Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG), which is caught up in a proxy challenge by activist investor Carl Icahn, will cut an unspecified number of jobs and consolidate some facilities as it looks to improve operating margins. In a statement, the offshore drilling fleet operator said the cost-cutting moves would result in savings of about $300 million. The move comes on the heels of the company’s decision in December to sell 38 older rigs.
Icahn Increases Stake in Nuance Communications (IVCPost)
The information was obtained through SEC filings by Icahn and the passive stake was increased after stock values fell by over 18% last Tuesday. The decline was due to disappointing quarterly earnings and lowered profit forecasts. Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN), in its quarterly report, showed a net loss of US$25.8 billion or US$0.08 per share in the second quarter of the year compared to US$890,000 profit for the same period last year. The company also forecasted a third quarter profit between US$0.30 to US$0.34 per share. This is excluding other items, well below analyst forecasts of US$0.49 per share, in data obtained by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Billionaire Steve Cohen is Liking OpenTable Inc (OPEN) Again (InsiderMonkey)
According to a 13G filed with the SEC, billionaire Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors owns 1.1 million shares of OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN), giving the hedge fund 5% of the total shares outstanding. SAC had previously crossed the 5% threshold last fall, before selling some shares during Q4 and ending 2012 with about 940,000 shares in its portfolio according to its 13F filing (see more stocks SAC owned). OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN) is still a growth company by any measurement, but its growth rates have been slowing as the restaurant reservations service has already achieved considerable market penetration. Revenue was up by 16% last year compared to 2011, and with margins shrinking earnings only grew 11%. These numbers aren’t necessarily bad on their own- the issue is that OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN)’s current valuation is quite high (the trailing earnings multiple is 54) and so the company needs to deliver high growth for several years in order to justify the current valuation.
Keeping a third-generation piano business finely tuned (BaltimoreSun)
Recession being the bane of piano retailers, it seems wholly remarkable that Harry Cohen and his son, Lou, decided to start selling Baldwins and Wurlitzers in 1937 — the year the economy relapsed toward the end of the Great Depression. …Steve Cohen, Harry’s grandson and Lou’s nephew, manages the last of the Cohen piano stores, a handsomely appointed showroom in a humdrum office park near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Sales are conducted by appointment, with walk-ins accommodated on only a few Sundays per year. This past Sunday was one of them — the latest of Steve Cohen’s special “benefit” sales that are key to a business plan he created a couple of decades ago to survive recessions.
John Paulson’s Bermuda reinsurer Pacre lags peers in first-year sales, Chris Hansen’s hedge fund loses 8.7% in Q1 (Opalesque)
Billionaire John Paulson’s Bermuda venture, which positions its owners to avoid taxes on hedge fund earnings by routing money through a reinsurer, sold about 3 percent as much coverage as competitors in its first year. Pacre Ltd., set up by top executives at Paulson’s New York hedge fund firm, collected about $11 million of premiums in the year ended March 31, or 2.3 percent of shareholders’ equity, according to results released last week. The average ratio for 13 publicly traded Bermuda reinsurers is about 68 percent.
Perth Mint working flat out on weekends to satisfy gold rush (WAToday)
Australia’s Perth Mint, which refines nearly all the nation’s bullion, said demand has jumped to the highest level in five years after prices plunged, with the factory kept open through the weekend to meet orders. There has been strong interest, including from the US, with buyers speculating the metal will rebound from the decline, Perth Mint’s sales and marketing director Ron Currie said. Bullion plunged 14 per cent in the two sessions to April 15, the most since 1983, spurring buyers to boost physical holdings. Billionaire John Paulson, the biggest investor in the largest exchange-traded product backed by bullion, reiterated his bullish view on prices.
