Bob Evans Farms Inc (BOBE), JDS Uniphase Corp (JDSU): Billionaire Tom Sandell Betting On These Small-Caps

Next up is La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ), a $3.20-billion market cap operator and franchisor of select-service hotels, primarily serving the midscale and upper-midscale segments under the La Quinta brand. La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ) is a new position initiated by Sandell during the first quarter, with ownership of 1.34 million shares, valued at $31.72 million. The company reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2015, posting net income of $6.14 million for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $7.34 million in the same quarter last year. The company’s stock performance has been very impressive as well, moving up by 32.14% during the past year. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was bullish on La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ) during the first quarter, boosting its stake in the company by over 60% to 5.48 million shares.

Lastly is JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ:JDSU), in which Sandell upped his stake by 24% to 2.40 million shares during the quarter and lifting the value of the stake to $31.53 million. JDS Uniphase is engaged in providing network and service enablement solutions and optical products, and has a market cap of $3.03 billion. The company booked a net loss of $13.2 million, or $0.06 per share, for its fiscal third quarter ended March 28, versus a net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.01 per share a year ago. In other company news, M Luke Scrivanich, senior vice president and general manager of optical security and performance products (OSP) at JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ:JDSU), recently unloaded a total of 624 shares of the company in two transactions. Following the sale, Scrivanich owns 8,938 shares of the company. JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ:JDSU)’s stock has dropped by 6.81% year-to-date. Among the largest investors of the company is Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital, which held 5.39 million shares of the company at the end of March.

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