Billionaire Leon Cooperman’s Top Small-Cap Stock Picks

A stake of 10.75 million shares valued at $134.14 million was held by Cooperman in the Rochester, New York-based holding company HRG Group Inc. (NYSE:HRG). The British conglomerate owns or holds a majority position in several companies including Spectrum Brands, Fidelity and Guaranty Life, and Compass Production GP, LLC. The company has a 57.5% ownership position in Spectrum Brands, which recently announced the purchase of American automotive aftermarket parts company Armored AutoGroup Parent Inc. Shares of HRG have struggled in 2015 as well, dipping by more than 9%. Jason Karp of Tourbillon Capital Partners opened a new position in HRG Group Inc. (NYSE:HRG) during the first quarter consisting of 7.95 million shares, making it one of Karp’s own top small-cap picks.

Cooperman’s stake in oil company QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP) was decreased by 6% during the first quarter, leaving Omega with a stake of 4.12 million shares valued at $85.95 million. Utah-based QEP has, like many companies in the gas and oil sector, struggled with narrowing margins from low oil prices. The result on the stock exchange has unsurprisingly been a year-to-date loss of 7.17%. On April 29, QEP released its results for the first quarter, reporting an earnings per share loss of $0.05, which was actually much better than analysts had predicted. QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP) also reported that it has significantly slowed down its drilling and production, adjusting its cost structure to the depressed market prices. Instead QEP is, according to its CEO and President Mr. Chuck Stanley, focused on increasing the efficiency of its existing wells and operations. On our list of hedge funds whom own stakes in QEP we find HBK Investments with 707,500 shares, and D E Shaw, now holding 3.70 million shares worth $77.14 million in the oil holding company.

Disclosure: None