Fidelity National Financial Ventures (FNFV) Added to Eminence Capital’s Equity Portfolio

As a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed, Ricky Sandler‘s Eminence Capital initiated a stake in Fidelity National Financial Ventures (NYSE:FNFV). Eminence disclosed holding around 5.56 million shares of FNFV Group Common Stock. The position is passive by nature and amasses 6.1% of class.

Fidelity National Financial Ventures (FNFV) is a stock that tracks the performance of the Fidelity National Financial’s portfolio company investments. The stock started trading at the end of June with each shareholder of Fidelity National Financial, receiving 0.3333 shares of Fidelity National Ventures. Eminence Capital holds a diversified equity portfolio, although the financial sector amasses a very small portion of the total portfolio value. Mr. Sandler has been bullish on the markets mainly raising his fund’s exposure to most of its positions. This strategy proves to be effective as Eminence Capital has had compound annual returns of around 13% since its inception back in 2009, and had only one year with negative returns during the financial crisis, when Eminence lost 19% in 2008.

Another that owns shares of Fidelity National Financial Ventures (NYSE:FNFV) is Keith Meister‘s Corvex Capital, that last disclosed holding around 2.69 million shares of Fidelity National Ventures, although the fund cut its position from around 6.09 million shares held previously. Corvex built its position in FNFV through holding a big stake in Fidelity National Ventures that contained around 18.29 million shares at the end of the last quarter, and has later been increased to 20.24 million shares. Nevertheless, Corvex owns an activist position and expressed its interest in engaging in discussions with the company’s management.

Overall, Fidelity National Financial Ventures (NYSE:FNFV) reported total revenue of around $686 million for the second quarter, which has increased from $650 million in the second quarter of 2013. Moreover, Fidelity National Financial Ventures (NYSE:FNFV)’s revenue represents a significant portion of Fidelity National Financial’s core operations revenue of approximately $1.7 billion. The EBITDA of  amounted to $58 million, significantly up from $41 million a year ago.

With Fidelity National Financial Ventures (NYSE:FNFV) showing a growth in its top and bottom lines, the stock represents an interesting investment opportunity that might be worth some further research. However, Eminence Capital’s latest bet is also important, since research shows that following bullish activity of big investors can help retail investors to outperform the market by a big margin.

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