David Einhorn wants the world to know he is not a tech bear. On an earnings call Tuesday morning for Greenlight Capital‘s publicly-listed reinsurance division, Greenlight Capital Re, Einhorn said that despite his recent remarks about a new technology bubble, in general he is bullish on technology and technology stocks. He pointed to positions such as Apple, Micron Technologies and Marvell Technology, which he said “are quite inexpensive,” according to a transcript of the call published by seekingalpha.com. However, he also told investors that his firm identified a number of momentum technology stocks “that have reached prices beyond any normal sense to valuation, we believe that they are in a bubble and we have shorted a good number of them in what we call the bubble basket.” On Monday at the Sohn Conference, he identified and discussed in detail his short of one of those bubble stocks — Athenahealth.
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Jeffrey Smith, CEO of the activist fund Starboard Value, has trimmed his firm’s stake in Calgon Carbon again, to 6 percent. In early November Starboard sent a 53-page letter and analysis to Randall Dearth, president and CEO of Calgon Carbon, offering ways to boost the stock price of the company, which makes and sells products involved in the purification, separation and concentration of liquids and gases. Earlier this year the company announced changes to its board. On May 1, Dearth also became chairman, replacing Seth Schofield, who retired. Also on May 1, Timothy G. Rupert became the independent lead director. In March 2013, Starboard and Calgon worked out an agreement whereby the company agreed to add two independent directors and amend its shareholder rights agreement.
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Jeffrey Ubben’s ValueAct Capital bought about 1.2 million shares of MSCI, boosting its stake to 8 percent. MSCI provides investment-related products, services and data, and is known for such brands as Barra and RiskMetrics.
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Citadel Advisors disclosed a 9.3 percent passive position in Jaguar Mining, a Brazilian gold producer.
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O. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Investors boosted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals to 5 percent in what is a passive investment.
