A. M. Castle & Co (CAS): Huber Capital Management Further Raises Its Stake; Mr. Huber’s Other Favored Stocks

Mr. Huber was also bullish on KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), a $2.4 billion engineering and construction company which represents the second-largest holding in his equity portfolio. During the fourth quarter, Huber Capital raised its stake by 32% to 8.17 million shares, valued at $138.49 million. The fund raised its stake amid the company announcing some restructuring plans that also involve the separation of some non-core operations. Meanwhile, the restructuring charges have affected the company’s earnings for the last quarter of 2014, which amounted to a loss of $1.24 billion. KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) still expects restructuring to affect the current year results, which are forecasted at between $1.07 and $1.22 per share for 2015. On the back of this news, the company’s stock lost around 9% on Friday. Nevertheless, KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) gained the attention of some investors, such as Dmitry Balyasny of Balyasny Asset Management. Balyasny raised its stake by more than 870% during the October-December period to 10.74 million shares.

With a stake valued at $128.90 million, Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) represents the third-largest position in terms of value from Huber Capital’s 13F portfolio. The stake has been slightly increased and contained 2.62 million shares at the end of 2014. The stock of the specialty metals manufacturer lost 28% in the last year, underperforming the industry average of -22.9%. Moreover, in January, Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) has been downgraded by Cowen and Company to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ and Zacks cut its rating to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’. Billionaires Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group and Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies are two other investors in Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS), but the positions account for only about 0.01% of each fund’s equity portfolio. Citadel disclosed ownership of some 220,700 shares and Renaissance’s stake amassed 117,500 shares as of the end of 2014.

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