It took several quarters, but Smith’s labors on Quantum’s board have begun to bear fruit over the past six months, with the physical and virtual storage company’s financial results and shares improving immensely during that time. Shares have doubled in value since October 10 and Quantum’s Q4 2015 earnings results, announced on May 6, were impressive, with quarterly revenue up 15% to $147.8 million.
“I have enjoyed working with the management team and board of Quantum, and I am proud of our accomplishments. Since joining the board in 2013, Quantum’s financial results have improved significantly, and its strategy has become increasingly focused on optimizing the cash flow from the company’s long-standing tape products while further expanding its footprint in the rapidly growing scale-out storage market. As a result, the company is well-positioned to continue to drive profitable core organic revenue growth. To be sure, there is still more to be accomplished, and we believe that the current board, with the addition of Robert Andersen, will be well-suited to capitalize on the opportunities ahead. In particular, we believe that Robert’s extensive experience as a senior executive at technology companies will be highly valuable to Quantum as it continues in its execution and evolution,” Smith said.
Starboard Value holds a position of 44.32 million shares, which includes shares underlying certain convertible senior subordinated notes as well as restricted stock units granted to Smith. Nokomis Capital had the largest exposure to Quantum Corp (NYSE:QTM) of the funds in our database, at 5.56%.
Lastly, Smith has increased his position in Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) to 3.64 million shares, an addition of just under 500,000 shares purchased on April 30 at $18.50 per unit. The move is just the latest example of Smith’s bullishness on the stock, which first manifested late in the fourth quarter when he revealed a new position of 2.20 million shares as well as his joint plans as a member of a newly formed stockholder group to nominate a new director to the semiconductor company’s board.
By the end of the year Smith had increased his position to just under 2.4 million shares, which was bumped up yet again to over 3.14 million shares as per an April 14 filing. Shares of Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) are up by nearly 30% since Smith’s new position was revealed on November 28, exhibiting once again the golden touch of one of the best fund managers in the world today. Billionaire Chuck Royce’s Royce and Associates was the only other fund in our database with a notable position in Silicon Solution as of the end of 2014.
Disclosure: None
