JANA Partners Buys Bloomin' Brands, FIles 13D

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a 13D on shares of Bloomin' Brands (BLMN).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 9% of the company with over 7.81 million shares.  This is a brand new stake for the firm.

JANA was buying throughout August at with the bulk of their recent purchases coming at prices of around $16.08 and $16.21. 

The 13D contains the standard boilerplate:

"The Reporting Person acquired the Shares because it believes the Shares are undervalued and represent an attractive investment opportunity. The Reporting Person intends to have discussions with the Issuer’s board of directors and management regarding a sale of the Issuer, divestitures, capital allocation, operations and board composition. The Reporting Person expects to have discussions with the Issuer’s management and board of directors, shareholders and other interested parties relating to such matters."

Per Yahoo Finance, Bloomin' Brands, Inc., "through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casual, upscale casual, and fine dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, U.S. and International. Its restaurant portfolio has four concepts, including Outback Steakhouse, a casual steakhouse restaurant; Carrabba's Italian Grill, a casual Italian restaurant; Bonefish Grill, an upscale casual seafood restaurant; and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, a contemporary steakhouse. As of December 30, 2018, the company owned and operated 1,068 restaurants and franchised 164 restaurants across 48 states; and owned and operated 125 restaurants and franchised 131 restaurants across 20 countries, Puerto Rico and Guam. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida."

JANA Partners Trims HD Supply Position

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its stake in HD Supply Holdings (HDS).  Per the filing, JANA sold 621,235 shares on October 5th at a weighted average price of $42.37.  After this sale, they still own over 5.39 million shares.

JANA Partners Sends Letter to EQT's Board, Still Opposes Rice Transaction

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in EQT (EQT).  Per the filing, JANA still owns 5.8% of the company with 10,017,129 shares (including options to purchase 1.86 million shares).


We highlighted previously that JANA opposed EQT's transaction with Rice Energy.  They continue to oppose it and JANA has sent a letter to EQT's board, which is embedded below:



You can also read it via the SEC's website here.

JANA Partners Exits Whole Foods Market Stake

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Whole Foods Market (WFM).  Per the filing, JANA Partners has sold its entire position as of July 17th. 

As an activist investor, JANA Pushed Whole Foods to sell itself and the company recently agreed to a deal with Amazon (AMZN).  Instead of sitting around in a merger arbitrage trade, it looks like JANA has decided to move on to its next opportunity.

For more on this firm, we've highlighted a stock JANA Partners recently bought here.

Per Google Finance, Whole Foods is "is engaged in the business of natural and organic foods supermarket. The Company operates approximately 456 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Its stores have an average size of approximately 39,000 square feet, and are supported by its distribution centers, bake house facilities, commissary kitchens, seafood-processing facilities, a produce procurement center, and a specialty coffee and tea procurement and roasting operation, among others. It offers over 30,000 organic stock keeping units (SKUs), covering various areas of its store, including produce, packaged goods, bulk, frozen, dairy, meat, bakery, prepared foods, coffee, tea, beer, wine, cheese, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, pet foods and household goods. The Company's brands include 365 Everyday Value, Allegro Coffee, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws, and Engine 2 Plant-Strong. It also offers approximately 400 temporary exclusives."

JANA Partners Starts EQT Stake, Opposes Rice Transaction

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a 13D on shares of EQT (EQT).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 5.8% of EQT with over 10.13 million shares (inclusive of options to purchase 1.86 million shares).

This is a newly disclosed equity position  for JANA. They purchased shares in April, May and June at prices ranging from $53.xx to $60.xx.

JANA's Letter to EQT Board

Rosenstein's firm also sent a letter to the board of directions and say they invested because "we believe that the Company trades at a substantial discount to its intrinsic value and has a ready opportunity to unleash this value potential by immediately separating its E&P and midstream businesses into two separate companies, which we estimate could create as much as $4.5 billion (or $26 per share) of value for EQT shareholders."

Additionally, they lay out their case as to why they are against the company's acquisition of Rice Energy.

Embedded below is JANA's letter to EQT:



If you overlaid this position on JANA's portfolio as of the end of the first quarter, EQT would be their second largest position, behind only Whole Foods (WFM).

You can view other recent portfolio activity from JANA Partners here.

JANA Partners Files 13D on Whole Foods Market

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Whole Foods Market (WFM).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 8.3% of the company with 26.31 million shares (including options to purchase 3.53 million shares).

The filing indicates JANA was buying throughout February, in early March and late March, and into early April.  The bulk of their buying came between $29 and $31 per share.

As to why they purchased shares, the 13D filing notes that JANA is looking to:

"(1) addressing the Issuer's chronic underperformance for shareholders, (2) changing the Issuer's board and senior management composition and addressing governance, (3) optimizing the Issuer's real estate and capital allocation strategies, including discussing the Issuer's "365" small store format and opportunities to improve returns on invested capital, (4) pursuing opportunities to improve performance by advancing its brand development and by addressing core operating deficiencies in areas including customer loyalty and analytics, category management and analytics, technology and digital capabilities, procurement and buying practices, pricing strategies and value proposition communication, and online offerings, (5) improving in-store execution, including labor scheduling and management, management of inventory and shrink levels, stocking practices, product layout, in-store signage, private label program strategy and management, and assessing broader cost structure and operating opportunities, (6) evaluating opportunities to re-engineer the Issuer's suboptimal and cost-disadvantaged grocery procurement and distribution strategy, such as by internalizing distribution or pursuing other hybrid strategies, in order to diversify away from its existing primary wholesale distribution partner, while in the interim implementing better management and increased auditing of this relationship to reduce costs, improve execution, and limit such distribution partner's influence, and (7) initiating a review of strategic alternatives particularly in light of the Issuer's apparent unwillingness to engage in discussions with third parties regarding such alternatives."

Per Google Finance, Whole Foods Market is "engaged in the business of natural and organic foods supermarket. The Company operates approximately 456 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Its stores have an average size of approximately 39,000 square feet, and are supported by its distribution centers, bake house facilities, commissary kitchens, seafood-processing facilities, a produce procurement center, and a specialty coffee and tea procurement and roasting operation, among others. It offers over 30,000 organic stock keeping units (SKUs), covering various areas of its store, including produce, packaged goods, bulk, frozen, dairy, meat, bakery, prepared foods, coffee, tea, beer, wine, cheese, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, pet foods and household goods. The Company's brands include 365 Everyday Value, Allegro Coffee, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws, and Engine 2 Plant-Strong. It also offers approximately 400 temporary exclusives. ."

JANA Partners Files 13D on Tiffany & Co

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding Tiffany & Co (TIF).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 4.9% of Tifany with over 6 million shares (inclusive of options to purchase 1.39 million shares).

This is a newly disclosed position for JANA.  The filing notes they were buying throughout January and into early February, with the bulk of their buying coming at between $77.19 and $83.15.  They're working together as a group with Francesco Trapani (who owns $16 million worth of stock as well) who they've nominated to the board.

The filing specifically notes they've had discussion with Tiffany about: "the balance sheet, potential opportunities to accelerate top line growth and expand margins, supply chain, working capital, and the composition of the board."

Per Google Finance, Tiffany & Co is "a jeweler and specialty retailer. Through its subsidiaries, the Company designs and manufactures products and operates TIFFANY & CO. retail stores. The Company's segments include Americas, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Europe and Other. The Americas segment includes sale in Company-operated TIFFANY & CO. stores in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The Asia-Pacific segment includes over 80 Company-operated TIFFANY & CO. stores in China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia and Thailand. The Japan segment includes approximately 60 Company-operated TIFFANY & CO. stores. The retail sales in Europe are transacted in over 40 Company-operated TIFFANY & CO. stores. The Other segment includes retail sales and wholesale distribution; wholesale sales of diamonds, and licensing agreements."

JANA Partners To Vote Team Health Shares in Favor of Buyout

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in Team Health Holdings (TMH).  Per the filing, JANA's ownership stake remains unchanged at 7.91% of the company with 5.89 million shares.

Their 13D was filed to note that on October 30th, they entered into a "voting and support agreement" relating to the merger where JANA has agreed to vote its shares in favor of Team Health's proposed acquisition by Blackstone Group for $6.1 billion.

Per Google Finance, Team Health Holdings is "a provider of outsourced healthcare professional staffing and administrative services to hospitals and other healthcare providers. The Company operates through four segments: Hospital Based Services, IPC Healthcare, Specialty Services and Other Services. The Hospital Based Services segment provides healthcare service programs to users of healthcare services on a fee for service, as well as a cost plus or contract basis. The IPC Healthcare segment consists of IPC and provides acute hospital medicine and post-acute provider service programs to users of healthcare services. The Specialty Services segment provides healthcare service programs to users of healthcare services in an outpatient setting or in a non-hospital-based environment. The Other Services segment is an aggregation of locums staffing, scribes, and billing, collection and consulting services that provides a range of other healthcare services."

JANA Partners Files 13D on HD Supply Holdings

Barry Rosenstein's activist investment firm JANA Partners has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of HD Supply Holdings (HDS).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 8.1% of the company with 16.25 shares.

This is an increase of over 13.25 million shares since the end of the second quarter when they owned 2.99 million HDS shares.  The filing was made due to activity on October 17th.

The 13D notes they were buying throughout September and into October mostly between $30-32 per share.  HDS currently trades around the $33 level.

JANA has already met with management to discuss strategic alternatives, as well as financial and operational means of maximizing value for shareholders.

For more from this manager, we posted up a recent interview with Barry Rosenstein here.

Per Google Finance, HD Supply Holdings is "an industrial distributor in North America. The Company provides a range of products and value-add services to approximately 500,000 customers in maintenance, repair and operations, water infrastructure and residential and non-residential construction sectors. The Company operates in three segments: Facilities Maintenance, Waterworks, and Construction & Industrial-White Cap. Facilities Maintenance distributes MRO products, provides value-add services and fabricates custom products. Waterworks distributes lines of water and wastewater transmission products, serving contractors and municipalities in the water and wastewater industries for non-residential and residential uses. Construction & Industrial-White Cap distributes specialized hardware, tools, engineered materials and safety products to non-residential and residential contractors."

Barry Rosenstein on the Market, Active vs Passive, & More

Barry Rosenstein of hedge fund JANA Partners was interviewed on CNBC yesterday and he said stockpicking isn't dead and the push to passive investing is just a 'bubble' of a trend. He noted: "Wall Street has a great ability to overdo a good thing."

On the market: "I think the market's fairly valued; I don't think it's cheap, I don't think it's expensive; there's pockets of value.  It's hard to get excited about corporate earnings growth right now."

On hedge funds: "I think the fact that we're no longer in a one directional market is going to remind people why they want to be in hedge funds again.  I believe this is the kind of market where a fund like ours can find interesting situations and take advantage of the volatility."

On activism, Rosenstein said "as long as human beings are running public companies and as long as the current board dynamic exists, there's always going to be a need for activism.  Sometimes boards lose sight of what needs to happen."  He thinks activism has a long and bright future. 

On ConAgra: He's trimmed his position in ConAgra a bit, but commended management on turning the business around and making a lot of changes (spinoffs, cost savings, etc) and Rosenstein thinks this one has "years to go" with a collection of attractive brands that can grow at double digit earnings growth and the potential for pruning its portfolio and making attractive acquisitions.

He doesn't think they need to increase their dividend as they're already buying back stock.

JANA also reduced its stake in Walgreen's (WBA) and he thinks it's a great company.  He was on the board for a while but stepped off.  He thinks they've accomplished a 'tremendous' amount.


For more from prominent investors, head to David Tepper's recent interview, as well as Keith Meister's thesis on YUM.

JANA Partners Slightly Trims ConAgra Foods Stake

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund firm JANA Partners recently filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in ConAgra Foods (CAG).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 6.3% of CAG with over 27.38 million shares of exposure (including call options to purchase 6 million shares).

If you back out the 6 million shares via call options (which JANA disclosed as a new position in the first quarter), you're left with 21.38 million shares. 

Compare this with the 21.53 million shares JANA owned at the end of the first quarter, and this means they've slightly reduced their net exposure to the name. 

The filing was made due to activity on May 27th and the purpose of transaction notes that they "entered into an agreement with the Issuer that amends and restates the Cooperation Agreement (the "Amended and Restated Cooperation Agreement"). The full text of the Amended and Restated Cooperation Agreement is included as Exhibit D to this Amendment No. 2 by reference to Exhibit 99.1 of the Issuer's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 31, 2016 (the "Form 8-K") and is incorporated by reference herein.

For more on this fund, we recently highlighted that JANA reduced its Walgreens Boots Alliance position.

Per Google Finance, ConAgra Foods "operates as a packaged food company. The Company offers branded and private branded food to households, as well as commercial foods, which serves various restaurants and foodservice operations. The Company operates in three segments: Consumer Foods, Commercial Foods and Private Brands. Its brands include Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim and Snack Pack, among others. The Company sells its products under private brand labels in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise, club and drug stores. Additionally, ConAgra Foods supplies frozen potato and sweet potato products, as well as other vegetable, spice, bakery, and grain products, to restaurants, commercial and foodservice customers. It has international manufacturing facilities in Argentina, Mexico and interests in ownership of international manufacturing facilities in India and Mexico.."

JANA Partners Reduces Walgreens Boots Alliance Position

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA).  Per the filing, JANA sold 6 million shares on May 16th at $77.29.

After this transaction, JANA still owns over 4.57 million shares of WBA.  This was previously their second largest position.  They originally acquired shares in the third quarter of 2013.

Per Google Finance, Walgreens Boots Alliance "is a global pharmacy-led health and wellbeing enterprise. It operates through three segments: Retail Pharmacy USA, which consists of the Walgreens business, including the operation of retail drugstores and convenient care clinics, in addition to providing specialty pharmacy services; Retail Pharmacy International, which consists of the Alliance Boots pharmacy-led health and beauty stores, optical practices and related contract manufacturing operations, and Pharmaceutical Wholesale, which consists of the Alliance Boots pharmaceutical wholesaling and distribution businesses. Its portfolio of retail and business brands includes Walgreens, Duane Reade, Boots and Alliance Healthcare, as well as global health and beauty product brands, including No7, Botanics, and Soap & Glory. Walgreens Boots Alliance, through its subsidiary, Liz Earle Beauty Co. Ltd, offers the Liz Earle skincare brand."

JANA Partners Goes Activist on ConAgra Foods

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed a 13D on shares of ConAgra Foods (CAG).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 7.2% of the company with over 30.86 million shares.

This is a newly disclosed stake for the fund as they did not own any shares at the end of Q1.  JANA's position includes options to purchase 19 million shares.  They bought July 2015 $33 and $34 calls and August '15 $34 calls.

The filing indicates that JANA "believes that the Issuer has significantly underperformed in shareholder value creation" and singled out the acquisition of Ralcorp.

JANA is prepared to nominate 3 members to the board: Rosenstein, Mr. Lawrence (former CFO of Unilever and General Mills), and Ms. Dietz (former CMO of Safeway).  JANA was out buying shares in April, May, and June at prices between $36.09 and 38.99

For more from this firm, head to Barry Rosenstein's recent appearance on Wall Street Week.

Per Google Finance, ConAgra Foods is a "packaged food company. The Company provides branded and private branded food in households, as well as commercial foods business serving restaurants and foodservice operations. The Company’s brands include Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim and Snack Pack, among others."

JANA Partners Exits Ashland Shares

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in Ashland (ASH).  Per the filing, JANA no longer owns a stake in the company.

The filing was made due to activity on May 11th, 2015.  JANA previously owned over 5.8 million shares of ASH. 

The 13D notes that, JANA "has disposed of its investment in the Shares of the Issuer through regular portfolio management activities. The Reporting Person is highly supportive of the steps taken by the Issuer’s board and management in recent years, including the simplification of the Issuer’s business structure with the disposal of its Water Technologies business, substantial share repurchases, improved margins, and the addition of a board member with significant industry experience."

For more from this hedge fund, head to Rosenstein's presentation at the recent Sohn conference.

Per Google Finance, "a specialty chemical company that provides products, services and solutions to industries. The Company’s segments are: Ashland Specialty Ingredients offers products, technologies and resources in key markets including personal and home care, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, coatings, construction, energy and other industries; Ashland Water Technologies is a supplier of specialty chemicals and services to the pulp, paper, mining, food and beverage, power generation, refining, chemical processing, general manufacturing and municipal markets."

Barry Rosenstein on Wall Street Week Talking Activist Investing

The classic show Wall Street Week has recently been rebooted by Skybridge Capital's Anthony Scaramucci.  The second episode just aired and featured Barry Rosenstein of activist hedge fund JANA Partners.

In it, Rosenstein talked about activist investing and more.  Rosenstein started JANA in 2001 with $17 million and now manages over $10 billion.  He describes his strategy as: "We try to bring out the full value of the company."

On how he identifies candidates, Rosenstein says: "There are still plenty of companies that should be making changes and aren't.  It's not necessarily that management is bad or the board are bad people... We bring attention and a spotlight.  We're looking for companies that have underperformed... both relative and absolute ... We look at these companies and figure out why."


Embedded below is the video of Rosenstein's appearance on Wall Street Week which starts around the 4 minute mark:



For more on this hedge fund manager, head to our recent post on how JANA has gone activist on Qualcomm.

JANA Partners Goes Activist on Qualcomm

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has gone activist on Qualcomm (QCOM).  They're looking for the company to spin off its chip unit from the patent licensing division and for the company to accelerate share repurchases.

Rosenstein was recently interviewed by David Faber at CNBC and said that, "What we think they ought to do is a transparent review of the client businesses, and determine whether or not it makes sense to do either a partial or full split.  So we are not definitely saying that they should split it up."

JANA now owns around $2 billion worth of Qualcomm shares

Embedded below is the video of Rosenstein's interview with CNBC:



For more from this hedge fund, we've highlighted other recent portfolio activity from JANA.

JANA Partners Increases Computer Sciences Stake

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed a 13D on shares of Computer Sciences (CSC).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 5.9% of the company with 8.37 million shares.

JANA has increased its position size by over 5.6 million shares since the end of 2014.  The filing was made due to activity on February 11th.

The filing also notes that JANA has talked with the company about its strategic alternatives.  Over the past six months, various media outlets have suggested the company could be in talks to sell itself to either private equity and/or a foreign company.

We've detailed additional recent portfolio activity from JANA Partners here.

Per Google Finance, Computer Sciences is "a provider of information technology (IT) and professional services and solutions. The Company’s clients include commercial enterprises and the United States federal government, as well as state, local and non-United States government agencies. It has operations throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Company operates in three business segments: Global Business Services (GBS), Global Infrastructure Services (GIS), and North American Public Sector (NPS). GBS provides technology solutions including consulting, applications services, and software. GIS provides managed and virtual desktop solutions, unified communications and collaboration services, data center management, cyber security, compute and managed storage solutions. NPS delivers IT, mission, and operations-related services to the Department of Defense, civil agencies of the United States federal government, as well as other foreign, state and local government agencies."

JANA Partners Completely Exits PetSmart

After going activist on PetSmart (PETM), Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund JANA Partners got the company sold and has been trimming its exposure to the stock since.  Now, in their latest 13D filing with the SEC, we see that JANA has completely exited PetSmart shares.  The filing was made due to activity on February 5th.

As the stock has effectively traded sideways as a risk arbitrage play, one possible explanation is that JANA didn't want to sit around and wait to capture a tiny spread and instead saw more attractive uses for that capital.

PetSmart is set to be acquired by BC Partners in an $8.7 billion deal.

Per Google Finance, PetSmart "supplies products, services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. The Company operates a website for pet supplies, foods and different animal needs. The Company's stores also feature pet styling salons that offer pet grooming services, from full-service styling to baths, toenail trimming and teeth cleaning."

JANA Partners Trims PetSmart Stake Again

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund JANA Partners has filed another amended 13D with the SEC regarding their position in PetSmart (PETM).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 5.1% of the company with over 5.05 million shares.

This is the second time they've cut their position size in January.  After dropping their stake from 9.69 million shares down to 7.6 million, they've now reduced it further to 5.05 million.  The filing was made due to activity on January 22nd.

PetSmart is set to be acquired by BC Partners in an $8.7 billion deal, so perhaps JANA is reducing exposure to what has become an arbitrage play in order to free up capital to deploy into other opportunities. 

We've also posted up other portfolio activity from JANA this month as well.

JANA Partners Blows Out Of Civeo Position

Barry Rosenstein's activist hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a Form 4 and 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Civeo (CVEO).  Per the filing, JANA Partners no longer owns any CVEO shares.

The Form 4 notes that JANA sold the bulk of its position on December 30th at prices of $4.13 and $4.29.  Shares fell over 50% during the month of December.

Per Google Finance, Civeo "operates in active oil, coal, natural gas and iron ore producing regions, including Canada, Australia and the United States. The Company is engaged in providing an integrated service offering to its customers, which include independent oil and natural gas companies, mining companies and oilfield and mining service companies. The Company’s premium accommodations services allow its customers to outsource their accommodations needs to a single supplier, maintaining employee welfare and satisfaction while focusing their investment on their core resource development efforts. In June 2014, Oil States International Inc completed spin-off of the Company."

You can view additional past portfolio activity from JANA Partners here.