In a newly-amended 13D filing, Jeffrey Bronchick’s Cove Street Capital LLC reported owning 3.17 million shares of Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR), which make up 9.4% of the company’s outstanding common stock. The hedge fund firm has not bought or sold shares since the last time Insider Monkey discussed the fund’s previous 13D filing on the company. Nonetheless, the company recently has reached an agreement with Carlson Capital L.P. and Cove Street Capital LLC, under which Richard D. Squires of Lennox Capital Partners and Ashton Hudson of Rock Creek Capital were appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Similarly, Kathleen Brown and Charles W. Matthews resigned, so the size of the Board remained unchanged.
Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) operates through three business segments: real estate, oil and gas, and other natural resources. The company’s real estate segment revenues (account for 68% of total revenues), mainly derived from the sale of residential single-family lots and tracts, underdeveloped land and commercial real estate, declined to $100.20 million for the nine months that ended September 30 from $153.10 million reported a year ago. Forestar Group will release its fourth-quarter earnings report on February 17, which may trigger a rebound for the company’s stock should financial results please investors. Forestar’s shares have lost more than 39% over the past 52 weeks. Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital owned 1.05 million shares of Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) at the end of September.
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According to a Schedule 13G filing, Jeffrey Gates’ Gates Capital Management currently owns 4.30 million shares of Flotek Industries Inc. (NYSE:FTK), which constitute 8.0% of the company’s outstanding common stock. This compares with the stake of 4.57 million shares disclosed through the hedge fund’s 13F for the third quarter of 2015. The shares of the supplier of oilfield products, services, and equipment are down 61% over the past 12 months. The company’s consolidated revenues for 2015 declined by 25.6% to $334.36 million, primarily as a result of a decrease in oilfield market activity. The average North American active rig count decreased by 47.8% during 2015, which clearly explains the company’s disastrous financial and stock performance. It is highly unlikely that Flotek Industries Inc. (NYSE:FTK)’s performance will improve materially this year, but the company’s international Teledrift business is anticipated to be strong in 2016 despite experiencing worsening market conditions. Charles Paquelet’s Skylands Capital lifted its position in Flotek Industries Inc. (NYSE:FTK) by 39,600 shares during the fourth quarter to 239,600 shares.
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