Eminence Capital Boosts Sonic Automotive Stake

Ricky Sandler's hedge fund firm Eminence Capital filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Sonic Automotive (SAH).  Per the filing, Eminence has disclosed a 5.1% ownership stake with 2,065,739 shares.

This marks an increase of 3% in the number of shares they own since the end of the second quarter.  The filing was required due to portfolio activity on September 30th.

Eminence has also held another automotive play as their top holding at the end of Q2 was Advance Auto Parts (AAP).

Per Google Finance, Sonic Automotive is "engaged in automotive retailing in the United States. The Company’s dealerships provide services, including sales of both new and used cars and light trucks; sales of replacement parts, performance of vehicle maintenance, manufacturer warranty repairs, paint and collision repair services (Fixed Operations) and arrangement of extended service contracts, financing, insurance and other aftermarket products (F&I) for its customers."

Head here for more recent activity from Eminence.

Pat McCormack's Tiger Consumer Initiates Sonic Automotive (SAH) Position

Patrick McCormack's hedge fund Tiger Consumer Management recently filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Sonic Automotive (SAH). The disclosure was made due to portfolio activity on June 29th, 2010 and Tiger Consumer now shows a 5.13% ownership stake in SAH with 2,081,757 shares. This is a brand new position for the hedge fund because they did not own any Sonic Automative in the first quarter (as of March 31st, 2010). Shares of SAH are trading at $8.50, a level where they temporarily bottomed back in November 2009. In the throngs of the crisis, Sonic Automotive traded as low as $0.72. We've previously covered Tiger Consumer's other new position as well.

This is the second time we've detailed portfolio activity from Pat McCormack's hedge fund. For those unfamiliar, Tiger Consumer was seeded by Julian Robertson, the legendary manager and founder of Tiger Management. McCormack's fund offices at the same Park Avenue address as Robertson's former fund. Tiger Consumer reported $919 million in assets invested on the long side as of March 31st, 2010. As its name implies, the fund focuses on the consumer sector and is one of the 'Tiger Seed' hedge funds (you can view the entire Tiger hedge fund family tree here).

Taken from Google Finance, Sonic Automotive "operates as an automotive retailer in the United States. As of January 31, 2009, the Company operated 145 dealership franchises at 122 dealership locations, representing 29 different brands of cars and light trucks, and 26 collision repair centers in 15 states."

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