gabelli Funds owning the majority of the aggregate stake, holding 4.89 million shares.

GAMCO Investors, founded in 1986 by incumbent manager Mario Gabelli, has been one of the most successful funds of the past three decades. With an equity portfolio now valued at over $18 billion, and assets under management of over $30 billion, the fund has kept pace with the ever changing financial industry, remaining both relevant and lucrative. In particular, their small cap picks have proven especially successful, beating the S&P 500 by several percentage points annually.

When we last reported on GAMCO’s bullish stance on BioScrip Inc (NASDAQ:BIOS), they had just obtained another 700,000 shares between August 7 and October 24, bringing their total up to 5.86 million shares. In another filing on December 4, they disclosed upping that total by another 700,000 to 6.57 million, leading up to the current disclosure of yet another 700,000 shares. That made them BioScrip’s largest shareholder among institutional investors at the time, a position they still hold to this day.

BioScrip Inc (NASDAQ:BIOS) has had a rocky run over the past 18 months, as its stock has crumbled 65% since a 10-year high on August 2, 2013. That downward momentum has continued right into this year, with the stock down over 16% year-to-date, to just $5.75. The pharmacy and home health care services provider’s most recent quarterly earnings report came in well below analysts expectations, with a reported loss of $0.42 cents per share on a net loss of $28.3 million, against an expected loss of just $0.02 cents per share. That followed a year-ago period in which BioScrip earned $1.6 million and $0.01 cent per share. Despite the losses, revenue did greatly increase from the year-ago period, rising to $244 million from $190.6 million.