Billionaire Barry Rosenstein’s Top Small-Cap Stock Picks Include Starz (STRZA), SUPERVALU Inc. (SVU)

Another interesting move completed by JANA Partners was the purchase of a 4.94 million share stake in Pinnacle Foods Inc. (NYSE:PF), with the total value of Rosenstein’s position amounting to $201.5 million as of March 31. The New Jersey-based packaged foods company outperformed Wall Street’s expectations during the first quarter, delivering a solid financial performance by generating revenues of $665.3 million, exceeding the Zacks estimate of $663.8 million. When it comes to net profit, the company met the expectations by generating a profit of $0.35 per share during the quarter. The company’s stock has risen by nearly 20% since the beginning of the current year, but investors seem to believe there is yet more room for it to grow as numerous hedge funds, including John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies and Nehal Chopra’s Ratan Capital Group, remain bullish on Pinnacle Foods Inc. (NYSE:PF).

JANA Partners sold more than half of its equity holdings in SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE:SVU) during the first quarter, decreasing the fund’s stake to 12.36 million shares from 30.23 million shares, with the reduced position valued at $143.79 million at the end of the reporting quarter. It seems that the team of experts at JANA Partners made the right decision to cash out of a sizable part of their holdings in this company, since the stock has decreased by more than 27% over the past two months. However, as SUPERVALU’s shares have plummeted to $8.73 from a 2015 peak of $11.90, the stock might represent a good buying opportunity. SUPERVALU Inc. has a forward price-earnings ratio of 11.90, which is far lower than the food retail and distribution industry average of 21.89. This indicates that the wholesale grocer is highly undervalued in relation to its industry peers. Conan Laughlin’s North Tide Capital increased its position in SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE:SVU) to 7.0 million shares during the first quarter, an increase of 500,000 shares.

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