Brett Hendrickson‘s Nokomis Capital has steeped up its interest in Telenav Inc (NASDAQ:TNAV) and is now seeking representation on the company’s Board of Directors. As reported in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nokomis Capital has nominated Richard L. Todaro and Mikel H. Williams for election to the company’s board at its 2015 annual shareholder meeting, on behalf of the fund. In addition, Hendrickson has boosted his stake in Telenav to approximately 3.68 million shares from 3.48 million shares previously reported, thus taking control of 9.1% of the company’s common stock. Shares of Telenav have jumped by nearly 9% in today’s session.
As the financial world was melting down at the height of the 2008 crisis, Brett Hendrickson managed to raise $4 million from his family and friends to start Nokomis Capital. Hendrickson invests mainly in companies that have solid cash flow and good profit margins, and tends to favor companies that “make things you can touch and feel.” He employs a fundamental approach to picking his targets and goes both long and short, although he’s got a preference for the latter. His philosophy has paid off handsomely, as Nokomis’ public equity portfolio carried a market value of $362 million at the end of the second quarter.
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Hendrickson has acquired a taste for tech stocks lately, with roughly half of his capital being invested in companies from this sector. A notable play is NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE:NPTN), a producer of circuits used in communications devices that was added to Nokomis’ portfolio during the second quarter. Hendrickson bought exactly 1.95 million shares, making it a top investment along with RealD (NYSE:RLD), the producer of 3D and other visual technologies. According to its latest 13F filing, Nokomis holds 1.58 million shares of RealD, up by 9% during the quarter. Kirkland’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:KIRK) has fallen out of Hendrickson’s favor, having reduced his exposure to the company for the third straight quarter, to 913,859 shares.
A producer of navigation systems and software, Telenav Inc (NASDAQ:TNAV) has a market cap of $293 million and does not pay a dividend. While Chuck Royce was cutting his holding in the company by 6% to 412,300 shares during the second quarter, Richard Driehaus decided it was a good time to join the party and initiated a position. His fund, Driehaus Capital, holds 312,109 shares according to its latest quarterly filing.
