Corvex Management Trims Fidelity National Financial Position

Keith Meister's activist firm Corvex Management has filed an amended 13D regarding their position in Fidelity National Financial (FNF).  Per the filing, Corvex now owns 4.8% of FNF with over 13.19 million shares.

This is a decrease of over 5.93 million shares from the end of the first quarter.  They were selling at various points in June, July, and as late as August 2nd.  The bulk of their sale came at a price of $36.58.

You can view other recent activity from Corvex here.

Per Google Finance, Fidelity National Financial is "is a provider of title insurance, technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries. The Company's segments include Title, Black Knight, FNF Core Corporate and Other, Restaurant Group, and FNFV Corporate and Other. Its business is organized into groups, including FNF Core Operations and FNF Ventures (FNFV). The Company offers title insurance through its title insurance underwriters: Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, Chicago Title Insurance Company, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, Alamo Title Insurance and National Title Insurance of New York Inc., which collectively issue more title insurance policies than any other title company in the United States. The Company, through its subsidiary, ServiceLink Holdings, LLC (ServiceLink), provides mortgage transaction services, including title-related services and facilitation of production and management of mortgage loans."

Eminence Capital Discloses FNFV Group Stake

Per a 13G filed with the SEC, Ricky Sandler's hedge fund firm Eminence Capital has revealed a new position in FNFV Group (FNFV).  They now own 6.1% of shares via their 5.55 million share position.  The filing was made due to activity on September 30th.

FNFV was spun-off from Fidelity National Financial (FNF) this summer.  Each 'old' share of FNF was converted into a new share of FNF and 0.3333 of a share of the newly created FNFV.  The latter is a tracking stock, and that's what Eminence has now reported a stake in.

We've also posted other recent portfolio activity from Eminence here.

Per Yahoo Finance, FNFV stands for Fidelity National Financial Ventures and it operates as the investment arm of Fidelity National Financial. 

Corvex Management Increases Fidelity National Financial Stake

Keith Meister's activist hedge fund Corvex Management has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding their position in Fidelity National Financial (FNF).  Per the filing, Corvex now owns 7.3% of the company with 20.24 million shares.

This is an increase of over 1.95 million shares since the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on September 8th.  They bought 535,000 shares at $26.64 in late July and 1.4 million shares in early September at $27.60.

Per Yahoo Finance, Fidelity National Financial is "together with its subsidiaries, provides title insurance, technology, and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries in the United States."


Corvex's FNFV Group Stake

Corvex at the same time filed another 13D on FNFV Group common stock (FNFV).  Per that filing, they own 2.9% of the company with 2,694,572 shares. 

FNFV was spun-off from FNF.

It's also worth pointing out that Corvex had been selling these shares throughout July and then recently sold 2.5 million shares at $15.28 in early September.

Per Yahoo Finance, Fidelity National Financial Ventures "operates as an investment arm of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. and is based in United States."

Corvex Management Exercises Calls on Fidelity National Financial, Applauds Management's Moves

Keith Meister's hedge fund firm Corvex Management filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its activist position in Fidelity National Financial (FNF).  Per the filing, Corvex now owns 7.3% of the company with over 18.2 million shares.

They exercised calls on December 10th and acquired 15,451,900 shares in aggregate. 

The filing also indicates that Corvex continues to engage with management:

"The Reporting Persons applaud the Issuer’s decision to explore strategic alternatives with regards to its non-core assets in order to unlock value not reflected in the current share price.  In addition, the Reporting Persons are pleased with the Issuer’s decision to focus capital allocation going forward towards the new core business and away from non-core businesses.  The Reporting Persons look forward to a continued, constructive dialogue with the Board and Management of the Issuer."

You can view the details of Corvex's initial position here.

Keith Meister's Corvex Management Files 13D on Fidelity National Financial

Keith Meister's activist hedge fund Corvex Management filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Fidelity National Financial (FNF).  They've disclosed a 7% ownership stake in the company with 17,435,547 shares.  This is a brand new position for them.

Their stake includes an aggregate of 14,601,900 shares underlying call options, so that's worth noting. Over 8.1 million of these shares are represented by calls with a $15 strike and August 29, 2014 expiration.  Over 6.4 million shares are via October 31, 2014 calls with a $16 strike.  Shares of FNF currently trade around $28.

Meister's activist filing says that they are "supportive of the Issuer's announced acquisition of Lender Processing Services" and they have had and may continue to have discussions with management.  The filing was made due to activity on October 21st.

Per Google Finance, Fidelity National Financial is "a holding company. FNF, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance, mortgage services and diversified services. FNF operates in four segments: Fidelity National Title Group, Remy, Restaurant Group and Corporate and Other. The Fidelity National Title Group segment consists of the operations of FNF’s title insurance underwriters and related businesses. The Remy segment is a designer, manufacturer, remanufacturer, marketer and distributor of aftermarket and original equipment electrical components for automobiles, light trucks, heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles. The Restaurant Group segment consists of the operations of ABRH. The corporate and other segment consists of the operations of the holding company."

We've covered Corvex's past portfolio activity here.

Notes From Value Investing Congress Las Vegas 2013: Day 2

Yesterday we posted up some quick notes from day 1 of the 2013 Value Investing Congress in Las Vegas and today we'll highlight key takeaways from day 2 below:


Whitney Tilson, Kase Capital: AIG, Hertz (HTZ)

He talked about how American International Group (AIG) is still a position he likes as it's still cheap and the company has been streamlined to something much easier to understand and there's been a lot of advancement since the financial crisis and even since last year.  It's around 14% of his portfolio and was his largest position as of last month.  Tilson also likes his long of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A / BRK.B) and recently adjusted his intrinsic value figure to just north of $193,000.  Additionally, he mentioned he's started a new position in Hertz (HTZ) and you can read the pitch on Hertz in this newsletter that convinced him.


Guy Gottfried, Rational Investment Group: WPX Energy (WPX)

His pitch was on WPX Energy, a spin-off from Williams Companies last year.  He says it trades at 8x free cashflow and .66x book value.  Gottfried feels it's a very cheap stock for a play on natural gas that doesn't require gas prices to head higher.


Mark Boyar, Boyar Value Group: Weight Watchers (WTW), Dole Foods (DOLE), Western Union (WU)

He thinks we might be in the midst of multiple expansion.  Boyar likes Weight Watchers (WTW) as a play on the weight management industry and notes it's down 50% over the past 12 months.  He also pitched Dole Foods (DOLE) as the company reduced its debt load by selling the packaged foods business.  His third and final pick was Western Union (WU).


Vitaliy Katsenelson, Investment Management Associates: Whistler Blackcomb (WB.TO)

He said that profit growth is slowing down and that the market is actually getting expensive on a P/E basis.  Katsenelson argued that there's no secular bull market, at least not yet.  In the mean time, he likes stocks with solid dividends and says that the vast majority of returns in sideways markets are derived from dividends.  He's the author of The Little Book of Sideways Markets, by the way.  His pick was a high dividend payer (over 7%) in Whistler Blackcomb, the owner of the popular ski resort.  He likes their lower costs due to no property development etc.


Zeke Ashton, Centaur Capital Partners: Fidelity National (FNF), First American (FAF)

He emphasized the importance of learning from mistakes.  While you will encounter your own mistakes as an investor, it's also easy to learn from others' mistakes too.  Ashton argued that emotional mistakes are much more prevalent than analytical ones and so obviously behavioral finance is an important part of investing.  As far as current opportunities in the market go, he's having a hard time finding good ones as so many shares have been bid up.  He's not a big fan of homebuilders but if you want a play on housing, he said to look at the title insurers as a proxy with lower risk.  His picks were Fidelity National (FNF) and First American (FAF).


Joe Altman & Chris Kyriopoulos, COMPOUND Capital: TARP Warrants, Nathan's (NATH)

They launched their fund at a hell of a time: during the financial crisis when Lehman Brothers failed.  These two mentioned that they like TARP warrants, which we'd note has been a hedge fund favorite (especially AIG and BAC warrants, though Compound prefers AIG and COF ones).  They note these are liquid plays that are often underfollowed.  However, their pitch today was Nathan's (NATH), the popular hot dog proprietor.


David Hurwitz, SC Fundamental: Long KISCO, Short Salesforce.com (CRM)

He pitched one long: KISCO in Korea (001940.KRX) and one short: Salesforce.com (CRM).  He says KISCO is much cheaper than CRM.


Chris Mittleman, Mittleman Brothers:  Revlon (REV)

He pitched this as a turnaround story, praising management for a good effort.  Ron Perelman owns a ton of the company and that's partially the reason it's so cheap.  Mittleman likes that it's essentially a recession resistant business.  A solid portion of their revenues come from Walmart.  He also mentioned Carmike Cinemas (CKEC).


Ori Eyal, Emerging Value Capital: Hilan Tech

Eyal talked about the opportunities to invest in Israel, somewhere he specializes in (launching the Emerging Value Israel Fund).  He says the country is stable and pro-business and has a growing economy.  He pitched Hilan Tech, which he dubbed the 'ADP of Israel.'  He says Israeli stocks on the whole are cheap as they've largely traded sideways the past few years.


Harris Kupperman, Mongolia Growth Group: Real Estate

He touched on how there's too many investors out there all doing the exact same thing (i.e. herding).  One place that there certainly aren't many investors involved is Mongolia.  He says the country's GDP will explode 10x over the next decade or so, creating a big opportunity and he recommended real estate there.


For more from this event, head to notes from day 1 of the Value Investing Congress.