What We're Reading ~ 11/16/17

15 questions to ask management teams [Clear Eyes Investing]

Jim Chanos betting against dialysis companies [Reuters]

A handful of value managers hoard cash as stocks surge [Bloomberg]

How the right decisions and compounding can lead to huge results [Of Dollars and Data]

The nature of underperformance and why it pays to wait [Of Dollars and Data]

CenturyLink / Level 3 merger: 1+1 = 1/2 ? [Peridot Capitalist]

America's 'retail apocalypse' is really just beginning [Bloomberg]

Withdrawal symptoms: cash is still king in India [SCMP]

How India is moving toward a digital-first economy [HBR]

Byron Wien measures China's tech success [Barrons]

In-depth interview with Shake Shack's Danny Meyer [CBS]

America's coffee market is getting too crowded [WSJ]

Who is investing in e-sports startups? [VentureBeat]

A look at Entercom: CBS Radio Reverse Morris Trust [Clark Street Value]

Meritage Group Boosts Dunkin' Brands Stake

Investment firm Meritage Group has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding Dunkin' Brands (DNKN).  Per the filing, Meritage now owns 5.4% of the company with over 4.96 million shares.

The filing was made due to activity on May 24th.  They previously owned 3.78 million DNKN shares at the end of the first quarter.

For more from this firm, the Graham & Doddsville newsletter recently interviewed Meritage's Alex Magaro.

Meritage is the family investment vehicle of Renaissance Technologies founder Jim Simons.

Per Google Finance, Dunkin' Brands is "a franchisor of quick service restaurants (QSRs) serving hot and cold coffee and baked goods, as well as hard serve ice cream. The Company franchises restaurants under its Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands. The Company operates its business through four segments, which include Dunkin' Donuts-U.S., Dunkin' Donuts International, Baskin-Robbins International and Baskin-Robbins-U.S. Dunkin' Donuts serves in the hot regular/decaf/flavored coffee category and the iced regular/decaf/flavored coffee category. The Company has over 18,000 points of distribution in approximately 60 countries across the world. It has over 11,750 Dunkin' Donuts points of distribution, of which approximately 8,430 are in the United States and over 3,320 are international, and approximately 7,610 Baskin-Robbins points of distribution, of which over 5,104 are international and approximately 2,500 are in the United States. ."

Steve Mandel's Lone Pine Capital Starts Dunkin' Brands Position

Steve Mandel's hedge fund firm Lone Pine Capital yesterday after market close filed a 13G with the SEC regarding Dunkin' Brands Group (DNKN), purveyors of the well-known Dunkin' Donuts chain.

Per the filing, Lone Pine has revealed a 6.7% ownership stake in DNKN with just over 7 million shares.  This is a brand new stake for the hedge fund as they did not report ownership in their most recent 13F filing detailing the portfolio as of June 30th.

As such, they've built their position between July and the present, with trading activity as recent as August 31st.  That activity triggered the SEC filing as they crossed the 5% ownership threshold requiring disclosure.

In other recent portfolio activity from the hedge fund, we've detailed Lone Pine's activity in two other stocks.

Per Google Finance, Dunkin' Brands Group is "a franchisor of restaurants serving coffee and baked goods, as well as ice cream within the quick service restaurant segment of the restaurant industry. The Company operates its business in four segments: Dunkin’ Donuts U.S., Dunkin’ Donuts International, Baskin-Robbins International and Baskin-Robbins U.S. The Company develops, franchises, and licenses a system of both traditional and nontraditional quick service restaurants and, in limited circumstances, own and operate individual locations."

To see the rest of Lone Pine's US stock portfolio, their portfolio changes are broken down in the new issue of our premium newsletter.