Be careful for what you wish for. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International averted a default on its bonds when the Laval, Canada drug company finally filed its tardy quarterly earnings report on Tuesday morning. However, investors were clearly dismayed to see the embattled company deliver very disappointing guidance for future business. In fact, the company’s new CEO, Joseph Papa, said on a conference call that sales of a popular drug were not as strong as they could have been due to turnover in its sales force. It is also discounting two cardiac-related drugs in response to big price hikes in the past. “We have to be realistic,” Papa told investors and others on the call. As a result, investors knocked the shares down by 14.6 percent. At one point in the day the stock was down as much as 22 percent.
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Another activist investor has taken a stake in Yahoo! Christopher Hohn’s TCI Fund Management has built a position valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Sky News. It is said to be a passive investment. The Internet giant, of course, is the target of an activist campaign being waged by New York-based Starboard Value. In April Yahoo agreed to add four Starboard nominees to its board of directors.
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New York-based Soroban Capital disclosed it nearly quadrupled its stake in Yum! Brands to more than 20.9 million shares, or 5.1 percent of the total shares outstanding. Keith Meister’s New York activist firm, Corvex Management, is the second-largest shareholder.
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Another day, another wild ride for the shares of Sarepta Therapeutics. The third largest holding of Perceptive Advisors surged 22 percent on news the Food and Drug Administration asked for additional data related to the company’s experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug, suggesting the government agency may grant accelerated approval. The stock had opened up about 36 percent.
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HFR’s Weighted Composite Index inched up 0.4 percent in May, its third straight profitable month. As a result, the index is up 0.74 percent for the year. Event driven strategies led the way, rising 1.3 percent in May thanks to an increase in mergers and acquisitions. The strategy is up 2.5 percent for the year.
