According to a recent 13G form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Alex Sacerdote‘s Whale Rock Capital Management has re-opened a position in Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR) of some 1.26 million shares, after the fund disposed of its entire holding amounting to 1.32 million shares during the first quarter. The current holding represents 4.92% of the company’s outstanding shares and is valued at $36.54 million based on the current stock price.
Alex Sacerdote of Whale Rock Capital Management
Prior to launching Whale Rock in 2006, Sacerdote worked at Fidelity Investments, Interactive Imaginations, and Smith Barney. According to the latest 13F filing of the fund, the money manager, who earned a degree from Harvard Business School, has 90% of Whale Rock’s holdings invested in the technology sector, while consumer discretionary forms the remaining 10% of the $976.19 million public equity portfolio.
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Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR) is one of the leading providers of collaboration software for the construction industry. The solutions ease data sharing and exchange capabilities during various stages of the construction project lifecycle. Some of the products include the invoice generator software, Construction Payment Management, and an Early Payment Program, which allows users to make early payments to subcontractors with the financial intermediation of Greensill Capital.
Smart money pulled itself out of Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR) in significant numbers during the first quarter, which as mentioned, included Sacerdote himself. Among the hedge funds that we track, just five had positions, with an aggregate investment of $27.56 million at the end of March compared to eight firms with $71.03 million in holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Steve Cohen‘s Point72 Asset Management and Weatherbie Capital, managed by Matthew A. Weatherbie, were the largest stockholders of Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR) among them, with respective holdings of 406,900 shares valued at $11.06 million and about 263,000 shares valued at $7.15 million, both as of the end of March.
However, this doesn’t mean that Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR)’s stock has been performing poorly. Although up by just over 2% so far this year, Textura’s shares have climbed by nearly 20% over the last 12 months. This is still less than the average gains posted by the software application industry however, which has posted average gains amounting to 10.89% year-to-date and 25% over the past year. The company’s future prospects look promising according to Northland’s Jeff Houston, who initiated coverage on the company with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a $40 price target, which provides an upside of about 33% to the current trading price of shares. The analyst believes that Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR) is enjoying first-mover price advantage as it modernizes the underpenetrated commercial construction business.
In its financial results for the first quarter Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR) broke even on the EPS front, which was what analysts expected; however revenues of $19.2 million were $0.05 million short of the estimates, though they still represented a 39.2% increase on a year-over-year basis. The technology company’s CEO Pat Allin stepped down recently, and handed the reins to board member Dave Habiger, who will act as Interim CEO. Allin will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of Textura Corp (NYSE:TXTR).
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