Marcato Capital Management Trims CyrusOne (CONE) Position

Mick McGuire's hedge fund Marcato Capital Management has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding shares of CyrusOne (CONE).

Per the filing, Marcato has sold 383,000 shares on June 26th at prices ranging between $18.95 and $19.10.  After the sales, the hedge fund still retains a position of just over 2.2 million CONE shares.

We previously posted about Marcato's CONE stake in April.

McGuire originally pitched CyrusOne as an idea as part of Cincinnati Bell (CBB).  CONE was spun-off from the company via an IPO.  He pitched CBB/CONE at the Great Investors' Best Ideas investment symposium in Dallas late last year. 

Per Google Finance, CyrusOne is "a owner, operator and developer of enterprise-class, carrier-neutral data center properties. The Company provides mission-critical data center facilities that protect operation of information technology (IT) infrastructure for approximately 500 customers. As of September 30, 2012, the Company’s property portfolio included 23 operating data centers in nine markets: Austin; Chicago; Cincinnati; Dallas; Houston; London; San Antonio; Singapore, and South Bend providing approximately 1,630,000 net rentable square feet (NRSF) and powered by approximately 125 megawatts of utility power."


To hear McGuire's latest investing ideas, register for the Value Investing Congress where he'll be speaking in September, along with other prominent hedge fund managers.  Market Folly readers receive a discount to the event here.

Marcato Capital Management Discloses CyrusOne (CONE) Stake

Mick McGuire's hedge fund firm Marcato Capital Management recently filed a 13G on shares of CyrusOne (CONE) with the SEC.  Per the filing, Marcato has revealed an 11.8% ownership stake in CONE with 2,592,394 shares.  The filing was originally required due to portfolio activity on February 21st.

Per an additional Form 4 filed with the SEC, we see that McGuire's firm was out buying some of their shares on various dates between February 28th and March 12th, at prices ranging from $21.25 up to $22.02 per share.  Cyrus One shares currently trade just below $23.


Interest Stems From Cincinnati Bell Stake

While Marcato Capital Management has disclosed CONE as a new position, it's important to realize that the hedge fund also owns a stake in Cincinnati Bell (CBB).  CONE is a subsidiary of CBB.  CBB completed an initial public offering of 16,500,000 CONE shares back on January 18th.  After the IPO, CBB expected to effectively own 71.6% of CyrusOne.

A few months ago, McGuire pitched CBB at the Great Investors' Best Ideas symposium and highlighted the compelling angle of the CONE spin-off IPO.  And now that CONE is a separately traded entity, Marcato has revealed a sizable stake in it.

Per Google Finance, CyrusOne is "a owner, operator and developer of enterprise-class, carrier-neutral data center properties. The Company provides mission-critical data center facilities that protect operation of information technology (IT) infrastructure for approximately 500 customers. As of September 30, 2012, the Company’s property portfolio included 23 operating data centers in nine markets: Austin; Chicago; Cincinnati; Dallas; Houston; London; San Antonio; Singapore, and South Bend providing approximately 1,630,000 net rentable square feet (NRSF) and powered by approximately 125 megawatts of utility power."

For more from this hedge fund, head to Marcato's recent portfolio activity.

Mick McGuire on Cincinnati Bell, Corrections Corp & NCR Corp

We're posting up notes from the Great Investors' Best Ideas Investment Symposium in Dallas and next up is Mick McGuire of Marcato Capital Management.  He focuses on companies with market caps between $1-5 billion and employs activism where needed.  He previously worked for Bill Ackman's Pershing Square.  He pitched 3 ideas:


Long Cincinnati Bell (CBB)

Trading around an EV of 3.8bn, McGuire highlights that Cincinnati Bell is actually two companies in one: a legacy telecom company that generates cashflow but is declining and a data center/colocation business that is seeing 20% growth year over year.

Currently, CBB uses free cash flow to fund the data center growth.  The stock is disliked by both growth and yield investors so the solution is to split the businesses.

The company will be spinning off its data center business as a REIT.  Then the telco business can de-lever, pay a dividend and repurchase shares.  McGuire is looking for a December or Q1 initial public offering (IPO).  His sum of the parts yields a target price of $8.30.

We just posted yesterday how Marcato Capital Management filed a 13G on CBB and are now one of the largest owners.


Corrections Corp of America (CXW)

This is an oldie but goodie as McGuire's previous employer, Pershing Square, had also owned Corrections Corp in the past.  Marcato Capital Management says this is a name with a hard catalyst in the form of a REIT conversion.

McGuire has been working with Corvex Management on this one (Keith Meister's activist firm) and CXW is waiting on approval.

The fundamental thesis on this name is that there's an "acute overcrowding problem in public prisons."  McGuire argues that private prisons like CXW are a better option and there's significant barriers to entry here.  The average cost per bed is 80k+ for government versus 55-65k for private.  He also points to incremental margins being high.

Given the theme of REIT conversions this year in the markets, McGuire highlighted why it's beneficial to be a REIT: free cashflow by tax savings, superior credit rating, and cap rates.  He says CXW trading at 15x AFFO would be worth $50/share.


NCR Corp (NCR)

McGuire's last idea is National Cash Register (NCR).  They supply ATM's and point of sale (POS) devices.  They have an incumbent position in the market and ATM's are their primary focus.  He likes that they have high barriers to entry due to the frequent servicing requirements of ATMs (Diebold is their main US competitor).

He pointed out that emerging markets are driving growth and that there are often regional duopolies in the segment.  In North America, we're in the midst of a big upgrade cycle for money center banks but it's just begun for smaller banks.  The thought here is that banks pay up for advanced ATMs to reduce in-branch spending.

McGuire also points out that NCR is #2 in self-checkout point of sale, behind IBM.  This has been a big trend popping up around the country.

He points out that the growth is obscured by the company's underfunded pension.  The company issued $600mm in debt at 5% to help fund it.  Marcato Capital Management originally built their position in the spring.  He likes the 11% free cash flow yield and sees 35% upside.  He sees $3.80 in EPS in 2015.

For more from this hedgie, we've previously posted McGuire's 3 ideas from the Value Investing Congress.


For the rest of the presentations, head to notes from the Great Investors' Best Ideas conference.

Marcato Capital Management Reveals Cincinnati Bell (CBB) Stake

Mick McGuire's hedge fund firm Marcato Capital Management has filed a 13G with the SEC pertaining to shares of Cincinnati Bell (CBB).  Per the filing, they have revealed a brand new position in CBB representing 7.19% ownership in the company with 14,192,985 shares.

The 13G was required due to portfolio activity on October 25th that brought them above the 5% ownership threshold where it's necessary for them to publicly disclose their stake.

This makes Marcato one of the largest institutional shareholders of CBB, along with Lonestar Capital Management.  An analyst at Lonestar pitched CBB in the Value Investing Congress investment idea contest and was a finalist.

It's also worth pointing out that CBB was one Ted Weschler's holdings at his old hedge fund that is now closed.  Weschler of course has been a portfolio manager at Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for a while now.  However, Berkshire has not invested in CBB.

Per Google Finance, Cincinnati Bell "is a full-service provider of data and voice communications services over wireline and wireless networks, a full-service provider of data center colocation and related managed services, and a reseller of information technology (IT) and telephony equipment. The Company provides telecommunications service to businesses and consumers in the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton areas on its owned wireline and wireless networks. The Company also provides business customers with outsourced data center colocation operations and related managed services in data center facilities."

For more from this manager, be sure to check out his presentation at the Value Investing Congress on 3 ideas with hidden value.