Hedge Fund Links ~ 8/5/16

Excerpts from Raging Capital's latest letter [ValueWalk]

Thoughts from Lee Cooperman in his Q2 letter [Business Insider]

Carlson Capital Q2 letter excerpts [Business Insider]

Steve Cohen's performance coach on the trait of successful traders [Yahoo Finance]

Jim Simons: computer trading is good for markets [CNBC]

Howard Marks says hedge fund 'geniuses' spawned too many firms [Bloomberg]

Howard Marks' Addendum to 'Economic Reality' Memo

Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital released his most recent memo entitled 'Economic Reality' a few months ago.  However, we forgot to post the addendum he added to it.  The original piece is insightful so definitely check it out if if you haven't already via the link above.

Here's what he added:

"There’s been a lot of response since the memo that follows was originally published on May 26.  In the discussions that have ensued, I realized that I should have led with something like this:  

Ultimately, economics is the study of choice.  Because choices range over every imaginable aspect of human experience, so does economics. . . .  

How do individuals make choices:  Would you like better grades?  More time to relax?  More time watching movies?  Getting better grades probably requires more time studying, and perhaps less relaxation and entertainment.  Not only must we make choices as individuals, we must make choices as a society.  Do we want a cleaner environment?  Faster economic growth?  Both may be desirable, but efforts to clean up the environment may conflict with faster economic growth.  Society must make choices. . . .  

We would always like more and better housing, more and better education – more and better of practically everything.  

If our resources were . . . unlimited, we could say yes to each of our wants – and there would be no economics.  Because our resources are limited, we cannot say yes to everything.  To say yes to one thing requires that we say no to another.  Whether we like it or not, we must make choices.  

Our unlimited wants are continually colliding with the limits of our resources, forcing us to pick some activities and to reject others.  Scarcity is the condition of having to choose among alternatives.  (Macroeconomics Principles, Libby Rittenberg and Tim Tregarthen.  Emphasis added)  

Because of the above, we make economic choices every day.  Everyone knows choices like these are inescapable.   

Everyone, that is, except for politicians.  The politician promises better grades and more leisure time.  A cleaner environment and faster economic growth.  That’s what caused me to write the memo: in politics and government – unlike the real world – the word “or” often goes out the window, replaced by “and.”  No choices are necessary.   

A few months ago I saw a cartoon featuring caricatures of two primary opponents.  Under one it said “bulls**t” and under the other it said “free s**t.”  There’s bound to be a lot of the former in any election season, but economics tells us the latter is unrealistic.  I wrote this memo to help readers understand why."

You can read the rest of Howard Marks' memo 'Economic Reality' here.


For more on this investor, check out Howard Marks' presentation at the London Value Investor Conference.

ValueAct Capital Buys More CBRE Group

Jeff Ubben's activist firm ValueAct Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding their position in CBRE Group (CBG).

Per the filing, ValueAct was buying shares on August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at prices around $28.40.  In total, they bought 1,502,200 shares.  After these purchases, they now own over 34.43 million shares of CBG.

You can view other recent portfolio activity from ValueAct here.

Per Google Finance, CBRE Group is "a holding company that conducts all of its operations through its subsidiaries. The Company is a commercial real estate services and investment company. The Company operates through the segments: The Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Asia Pacific; Global Investment Management, and Development Services. It offers services to occupiers, owners, lenders and investors in office, retail, industrial, multifamily and other types of commercial real estate. It offers commercial real estate services under the CBRE brand name, investment management services under the CBRE Global Investors brand name and development services under the Trammell Crow Company brand name. It is focused on several competencies, including commercial property, corporate facilities, project and transaction management, tenant/occupier and property/agency leasing, capital markets solutions, real estate investment management, valuation, development services and proprietary research."

Pershing Square To Sell Entire Canadian Pacific Stake

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has announced with Canadian Pacific (CP) that the hedge fund will be selling the rest of its remaining CP stake with a public offering of just over 9.84 million shares.

Apparently Ackman will be using the proceeds to deploy into one or more new positions.  He will also stay on CP's board until the next annual meeting.

You can view other recent portfolio activity from Pershing Square here.

Per Google Finance, Canadian Pacific "together with its subsidiaries, operates a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States. The Company operates in rail transportation segment. The Company's business mix includes bulk commodities, merchandise freight and intermodal traffic over a network of approximately 12,500 miles, serving the principal business centers of Canada from Montreal, Quebec, to Vancouver, British Columbia, and the United States Northeast and Midwest regions. The Company transports bulk commodities, merchandise freight and intermodal traffic. Bulk commodities include Canadian grain, U.S. grain, coal, potash, and fertilizers and sulfur. Merchandise freight consists of finished vehicles and automotive parts, as well as forest and industrial and consumer products. Intermodal traffic consists of retail goods in overseas containers that can be transported by train, ship and truck and in domestic containers and trailers that can be moved by train and truck.."

What We're Reading ~ 8/3/16

Ego is the enemy [Ryan Holiday]

Is active management dead? Not even close [CFA Institute]

When is a 'value' company not a value? [Investing Research]

Interview with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes [Bloomberg]

On Tiger Global's bet on Flipkart [LiveMint]

Amazon's ascent in India shows that price isn't everything [Nikkei]

On capital light compounders [Base Hit Investing]

Why is the stock market so high? Ask the bond market [NYTimes]

US homeownership rate falls to five-decade low [WSJ]

How China became the world's e-commerce king [TheDrum]

Didi schools Uber on doing business in cutthroat China [Bloomberg]

Uber finds passage to India blocked by Ola [Bloomberg]

What happened to Yahoo? [Waiters Pad]

Google plots cheaper wireless future to expand fiber project [Bloomberg]

Here comes 5G wireless, but first a reality check [Recode]

Big US brokerages chase the rich [Reuters]

App coins and the dawn of the decentralized business model [Medium]

How free mobile games are designed to make money [Vox]

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."

Pennant Capital Discloses Gores Holdings Stake

Alan Fournier's hedge fund firm Pennant Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding Gores Holdings (GRSHU).  Per the filing, Pennant now owns 5.87% of Gores Holdings with 2.2 million shares. 

This is a newly disclosed stake and the filing was made due to activity on July 19th.

Per Google Finance, Gores Holdings is "a blank check company. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The Company focuses to effect its business combination using the proceeds held in the Trust Account from its Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, its capital stock, debt or a combination of these as the consideration. The Company has no operations. The Company has not generated any revenue."

Soros Fund Ups Quantum Corp Position

George Soros' family office Soros Fund Management has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its stake in Quantum Corp (QTM).  Per the filing, Soros now owns 5.27% of Quantum with over 14 million shares.

This is up significantly from the 1.66 million shares they owned at the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on July 22nd.

Per Google Finance, Quantum Corp "focuses on scale-out storage, archive and data protection, providing solutions for capturing, sharing, managing and preserving digital assets over the entire data lifecycle. The Company's end-to-end tiered storage solutions enable users to maximize the value of their data by making it accessible whenever and wherever needed, retaining it indefinitely and reducing total cost and complexity. It works with a network of distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), direct marketing resellers (DMRs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other suppliers to meet customers' evolving needs. Its scale-out storage portfolio includes StorNext software, appliances and full systems called StorNext Pro Solutions, as well as Xcellis workflow storage, QXS disk storage, Lattus extended online storage and Q-Cloud Archive and Vault services. Its StorNext offerings enable customers to manage large unstructured data sets in an information workflow."

Claire Barnes' Investment Philosophy (Apollo Investment Management)

From time to time we highlight various investment approaches by investors.  Here is the investment philosophy by Claire Barnes, Apollo Investment Management.  H/T thefatmargin for the find.


Claire Barnes Investment Philosophy

1.  We value businesses as would a long-term private buyer, and generally ignore the short term views and price influence of other market participants, except in so far as these create opportunities.  In Benjamin Graham's classic analogy, the investor is in business with a manic depressive partner, Mr. Market, who obligingly sets a two-way price every day.  Most of the time, the investor will listen to Mr Market, politely decline to take action, and get on with real life.  Sometimes however, Mr Market's price is wildly in excess of any intrinsic value, and the investor may take these opportunities to sell, perhaps even to retire.  At other times, Mr Market's price is ludicrously low; we have at times in the past been able to buy good businesses with honest management for less than their net cash balances.  At such times, the sober investor will buy, without worrying unduly about whether Mr Market's price may be even lower tomorrow.


2.  We like value - buying a dollar of assets for 50 cents, for example - but never at the expense of quality.  In developed markets, legal protection may (perhaps) be good enough to base decisions on numbers alone.  In Asia, management integrity is paramount.  We also prefer 'operating assets', which generate cash or will do so in future, rather than 'dead assets' reliant on the price someone else may pay.


3.  We like growth as much as value - but "growth at a reasonable price".  One of the easiest mistakes is to overpay for a good company, or a good story.


4.  Given the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet, and a suspicion that growth may in future be harder to find, "sustainable income at a reasonable price" is attractive too.


5.  Sustainability is never absolute.  We value resilience.


6.  We seek good businesses: internal returns are important.  Deep value buys may arise from very cheap to somewhat cheap and remain illiquid.  The managers of our holdings do most of the work for us when they continue to generate good returns internally, and this reduces reinvestment risk.


7.  Free cashflow is good; sensible capital allocation is key.


8.  We like dividends - especially in those parts of Asia where there are no tax disadvantages, but anyway it is generally a good idea that excess cash be returned to the shareholders.  (If companies with a good value-adding record want cash for expansion, investors can be relied upon to stump up enthusiastically for a rights issue.)  We dislike buyback-and-issuance schemes designed to enrich insiders, but buybacks shrinking the capital base at discounts to intrinsic value are sometimes constructive.


9.  We try to know our companies inside out.  We visit the companies, try to read their annual reports and announcements from cover to cover, talk to their competitors, and so on.  The longer we've known them, the better.


10.  We don't worry about missed opportunities.  Most companies are too complicated: we look for businesses we like and think we can understand, and focus on relatively few.


11.  We buy securities on a 3-5 year time horizon.  (Maybe even more - ideally we would like to buy good companies at good prices and hold forever, but in an ever more volatile world, 3-5 years may be as far ahead as one can realistically hope to see, and certainly we need to keep reassessing.)  However, if a security appreciates rapidly to the point where it no longer represents reasonable value in absolute terms or relative to prospective purchases, or if new information comes to light which causes us to reevaluate, we may sell with alacrity.  Restraining fund size helps us to maintain selling discipline.


12.  The emphasis has changed slightly over the years, due to changing market conditions and sometimes-painful experience.  Our style will, we hope, continue to evolve:  in a changing world, we see no point in narrowing options unnecessarily.



For more on the investment process of other successful investors, check out:

- Andreas Halvorsen (Viking Global) on investment process

- Seth Klarman's value investing lessons

- Investing lessons from KKR's Henry Kravis

- Donald Yacktman on viewing stocks as bonds 

ValueAct Takes Trinity Industries Stake, Trims Microsoft

Jeff Ubben's activist firm ValueAct Capital has filed two disclosures with the SEC today.


ValueAct Shows New Trinity Industries Stake

First, the investment firm has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Trinity Industries (TRN).  Per the filing, ValueAct now owns 6.8% of the company with over 10.39 million shares.

The filing shows ValueAct was out buying July at prices between $18.69 and $21.50.  Also, in June they entered into Equity Forward Transactions with Societe Generale.

The 13D also notes that ValueAct intends to have conversations with members of the company's management and board of directors to enhance shareholder value.

Per Google Finance, Trinity Industries is "a diversified industrial company that owns a range of businesses providing products and services to the energy, transportation, chemical and construction sectors. The Company's products and services include railcars and railcar parts; parts and steel components; the leasing, management and maintenance of railcars; highway products; aggregates; inland barges; structural wind towers; steel utility structures; storage and distribution containers, and trench shields and shoring products. The Company's segments include the Rail Group, Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group, Construction Products Group, Energy Equipment Group, Inland Barge Group and All Other Groups. Its Rail Group is a manufacturer of freight and tank railcars in North America used for transporting a range of liquids, gases and dry cargo, through Trinity Rail Group. The Company's Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group is a provider of rail industry services in North America."


Ubben's Firm Trims Microsoft Stake

Second, in a Form 4 filed with the SEC, ValueAct has sold shares of Microsoft (MSFT).  Per the filing, ValueAct sold 18 million shares in total on July 27th and 28th at prices of $56.38 and $55.95.

After these sales, they still own over 38.62 million shares.

Per Google Finance, Microsoft is "is engaged in developing, licensing and supporting a range of software products and services. The Company also designs and sells hardware, and delivers online advertising to the customers. The Company operates in five segments: Devices and Consumer (D&C) Licensing, D&C Hardware, D&C Other, Commercial Licensing, and Commercial Other. The Company’s products include operating systems for computing devices, servers, phones, and other intelligent devices; server applications for distributed computing environments; productivity applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games; and online advertising. It also offers cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, services and content over the Internet by way of shared computing resources located in centralized data centers. It provides consulting and product and solution support services."

For more from this investor, we've also highlighted another position they've been buying recently.

Hedge Fund Links ~ 7/29/16

At world's largest hedge fund, sex, fear and video surveillance [NYTimes]

Investors say stop paying fund of hedge funds [NYPost]

How solo fund managers stack up against the team players [FT]

The strategy of hedge fund selection [Global Investor Magazine]

Profile of Bronte Capital's John Hempton [Bloomberg]

The optimal size of hedge funds [Harvard Law]

Inside McKinsey's private hedge fund [FT]

The hedge fund industry needs a makeover [FT]

ValueAct to pay record $11 million to settle antitrust lawsuit [WSJ]

After Brexit, Steve Cohen doubles down [NYTimes]

10 tips for new Wall Street interns from Citadel [Business Insider]

A hedge fund or a fraud? [Bloomberg]

Corsair Capital Q2 Letter: Quintiles Transnational / IMS Health Thesis

Jay Petschek and Steven Major's hedge fund Corsair Capital is out with its second quarter letter. 

In it, they touch on the unique world of negative interest rates we now live in and how investors are reacting:

"The U.S. stock market is currently trading at approximately 16x-17x next year’s earnings. This equates to an earning’s yield of approximately 6% after-tax and 8% on a pre-tax basis - a big gap to 10-year treasury bonds yielding just 1.5%. As long as investors believe that stocks will generally continue to earn what they currently do (even with zero growth), equities will seem to be mathematically quite cheap compared to bonds. Of course, just because bonds are expensive doesn't mean investors have to invest in stocks. However, if not stocks, where will investors turn? It just seems the answer is TINA – there is no alternative – as all assets are historically expensive and stocks may prove to be the proverbial 'best house in a lousy neighborhood.'"

They also provide updates on numerous positions, including Diamond Resorts International (DRII), Olin Corp (OLN), Clearwater Paper (CLW), Voya Financial (VOYA), Countrywide plc (CWD),  and IAC/InterActive (IAC).


Lastly, they feature a write-up on Quintiles Transnational (Q) which is set to merge with IMS Health (IMS).


Embedded below is Corsair's Q2 letter:



For more recent hedge fund letters, we've also posted:

- Third Point's Q2 letter

- Greenlight Capital's Q2 letter

Marcato Capital Takes Terex & Buffalo Wild Wings Stakes

Mick McGuire's activist firm Marcato Capital Management has recently taken stakes in two companies.


Marcato Discloses Terex (TEX) Stake

First, Marcato just filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Terex (TEX).  They now own 5.1% of the company.  CNBC reported that the firm will urge a spinoff and restructuring but support the CEO.

Per Google Finance, Terex is "a lifting and material handling solutions company. The Company is focused on providing its operations and delivering solutions for a range of commercial applications, including the construction, infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, transportation, energy and utility industries. It operates through five segments: Aerial Work Platforms (AWP), Construction, Cranes, Material Handling & Port Solutions (MHPS), and Materials Processing (MP). The AWP segment designs, manufactures, services and markets aerial work platform equipment, telehandlers and light towers. The Construction segment designs, manufactures and markets over two primary categories of construction equipment and their related components, and replacement parts. The Cranes segment designs, manufactures, services, refurbishes and markets mobile cranes. MHPS designs, manufactures, services and markets industrial cranes. The MP segment designs, manufactures and markets materials processing equipment."


McGuire Starts Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) Position

Second, McGuire has also filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD).  Per the filing, Marcato now owns 5.1% of the company with 950,000 shares.  The stake is comprised of various common stock holdings as well as the purchase/sale of various options which you can view here at the very bottom.

This is a newly disclosed position.  They were active in shares and options as early as June 20th and as late as July 22nd.

The filing notes they've already had discussions with directors and will continue to have discussions.

Per Google Finance, Buffalo Wild Wings is "an owner, operator and franchisor of restaurants featuring various menu items. The Company's restaurants feature a bar, which offers a selection of 20 to 30 domestic, imported and craft beers on tap, as well as bottled beers, wine and liquor. The Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants feature various menu items, including its Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings spun in one of its signature sauces from sweet to screamin' hot, which includes Sweet barbeque (BBQ), Teriyaki, Bourbon Honey Mustard, Mild, Parmesan Garlic, Medium, Honey BBQ, Spicy Garlic, Asian Zing, Caribbean Jerk, Thai Curry, Hot BBQ, Hot, Mango Habanero, Wild and Blazin', or signature seasonings, Buffalo, Desert Heat, Chipotle BBQ, Lemon Pepper, and Salt & Vinegar. Its restaurants include a multi-media system, a bar and an open layout. It operates Buffalo Wild Wings, R Taco and PizzaRev restaurants, as well as sells Buffalo Wild Wings and R Taco restaurant franchises."

Coatue Management Reduces Twilio Position

Philippe Laffont's hedge fund firm Coatue Management has filed an amended 13G with the SEC regarding their position in Twilio (TWLO).

Per the filing, Coatue now owns 3.8% of TWLO with 437,152 shares.  This is down from the 625,000 shares they previously reported owning.  This filing was due to activity on July 25th.

Per Google Finance, Twilio "offers Cloud Communications Platforms. The Company enables developers to build, scale and operate real-time communications within software applications. It Programmable Communications Cloud software enables developers to embed voice, messaging, video and authentication capabilities into their applications via its Application Programming Interfaces. The Super Network is its software layer that allows its customers' software to communicate with connected devices globally. It interconnects with communications networks around the world and continually analyzes data to optimize the quality and cost of communications that flow through its platform. The Programmable Communications Cloud consists of software products that can be used individually or in combination to build rich contextual communications within applications. The Programmable Communications Cloud includes Programmable Voice; Programmable Messaging; Programmable Video; Use Case APIs, and Add-on Marketplace."

Third Point Q2 Letter: Long Didi Chuxing & Energy Credit

Dan Loeb's hedge fund Third Point is out with its Q2 letter.  In it, they talk about their new private investment in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ridesharing service that currently has more market share than Uber in China.  Apple (AAPL) also recently invested. 

Third Point also updates their stake in Baxter (BAX) and talks about their increased energy credit exposure.

Third Point's Q2 letter is embedded below:



You can download a .pdf copy here.

For other recent hedge fund letters, check out Greenlight Capital's Q2 letter.

Greenlight Capital Q2 Letter: Long Chemours (CC)

David Einhorn's hedge fund Greenlight Capital is out with its Q2 letter.  They feel that the 'Brexit' won't be a significant economic event by itself.

Turning to specific stocks, Greenlight outlines its thesis on Chemours (CC), a recent spin-off from DuPont (DD). 

They note, "CC should benefit from the continued recovery of TiO2 prices.  Further, EU regulations are driving adoption of CC's next generation refrigerant Opteon, which should increase fluoroproduts profits.  Lastly, management can reduce costs and shutter unprofitable businesses now that the company is independent of DuPont.  We expect the stock to appreciate as investors refocus on the earnings power of the business, which we think will approach $2.00 in 2017.  Our overall average purchase price is $6.58."

The hedge fund also exited numerous longs during the quarter: Macy's (M), American Capital Agency (AGNC), Baxter (BAX), Oil States International (OIS).

They also covered short positions after the Brexit volatility, including: Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Under Armour (UA), and United Rentals (URI).

At the end of Q2, Greenlight's largest disclosed longs (in alphabetical order) were: AerCap, Apple, CONSOL Energy, General Motors and gold.  Average exposure was 96% long and 69% short.

Greenlight's Q2 letter is embedded below:



H/T ValueWalk


For other recent hedge fund letters, we also posted up Third Point's Q2 letter here.

What We're Reading ~ 7/27/16

Find ideas that are good and different [Medium]

The values of value investing [IMAUSA]

The promise of Regrexit [George Soros]

How borrowed shares swing company votes [WSJ]

The downside of past performance [A Wealth of Common Sense]

On Amazon, eBay, and eCommerce arbitraging [Entrepreneur]

The best paid CEOs run some of the worst performing companies [WSJ]

An in-depth look at food chain Chili's [GQ]

India's audacious plan to bring digital banking to 1.2 billion people [Bloomberg]

India's Flipkart has an Amazon problem [Bloomberg]

The new class war [Economist]

China: a transition well underway [ValueWalk]

How one investor approaches valuation [Medium]

Why you should understand what's happening with Italian banks [SNBCHF]

Why ultralow rates are here to stay [WSJ]

Warren Buffett deputy Ted Weschler makes his mark [Institutional Investor]

FCC sets stage for next generation of wireless: 5G [LATimes]

Watching Brazil's rich: a full-time job [NYTimes]

Summer Sale: 50% Off The Wall Street Journal For a Limited Time

From time to time we like to highlight relevant financial deals we come across.  It looks like The Wall Street Journal is now having a summer sale with a 50% discount.

The sale applies to all versions: print, digital, or both.  The offer expires on August 7th so definitely take advantage of the savings and lock-in low prices while you can.

Here's the link to the offer: 50% off The Wall Street Journal

Enjoy!

NYU Stern Evaluation Investment Newsletter: Latest Issue

NYU Stern's student-run investment newsletter eVALUATION is out with their latest issue. 

In it, they interview Ron Cordes of AssetMark, Peter Grubstein of NGEN Partners, Rekha Unnithan of TIAA Global Asset Management, Professor Steve Godeke, David Levine of Odin River, and Sebastian Vanderzeil of Cornerstone Capital Group.

The issue also features investment pitches from students, including: long Harman International (HAR) and long Terraform Global (GLBL). 

Embedded below is the latest issue of NYU Stern's eVALUATION newsletter:



For more like this, check out NYU Stern's interview with Marc Lasry as well as their issue on private market investing.

12 West Capital Discloses Ari Network Services Stake

Joel Ramin's hedge fund firm 12 West Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Ari Network Services (ARIS).  Per the filing, 12 West now owns 5.9% of the company with 1,020,010 shares.

This is a newly disclosed equity stake for the firm and the filing was made due to activity on July 1st.

Per Google Finance, Ari Network Services is "creates software-as-a-service (SaaS) and data-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions that help equipment manufacturers, distributors and dealers in selected vertical markets Sell More Stuff!- online and in-store. The Company’s solutions include Web Platform Solutions, eCatalog Platform Solutions and Lead Management Product. The Company’s SaaS and DaaS solutions include eCommerce-enabled websites, which provide a Web presence for dealers and serve as a platform for driving leads and eCommerce sales; eCatalogs, which drive sales of inventory and PG&A both online and within the dealership; and lead management software designed to increase sales for dealers through management and closure of leads."