Billionaires Paulson and Icahn Trim Stakes In 2 Companies; Plus Latest News on 2 Proxy Fights

Highly-successful Activist Investor Takes Profits off the Table from Hologic Investment

As revealed by a newly-amended 13D filing, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP currently owns 10.23 million shares of Hologic Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX), which constitute 3.61% of the company’s outstanding shares. This represents a decrease from the stake of 15.82 million shares disclosed in the activist fund’s previous 13D filing on the company, submitted with the SEC on April 4.

Hologic is a manufacturer and supplier of diagnostics products, medical imaging systems and surgical products. The company conducts its business operations through four main segments: Diagnostics, Breast Health, GYN Surgical, and Skeletal Health. Hologic Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX)’s product revenues for first quarter of fiscal 2016 that ended December 26 reached $587.2 million, up from $546.6 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Product revenues generated from the Diagnostics segment, which accounted for roughly 52% of total product revenues for the quarter, increased by 2.4% year-on-year, the slowest growth rate among the four segments. Breast Health revenues, which represented 29% of product revenues, grew 11.6% year-on-year, while GYN Surgical product revenues (17%) and Skeletal Health product revenues (3%) increased by 17.1% and 9.1%, respectively. Going back to Mr. Icahn’s involvement with Hologic, Icahn Capital acquired a double-digit stake in the medical product company in late 2013 and then managed to get two seats on the company’s Board for two Icahn designees. Moreover, the feared activist investor forced the appointment of Stephen P. MacMillan as Chief Executive Officer in December 2013 to replace former CEO, Jack W. Cumming. Carl Icahn said at the beginning of 2016 that Hologic serves as “the quintessential example of activism at its best”, and thanked Mr. MacMillan for “a job well done”. A total of 33 “hedgies” from our database had stakes in the medical-equipment maker at the end of December, stockpiling nearly 16% of the company’s outstanding shares. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies acquired a 1.67 million-share stake in Hologic Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX) during the October-to-December period.

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