Comscore Inc (SCOR): Cadian Capital Significantly Reduces Stake

Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital significantly reduced its exposure to Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) by shedding more than 1.87 million Common Shares. According to its latest 13G filing, the fund now holds around 1.39 million shares, representing 4.1% of the company’s outstanding stock. Due to this transaction, Cadian Capital is no longer the second-largest institutional shareholder of Comscore, a position it held for almost a year.

Cadian Capital is a technology, media, and telecommunications focused investment fund, founded in 2007 by Eric Bannasch. Previous to this endeavour, Mr. Bannasch held a position as Managing Partner at Perry Capital, where he was in charge of managing the portion of the company’s portfolio dedicated to equities from the technology and telecommunications sector. Currently, around 72% of Cadian Capital’s equity portfolio – which is valued at around $3.8 billion – is focused on technology stocks. According to the fund’s last 13F disclosure, its top 10 picks delivered returns of 51%. The firm’s most important positions include Verint Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VRNT), Qlik Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:QLIK), and Altera Corporation (NASDAQ:ALTR), accounting for around 22% of its portfolio. Despite not making it into the top 10 picks, Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) represented an important holding for Cadian Capital prior to the latest transaction, especially following a 10% increase in its stake in the company last January. The firm’s bullish stance towards the stock has apparently been reversed this quarter, as demonstrated by the large reduction in its exposure.

Comscore Inc (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a $1.43 billion market cap provider of digital media analytics solutions, operating in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Its products and services are intended to allow customers to obtain information regarding consumer behavior, specifically detailed information about consumer usage of digital content and advertising. The company generates and analyzes reports on digital activity through its proprietary databases, software, and computational infrastructure. Mobile carriers around the globe for example, receive a great deal of their market intelligence through the firm’s mobile and network analytics products. Furthermore, Comscore delivers information regarding audience size, behavior, and characteristics of Internet users on various platforms, ranging from PCs, to smartphones, and game consoles.

The company is considered a leader in the world of digital data measurements and its stock prices have grown around 52% over the past year. At the end of the year however, the firm’s General Counsel Christiana L. Lin sold 1,000 shares, as disclosed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a Form 4 filing. The insider selling transaction might have been small, yet could indicate a degree of pessimism regarding future stock prices.