Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital Increases Novellus Stake $NVLS

Ricky Sandler is the son of Harvey Sandler of Sandler Capital Management. Instead of joining family business he launched Fusion Partners with Wayne Cooperman in 1994. Wayne Cooperman’s father is also a very prominent investor, Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors. The two offspring raised $10 Million each from their families and turned Fusion Partners into a $350 Million fund. The partnership ended in 1999 and Sandler went on to launch Eminence Capital.

Ricky Sandler’s investment style can be called “growth at a reasonable price”. He likes to invest in well managed growing companies in non-declining industries. He invests in great companies that are in out-of-favor industries, or that delivered disappointing results and are oversold. He also likes special situations. He spends considerable time on shorting stocks and he believes being short allows him to be aggressive on the long side when it is most needed.

On Monday Ricky Sandler disclosed a 6.3% stake in Novellus Systems (NVLS). He had 3.4 Million NVLS shares at the end of December. This means he bought 2.2 Million shares at prices around $32 per share at the end of April. Currently NVLS trades at $35.89.

Ricky Sandler is the largest owner of Novellus among the 300 hedge funds we follow. Peter J. Eichler’s Aletheia, Chuck Royce, Jim Simons, Ray Dalio, and Paul Tanico’s Castlerock Asset Management were among the other owners of NVLS. The stock returned more than 10% since the end of December.