Glenview Capital Trims Brookdale Senior Living Stake

Larry Robbins' Glenview Capital now owns 9.59% of Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) with over 17.63 million shares, per a 13G recently filed with the SEC.  This marks a slight decrease from the 18.43 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to portfolio activity on October 30th.

Per Yahoo Finance, Brookdale "owns and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates through five segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, CCRCs, Health Care Services, and Management Services."

Glenview Capital Files 13D on Meritor

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13D with the SEC on shares of Meritor (MTOR).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 14.7% of the company with exposure to over 12.1 million shares.  This is inclusive of 4.9 million shares underlying call options.

This is up from the previous 7.2 million shares Glenview had exposure to at the end of the second quarter, per their most recent 13F filing.  So basically Glenview has added call option exposure and then gone activist on the name.

The filing also includes the standard activist investor boilerplate: "The Reporting Persons intend to engage in discussions with the Company and the Company’s management and board of directors, other shareholders of the Company and other interested parties on issues that may relate to the business, management, operations, assets, capitalization, financial condition, strategic plans, governance, board composition and the future of the Company.  Glenview Capital Management has entered into a customary confidentiality agreement with the Company in order to facilitate these discussions."

Per Yahoo Finance, Meritor "designs, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, sells, services, and supports integrated systems, modules, and components to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the aftermarket for the commercial vehicle, transportation, and industrial sectors. It operates through two segments, Commercial Truck; and Aftermarket, Industrial and Trailer."

Glenview Capital Acquires More Tenet Healthcare

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding shares of Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview bought 81,368 shares on August 23rd at a weighted average price of $20.6965.  They now own over 19.43 million shares.

In a previous filing, they also were out buying on August 16th, purchasing 26,456 shares at a weighted average price of $19.8153.

Per Yahoo Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a diversified healthcare services company. The company operates in three segments: Hospital Operations and Other, Ambulatory Care, and Conifer. Its general hospitals offer acute care services, operating and recovery rooms, radiology and respiratory therapy services, clinical laboratories, and pharmacies. The company also provides intensive and critical care, and coronary care units; physical therapy, orthopedic, oncology, and outpatient services; cardiothoracic surgery, neonatal intensive care, and neurosurgery services; quaternary care in heart, liver, kidney, and bone marrow transplants areas; tertiary and quaternary pediatric, and burn services; and limb-salvaging vascular procedures, acute level 1 trauma services, intravascular stroke care, minimally invasive cardiac valve replacement, imaging technology, and telemedicine access for various medical specialties. In addition, it operates ambulatory surgery and urgent care centers, imaging centers, and surgical hospitals; and offers healthcare business process services in the areas of hospital and physician revenue cycle management, as well as value-based care solutions to healthcare systems, individual hospitals, physician practices, self-insured organizations, health plans, and other entities. As of December 31, 2018, the company operated 68 hospitals, 23 surgical hospitals, and approximately 475 outpatient centers, as well as 255 ambulatory surgery, 36 urgent care, and 23 imaging centers in the United States. Tenet Healthcare Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas."

Larry Robbins Long HMOs/Hospitals, Short 3M & Chemours: Sohn New York Conference

We're posting up notes from the Sohn New York Investment Conference.  Next up is Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital who talked about the healthcare industry and shared a myriad of ideas, including long HMOs and hospitals, short pharma index, and short 3M (MMM) and short Chemours (CC).


Larry Robbins's Sohn New York Presentation

Buy HMOs and hospitals. Short pharma index.  Hospitals trading at discount despite superior growth.  Buy Cigna (CI), Humana (HUM), UnitedHealth (UNH), HCA (HCA), Tenet Health (THC), UniversalHealth (UHS). 

•    Medicare For All is dead on arrival. Need President and Congress in order to get Medicare For All. Too high of a hurdle. Only 3 presidential candidates support this and they are not the favorites. Democrats in House and Senate not all on board. Need 60 senate votes to do this because it requires spending money.
•    Multiples are compressed relative to the market in HMO sector and have over 50% upside
•    President can act unilaterally to lower drug costs due to provisions of ACA. Drug revenues at risk
•    Same drug cost 3 times more in the US as in other OECD countries
•    Both sides (Dem and Republican) agree on drug prices
•    People under appreciate coming biosimilars

Short 3M (MMM) on PFAS (chemical that causes cancer that has ended up in drinking water) risk. Lawsuits have gone up 87 fold. Reserves for liabilities have only gone up 8%. They are not reserved. They have at least  $3 to $6 billion liabilities on this.

Short Chemours - is also exposed to these PFAS lawsuits.  Each time DowDuPont (DWDP) loses a lawsuit, he says you should assume this also hits CC.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Sohn New York conference presentations.

Glenview Capital Boosts Newell Brands Exposure

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has ratcheted up its exposure to Newell Brands (NWL).  Per a 13G filed with the SEC, Glenview now shows a 5.56% ownership stake with over 26.96 million shares. 

The filing was made due to portfolio activity on March 16th.  This is up from the 17 million shares they owned at the end of 2017. 

As we've highlighted previously, activist investor Starboard Value is involved in Newell shares and it's recently been revealed that Carl Icahn owns NWL as well. 

Glenview Capital Boosts Computer Sciences Stake

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its position in Computer Sciences Corp (CSC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 5.26% of the company with over 7.38 million shares.

This is an increase over the 6.87 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on August 23rd.

You can see the rest of Glenview's portfolio in the brand new issue of our newsletter.

Per Google Finance, Computer Sciences Corp is "a global provider of information technology (IT) and professional services and solutions. The Company operates through two segments: Global Business Services (GBS) and Global Infrastructure Services (GIS). The GBS segment provides various technology solutions, including consulting, applications services and software. GBS has three primary growth engines: end-to-end applications services, consulting services, big data services and industry-aligned software and solutions. The GIS segment provides managed and virtual desktop solutions, unified communications and collaboration services, data center management, cyber security, compute and managed storage solutions to commercial clients across the globe. GIS also delivers CSC's various cloud offerings, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), private cloud solutions, CloudMail and Storage as a Service (SaaS). The Company has operations throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia."

Interview With Glenview Capital's Larry Robbins: Capitalize For Kids Investor Series

The Capitalize For Kids Conference has recently started an Investor Series of interviews.  Their first issue (Volume 1) features conversations with Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital, Pierre Lavellée of CPPIB as well as the team at Cambridge Associates.  The full document is available here, but we've pulled some select quotes from Robbins:


On how he invests:

"I think one of the challenges that many people have is that, in their pursuit of highly diversified investment strategies, they end up investing their own capital – or capital that they are the fiduciary for – on things that, due to time constraints, they have no contact with. Or of which they don’t have a capacity to develop a deep understanding. The theory, when we started Glenview – and that perpetuates today – is to invest in businesses that we believe we can adequately describe in a matter of minutes. Businesses where we can look at past and present fundamentals and try to predict future fundamentals – including future earnings growth, cash flow growth, shareholder returns, and where we can invest capital at valuations – absolute valuations – that we find reasonable. And the final thing is that, all along the way, we wanted to think and act like owners – which the business has allowed us to do."


On incentives in the hedge fund industry:

"I believe that the reason that hedge funds work over time is because the owner/operator hedge fund has a tremendous and complete alignment of interest between the fund manager and the client – because the fund manager is the largest non-diversified client. And because of that, I am not only well-motivated to drive returns over time, but I’m also extremely well motivated to manage risk. Unfortunately, most people gauge risk based upon the mark-to-market stock price movements or security price movements of the day, whereas in reality those risks are more appropriately measured through a cycle – based upon the certainty of outcomes and the hit rate in which one invests long and short with success. I think that alignment of interest is exactly fair and appropriate, and is the motivating factor by which hedge funds have delivered risk-adjusted returns and alpha over time."


On the unfortunate truth of the business:

"The unfortunate truth of our business is we’re trying to do something that’s very hard, and very unnatural. We were created in order to take advantage of market anomalies, and yet we are also expected to prevent market anomalies from negatively impacting capital balances. I’m not complaining about that dichotomy. We’re not crying about it, but we do recognize that there’s a natural tension between the times that opportunity sets are created and the times that the opportunity sets are harvested. And it is likely, over decades, that occasionally opportunity starts to get created on your watch while you’re holding that security. In order to encourage opportunistic investor behavior, I think you’re accurate in saying that we will go to great lengths to encourage opportunistic investor behavior – because we want to make sure that the clients know that we will do anything we can to support their objectives."


Update on Glenview's Thermo Fisher (TMO) stake:

"Thermo Fisher is an example of a company which is well run and well-managed – from top to bottom. So much of the popular press talks about hedge funds engaging underperforming companies, or entrenched managements, or dysfunctional boards. And yet, if you look at Thermo Fisher Scientific which is the aggregation of four different companies: Thermo Electron, Fisher Scientific, and Life Technologies – itself two different companies, it’s an example of a board and management operating on all cylinders. Number one, their business continues to exhibit the defensive growth characteristics that attracted us to want to invest in the life sciences industry. In the fourth quarter of 2015, they posted their strongest organic revenue growth quarter in five years, posting seven percent organic revenue growth. For a firm like ours, whose average portfolio earnings multiple is 12 times this year’s and 10 times next year’s earnings, it’s hard to find businesses that grow organically more than seven percent, so certainly we’re gratified that the business does that. Thermo has allocated capital extremely well. They repurchased shares and made meaningful acquisitions – the most significant of which in the last several years was their acquisition of Life Technologies, which was also a Glenview holding. At the time we pitched Thermo to your conference [October 2014], our thesis was that Thermo’s organic revenue growth would accelerate not only because Life Technologies was a financially accretive tuck in that offered significant cost savings, but because the platform that Life Technologies owned would actually accelerate organic revenue growth. That certainly has come to pass in 2015, and is reflected in increased optimism with respect to organic revenue growth in 2016 and beyond. Finally, Thermo is an example of what we would call the ‘wash-rinse-repeat trade’. There is much discussion in the market of companies that either employ financial engineering or have a too great reliance on leverage in order to drive financial returns. And yet Thermo, as an investment grade company, has developed enormous credibility with the credit markets and with the rating agencies, as well as with its shareholders, by identifying attractive acquisition candidates and financing them mostly with debt securities – but then using their prodigious free cash flow and the underlying EBITDA growth of the combined company in order to have the balance sheet self-repair over an 18 to 24 month period. As we sit here today, Thermo has de-levered to below three times debt to EBITDA, which puts them in a position in 2016 to again be a significant capital deployer. To date, they have bought back $500 million of stock and have announced the accretive acquisition of Affymetrix. We believe that the company has additional firepower to augment their strong organic top-line growth – and a strong margin expansion with additional accretive repurchases or M&A that'll further shareholder returns."


To read the rest of Robbins' in-depth interview, definitely check out the Capitalize For Kids Investor Series here.

Glenview Capital Adds To FMC & Tenet Stakes, Trims Flextronics & Community Health Stakes

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has made numerous portfolio adjustments recently.  Below are the details of the various SEC filings they've made.

Increases FMC Position

Glenview has filed a 13G with the SEC on shares of FMC Corporation (FMC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 5.01% of the company with over 6.69 million shares.

This is up from the 4.8 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on October 12th.

Per Google Finance, FMC is "a diversified chemical company. The Company serves agricultural, consumer and industrial markets with solutions, applications and products around the world. The Company operates in three business segments: FMC Agricultural Solutions, FMC Health and Nutrition, and FMC Lithium. The Company's FMC Agricultural Solutions segment develops, markets and sells three classes of crop protection chemicals, which include insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. The FMC Health and Nutrition segment focuses on food, pharmaceutical ingredients, nutraceuticals, personal care and similar markets. The pharmaceutical additives are used for binding, encapsulation and disintegrant applications. The Company's FMC Lithium segment manufactures lithium products."


Reduces Flextronics Exposure

Second, the hedge fund has also filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Flextronics (FLX).  Per the filing, Glenview sold 20 million shares at $11.1 on October 22nd.  After this transaction, they still own 55.13 million shares.

Per Google Finance, Flextronics is "a Singapore-based provider of global supply chain solutions. The Company designs, builds, ships and serves packaged electronic products for its original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in various groups. The Company offers a range of design and engineering services that relate to manufacturing (including enclosures, metals, plastic injection molding, precision plastics, machining, and mechanicals), system integration and assembly and test services, materials procurement, inventory management, logistics and after-sales services (including product repair, warranty services, re-manufacturing and maintenance), supply chain management software solutions and component product offerings (including rigid and flexible printed circuit boards and power adapters and chargers)."


Trims Community Health Systems Stake

Third, Larry Robbins' hedge fund has filed a Form 4 with the SEC indicating they've reduced their stake in Community Health Systems (CYH).  Per the filing, Glenview sold 279,074 shares on October 22nd at weighted average prices of $27.7284 and $26.8947 with about a third of the sales occurring at $30.08.

After these sales, Glenview still owns 11.81 million shares of CYH.

Per Google Finance, Community Health Systems is "a hospital company and an operator of acute care hospitals in communities across the United States. The Company provides healthcare services through the hospitals that it owns and operates in non-urban and selected urban markets throughout the United States. It operates in two operating segments: hospital operations and home care agencies operations. Its hospital operations include the Company's acute care hospitals and related healthcare entities that provide inpatient and outpatient healthcare services. Its home care agencies operations provide in-home outpatient care. Services provided through its hospitals and affiliated businesses include general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric and rehabilitation services. It provides a range of hospital healthcare services and other outpatient services to patients in the communities in which the Company is located.."


Adds to Tenet Healthcare Position

Last, Glenview also increased its holdings of Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Glenview acquired 500,000 shares total on October 22nd at weighted average prices of $28.8656 and $29.8034.  After these buys, Glenview now owns over 16.99 million shares of THC.  As we've detailed previously, Glenview has previously been out buying THC in October.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets. As of December 31, 2014, it operated 80 hospitals, 210 outpatient centers, six health plans and Conifer Health Solutions, LLC (Conifer), which provides healthcare business process services in the areas of revenue cycle management, value-based care and patient communications. It provides operational management for revenue cycle functions, including patient access, health information management, revenue integrity and patient financial services. It also offers communications and engagement solutions to optimize the relationship between providers and patients. Conifer operates a management services business that supports value-based performance through clinical integration, financial risk management and population health management. It has two operating segments: Hospital Operations and other, and Conifer.."

Glenview Capital Buys More Tenet Healthcare

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital recently filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 16.49 million THC shares.

They acquired 500,000 shares on September 30th at weighted average prices of $36.21 and $36.92.  Tenet has been a longstanding holding of the hedge fund's as part of their for-profit hospital basket.  THC shares are down 36% over the past three months.

We've also highlighted other recent portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets. As of December 31, 2014, it operated 80 hospitals, 210 outpatient centers, six health plans and Conifer Health Solutions, LLC (Conifer), which provides healthcare business process services in the areas of revenue cycle management, value-based care and patient communications. It provides operational management for revenue cycle functions, including patient access, health information management, revenue integrity and patient financial services. It also offers communications and engagement solutions to optimize the relationship between providers and patients. Conifer operates a management services business that supports value-based performance through clinical integration, financial risk management and population health management. It has two operating segments: Hospital Operations and other, and Conifer."

Glenview Capital Raises Hertz Stake

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its position in Hertz (HTZ).  According to the filing, Glenview now owns 5.2% of the company with over 23.74 million shares.

This is up from the 17.6 million shares Glenview owned at the end of the second quarter.  The latest filing was made due to activity on August 25th.

We've highlighted other recent portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Hertz is also a position in activist Carl Icahn's portfolio as he has representation on the board as well.  The company's shares have been under pressure over the past year as they had to restate various financials in addition to worries about the ability to raise prices and potential competition from services like Uber.  HTZ also has a potential catalyst coming up with the spin-off of its equipment rental business.

Per Google Finance, Hertz "operates car rental business through its Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly brands. The Company's operating segments are U.S. Car Rental, International Car Rental, Worldwide Equipment Rental and All Other Operations."

Glenview Capital Accumulates More Tenet Healthcare

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns over 15.99 million shares of THC.

They bought 500,000 shares combined over the course of August 21st, 24th, and 25th at weighted average prices of $49.3752, $46.8964, and $47.

This is the second time they've bought THC shares in August.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets."

Glenview Capital Increases Tenet Healthcare Stake Again

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns over 15.49 million shares of THC.

Robbins' firm was out buying shares on August 5th and 6th at prices ranging from $53.75 to $55.  In total, they purchased 697,917 shares.

This is the second time Glenview has added to its THC position this summer.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets."

Last week we also detailed additional portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Glenview Capital Cuts VCA Position Size

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed an amended 13G with the SEC regarding its position in VCA (WOOF).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 9.83% of the company with a little over 8 million shares.

An additional Form 4 filed with the SEC indicates Glenview sold 4,720,800 shares on August 3rd, with the bulk of the trade being made at $56.33.

Earlier this week, we also highlighted some other Glenview portfolio activity.

Per Google Finance, VCA is "a national animal healthcare company operating in the United States and Canada. The Company operates in two segments: animal hospital and laboratory. The Company provides veterinary services and diagnostic testing to support veterinary care and also sells diagnostic imaging equipment and other medical technology products and related services to the veterinary market. The Company provides communication marketing solutions and other services to the veterinary community. The Company's animal hospital offer general medical and surgical services pharmaceutical products and performs pet wellness programs. The Company's communication and marketing solutions business provides services to veterinary practices pharmaceutical manufacturers and the pet owning community. The Company's network of veterinary diagnostic laboratories provides sophisticated testing and consulting services."

Glenview Capital Boosts HealthSouth Stake

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of HealthSouth (HLS).  Per the filing, Glenview has disclosed a 6.46% ownership stake in the company with over 5.9 million shares.

This is up from the 1.7 million HLS shares Glenview owned at the end of the first quarter.  The new filing was made due to activity on July 21st.

We also recently highlighted how Glenview added to its Tenet Healthcare (THC) stake.

Glenview has been extremely successful with their bets on the healthcare industry since the Affordable Care Act was initially introduced.  They've wagered on for-profit hospitals and insurers, among other things and have seen substantial returns from consolidation and increased profits at these companies.

Per Google Finance, HealthSouth is "an owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. The Company's inpatient rehabilitation hospitals offer rehabilitative care across an array of diagnoses, which include physical and cognitive disabilities or injuries due to medical conditions, such as strokes, hip fractures, head injuries, spinal cord injuries and a variety of debilitating neurological conditions. HealthSouth operates in around 33 states across the United States and in Puerto Rico and serves patients through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. The Company's inpatient rehabilitation hospitals offer rehabilitative care across an array of diagnoses. As of December 31, 2014, the Company operated 107 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. The Company's inpatient hospitals are concentrated in the eastern half of the United States and Texas."

You can view additional portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Glenview Capital Adds To Tenet Healthcare Position

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its stake in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns over 14.79 million shares. 

The Form 4 notes that Glenview was out buying 979,482 shares on June 25th at weighted average prices of $54.3028, $54.9934, and $55.924.  This is right around when the Supreme Court decision reaffirmed Obamacare subsidies and hospital stocks rocketed higher.

This has been a longstanding play for Glenview, and a highly successful one at that.  This was part of their basket of for-profit hospital stocks that they wagered would benefit from the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  THC has been their biggest play in the space.

We've also detailed some other portfolio activity from Glenview earlier this week.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets."

Glenview Capital Ramps Up Manpower Group Exposure

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Manpower Group (MAN).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 7.24% of the company with over 5.66 million shares.

This marks a sizable increase over the 2.26 million shares they owned at the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on June 15th.

You can see more recent Glenview portfolio activity here.

Per Google Finance, Manpower Group is "a provider of workforce solutions and services. The Company’s services include recruitment and assessment; training and development; career management; outsourcing, and workforce consulting. Training and development offer a portfolio of training courses and leadership development solutions. The Company provides clients with outsourcing services related to human resources functions primarily in the areas of recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives. The Company offers various brands, which include Manpower; Experis; Right Management, and ManpowerGroup Solutions."

Glenview Capital Adds To Manitowoc Position, Files 13D

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13D on shares of Manitowoc (MTW).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 7.06% of the company with over 9.61 million shares.

This means they've increased their position size by 1 million shares since the end of the first quarter.   This is the second time Glenview has added to their stake this year. The filing shows they were out purchasing in late April at weighted average prices of around $19.55.

The 13D contains the standard boilerplate about potentially engaging management, etc.

Readers will recall that activist Carl Icahn successfully pushed for the company to split up.  Manitowoc will split into two: a crane manufacturer and a food service unit.

For more from Glenview, head to Larry Robbins' Sohn Conference presentation.

Per Google Finance, Manitowoc is "a multi-industry, capital goods manufacturer. MTW operates in two markets: Cranes and Related Products (Crane) and Foodservice Equipment (Foodservice). Crane is a provider of engineered lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. Foodservice is a manufacturer of commercial foodservice equipment serving the ice, beverage, refrigeration, food-preparation, and cooking needs of restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, healthcare, and institutional applications."

Glenview Capital Q4 Letter on McDonald's, T-Mobile, Auto Dealers & More

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm, Glenview Capital, is out with its fourth quarter letter to investors. Glenview's Opportunity Fund returned 25.25% net in 2014. 

In the letter, Robbins outlines his thesis on auto dealers (Group 1 Automotive ~ GPI), Flextronics (FLEX), McDonald's (MCD), PHH (PHH), T-Mobile (TMUS), and pharma roll-up plays like Actavis (ACT) and Endo (ENDP).


Glenview's Q4 Letter Takeaways

On McDonald's (MCD):  This is a new stake for Glenview and they feel there's basically 5 ways to make a 'happy meal' to help the company: operational turnaround, SGA rationalization, refranchising, additional leverage, and real estate.  They feel this could trade as high as $169 (currently trades around $99.)

On MCD, Robbins writes, "Fundamentally, McDonald’s has a number of characteristics that we look for in good businesses. Approximately 75% of EBITDA is driven by royalties and rent, which is a secure, stable earnings stream free of operating leverage. Food, in general, is a defensive end market, and McDonald’s positioning at the value end of the spectrum provides further insulation from material cyclicality as evidenced by positive same store sales in the U.S. and positive consolidated EPS growth in every year throughout the last recession."


On T-Mobile (TMUS): Glenview has owned this company since 2013 but bought more shares in December 2014.  They feel the company has a few positive things going for it to continue its growth: aggressively going after new subscribers, deploying spectrum to address new customers, and seeing positive FCF generation this year. 

They also like that the company is a "key strategic asset" and that their parent company Deutsche Telekom is looking to sell.  Glenview feels TMUS could either: try to tie-up with Dish Network and their spectrum, seek a sale to a foreign buyer, or again try to merge with Sprint once a new political administration takes office in 2016.


Embedded below is Glenview's Q4 letter:



For more from this hedge fund, yesterday we posted up some more of Glenview's recent portfolio activity.

Glenview Capital Starts Manitowoc Position, Adds To Brookdale Senior Living

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed two separate 13G's with the SEC recently:


Starts New Manitowoc Position

First, Glenview has revealed a 6.34% ownership stake in Manitowoc (MTW) with over 8.6 million shares.  This is a brand new position for the firm and the filing was made due to activity on March 11th.

Readers will recall that activist investor Carl Icahn has pushed Manitowoc to split up.

Per Google Finance, Manitowoc is "a multi-industry, capital goods manufacturer. MTW operates in two markets: Cranes and Related Products (Crane) and Foodservice Equipment (Foodservice). Crane is a provider of engineered lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. Foodservice is a manufacturer of commercial foodservice equipment serving the ice, beverage, refrigeration, food-preparation, and cooking needs of restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, healthcare, and institutional applications. Its Crane products are marketed under the Manitowoc, Grove, Potain, National, Shuttlelift, Dongyue, and Crane Care brand names."


Adds To Brookdale Senior Living Stake

Second, Robbins' firm has disclosed a 6.32% ownership stake in Brookdale Senior Living (BKD).  Per the SEC filing, Glenview now owns over 11.59 million shares.

This marks an increase in their position size of over 2.83 million shares since the end of the first quarter.  This filing was made due to portfolio activity on March 12th.

You can view some of Glenview's other recent portfolio activity here.

Per Google Finance, Brookdale Senior Living is "an owner and operator of senior living communities throughout the United States. The Company owns, leases and operates retirement centers, assisted living and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers (CCRCs). The Company has six reportable segments: retirement centers; assisted living; CCRCs – rental; CCRCs – entry fee; Brookdale Ancillary Services; and management services."

Glenview Capital Increases Avis Budget, Lithia Motors & PVH Corp Positions

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has been active recently in shares of three of their holdings.


Increases Avis Budget Group Stake

Readers of the site won't be surprised by this move because we highlighted an interview with Robbins where he pointed out his fondness for car rental companies a few months ago.  Glenview has revealed they now own 5.2% of Avis Budget Group (CAR) with 5.44 million shares per a 13G filed with the SEC.

This means they've increased their stake by over 1.49 million shares since the end of the third quarter. The filing was required due to activity on December 10th.

Per Google Finance, Avis Budget Group is "a provider of vehicle rental and car sharing services. The Company operates under brands Avis, Budget and Zipcar. The Company’s other brands include Budget Truck, Payless and Apex. The Company operates in three segments: North America, which operates provides car rentals in the United States and vehicle rentals in Canada, as well as ancillary products and services, and operates the Company’s Zipcar car sharing business; International that provides and licenses its brands to third parties for vehicle rentals and ancillary products and services primarily in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand; and Truck Rental, which provides truck rentals and ancillary products and in the United States."


Boosts Lithia Motors Position

Second, Glenview Capital has also revealed a 5.92% ownership stake in Lithia Motors (LAD) with over 1.4 million shares.  They've boosted their position size by 237,364 shares since the end of the third quarter.

Per Google Finance, Lithia Motors is "an operator of automotive franchises and a retailer of new and used vehicles and services. The Company sells new and used cars and light trucks and replacement parts; provides vehicle maintenance, warranty, paint and repair services; and arranges related financing, service contracts, protection products and credit insurance."


Adds To PVH Corp Holdings

Lastly, Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm also filed a 13G with the SEC regarding their PVH Corp (PVH) stake.  They now own 5.5% of the company with over 4.53 million shares.

This is an increase of 427,071 shares since the end of the third quarter and the filing was required due to activity on December 10th.

Per Google Finance, PVH is "an apparel company. The Company’s portfolio of brands includes Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger brands, Van Heusen, IZOD, Bass, ARROW and Eagle, which are owned brands, and Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, Sean John, JOE Joseph Abboud, MICHAEL Michael Kors, Michael Kors Collection, CHAPS, Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, DKNY, Elie Tahari, Nautica, Ted Baker, J. Garcia, Claiborne, Robert Graham, U.S. POLO ASSN., Axcess and Jones New York, which are licensed, as well as various other licensed and private label brands. It designs and markets branded dress shirts, neckwear, sportswear and, to a lesser extent, footwear and other related products. Additionally, it licenses its owned brands over a range of products."


This isn't the only activity out of Glenview recently either.  Robbins' firm also bought shares of two more companies.