Stockpickr
Stockpickr's Activist Track Stocks
Stockpickr Staff
05/29/08 - 09:42 AM EDT
Many hedge funds are drastically underperforming the markets this year. In fact, since 2004, the majority of hedge funds have actually underperformed the boarder markets, despite the huge bull market in stocks.
Since most hedge funds get paid based on their returns for the year, managers who do not want to underperform are now turning to shareholder activism as a way to increase shareholder value and ultimately boost their returns.
Here at Stockpickr.com, we track many of the Latest Activist Situations for those interested in piggybacking these activist funds. We highlight a few of those situations here.
Shares of casualty insurance company Baldwin & Lyons(BWINB Quote) are receiving substantial pressure from Loeb Partners. The fund recently called Baldwin & Lyons' capital-allocation strategy "flawed," highlighting the company's poor stock performance. Loeb suggested that the company pay a dividend to its shareholders with excess cash.
Baldwin & Lyons has $85 million in cash, zero debt and a stated book value of $24.30 per share.
DellaCamera Capital wants Enzon(ENZN Quote) to immediately engage an investment bank to explore strategic alternatives. DellaCamera believes the "cash-generating potential of these businesses coupled with synergies that an acquirer could bring are significant."
This latest movement comes on top of Carl Icahn's call for the company to sell itself. One certainly has to wonder how long Enzon is going to stay public with these two activist investors pushing for a sale.
Enzon has a 35% short position.
Next on the list is Care Investment Trust(CRE Quote). This company is facing pressure from its second-largest shareholder, GoldenTree Asset, to hire an investment bank and sell itself.