Akanthos Capital Management Betting Big on These Stocks for 2016

#3 WMIH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:WMIH)

 – Shares Owned by Akanthos Capital (as of December 31): 1.5 million

 – Value of Holding (as of December 31): $3.89 Million

After an 18% reduction in its WMIH stake during the fourth trimester, Akanthos’ holding in the company represented 8.01% of its portfolio. The shell corporation controlled by the renowned equity firm KKR emerged from bankruptcy in 2012. Its shares have been listed since September of last year and are trading nearly sideways since then. Although WMIH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:WMIH) has about $5.97 billion in NOLs, they can’t be exhausted overnight and the company is still evaluating options for its first acquisition. Hence, the company’s current market valuation of $482 million could rise significantly in the near future. David Tepper‘s Appaloosa Management is the largest stockholder of WMIH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:WMIH) as it held more than 16.90 million shares at the end of December.

#2 McDermott International (NYSE:MDR)

 – Shares Owned by Akanthos Capital (as of December 31): 500,000

 – Value of Holding (as of December 31): $6.38 Million

Akanthos’ holding of McDermott International remained unchanged during the October-to-December period. The stock price of the $632 million Houston-based engineering, procurement, construction, and installation firm is down by nearly 10% over the last 12 months. With the appointment of David Dickson as its CEO, McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) is looking to make a turnaround, with an eye on cutting back on losing projects. Late last month, McDermott was awarded an installation contract for deepwater subsea tieback in the Gulf of Mexico.

#1 Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO)

 – Shares Owned by Akanthos Capital (as of December 31): 2.05 million

 – Value of Holding (as of December 31): $7.44 Million

Akanthos trimmed its stake in Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO) by 2% during the fourth trimester. In the last 12 months Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO)’s stock has plunged by about 53%. In order to receive Title IV funds without restriction, the company expressed its intention to sell its failing culinary school Le Cordon Bleu. However, the company has been unable to do so and this could create problems for it in qualifying for Title IV funds. Nathaniel August‘s Mangrove Partners held more than 3.27 million shares of Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO) at the end of December.

Disclosure: None