Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital significantly reduced its exposure to Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) by shedding more than 1.87 million Common Shares. According to its latest 13G filing, the fund now holds around 1.39 million shares, representing 4.1% of the company’s outstanding stock. Due to this transaction, Cadian Capital is no longer the second-largest institutional shareholder of Comscore, a position it held for almost a year.
Cadian Capital is a technology, media, and telecommunications focused investment fund, founded in 2007 by Eric Bannasch. Previous to this endeavour, Mr. Bannasch held a position as Managing Partner at Perry Capital, where he was in charge of managing the portion of the company’s portfolio dedicated to equities from the technology and telecommunications sector. Currently, around 72% of Cadian Capital’s equity portfolio – which is valued at around $3.8 billion – is focused on technology stocks. According to the fund’s last 13F disclosure, its top 10 picks delivered returns of 51%. The firm’s most important positions include Verint Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VRNT), Qlik Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:QLIK), and Altera Corporation (NASDAQ:ALTR), accounting for around 22% of its portfolio. Despite not making it into the top 10 picks, Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) represented an important holding for Cadian Capital prior to the latest transaction, especially following a 10% increase in its stake in the company last January. The firm’s bullish stance towards the stock has apparently been reversed this quarter, as demonstrated by the large reduction in its exposure.
Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a $1.43 billion market cap provider of digital media analytics solutions, operating in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Its products and services are intended to allow customers to obtain information regarding consumer behavior, specifically detailed information about consumer usage of digital content and advertising. The company generates and analyzes reports on digital activity through its proprietary databases, software, and computational infrastructure. Mobile carriers around the globe for example, receive a great deal of their market intelligence through the firm’s mobile and network analytics products. Furthermore, Comscore delivers information regarding audience size, behavior, and characteristics of Internet users on various platforms, ranging from PCs, to smartphones, and game consoles.
The company is considered a leader in the world of digital data measurements and its stock prices have grown around 52% over the past year. At the end of the year however, the firm’s General Counsel Christiana L. Lin sold 1,000 shares, as disclosed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a Form 4 filing. The insider selling transaction might have been small, yet could indicate a degree of pessimism regarding future stock prices.
With fourth quarter 2014 financial results to be announced on February 12, Cadian Capital might have shed a considerable amount of shares at an appropriate time, especially if Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) discloses unfavorable news next month. Nevertheless, the hedge fund might simply be rebalancing its equity portfolio. After all, its current holding of 1.39 million shares is by no means small and could suggest it remains bullish regarding the stock.
Although the company continues to enjoy the backing of numerous funds, Cadian Capital is not the only institutional shareholder reducing its position in Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR). Donald Chiboucis’ Columbus Circle Investors for example continue to own around 1.22 million shares, after reducing their holdings by 6%. In addition, Mick Hellman’s HMI Capital and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies both reduced their stake in the digital measurement firm by 15% last quarter. Despite this reduction in their exposure to Comscore, the investment funds boast a position of 553,200 shares and 480,600 shares, respectively. James A. Noonan’s Pivot Point Capital on the other hand maintain his bullish stance towards the company, holding on to its 1.18 million shares that amount to 17.8% of the firm’s equity portfolio. Although some institutional shareholders have reduced their exposure to Comscore last quarter, most continue to own a considerable amount of shares. In fact, Cadian Capital seemed rather bullish regarding the stock, constantly increasing its stake in the company throughout 2014. The latest 13G filing disclosed by the SEC shows that this trend has been reversed, although the fund’s current holdings suggest it has not lost faith in Comscore’s ability to continue performing well.
Disclosure: Pablo Erbar holds no position in any stocks or funds mentioned.
