Akanthos Capital Management’s Top Stock Picks

#3 WMIH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:WMIH)

Shares held (as of September 30): 1.83 million

Total Value (as of September 30): $4.76 million

Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 7.21%

During the September trimester Akanthos increased its stake in WMIH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:WMIH) by 9%. So far this year the stock price of the reinsurance company has risen by about 14.6%. The company made a switch from the OTC market to NASDAQ at the end of September. Stephen J. Errico’s Locust Wood Capital Advisers is the largest stockholder of WMIH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:WMIH) holding about 3.59 million shares of the company at the end of the third quarter.

#2 Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO)

Shares held (as of September 30): 2 million

Total Value (as of September 30): $7.52 million

Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 11.83%

In the third quarter Akanthos hiked its holding in the educational services company by a hefty 68%, while the company’s stock price gained nearly 10% during the same period. Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO)’s stock might be close to exploding, since the estimated earnings for the current fiscal year are expected to grow by about 81.9% as compared to last year and the stock price hasn’t reflected that appreciation yet and is down by more than 27% during the last 12 months. Blum Capital Partners, which is led by Richard Blum, heads our list of Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO)’s shareholders as it held about 3.32 million shares at the end of the second quarter.

#1 McDermott International (NYSE:MDR)

Shares held (as of September 30): 500,000

Total Value (as of September 30): $8.08 million

Percent of Portfolio (as of September 30): 12.22%

A total of 125,000 McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) shares were acquired by Akanthos during the third trimester. The stock price of the $1.43 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company focused on executing oil and gas projects has more than doubled so far this year. The company managed to significantly grow its backlog of projects during the September quarter, which includes the record-setting deal in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, recently McDermott also announced that it has been awarded a large brownfield contract by RasGas Company Limited (RasGas) on Qatar’s offshore. In its financial results for the third quarter McDermott beat both the top and bottom line estimates. Michael Blitzer‘s Kingstown Capital Management held 4 million shares of McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) at the end of June.

Disclosure: None