In its latest 13F filing, HG Vora disclosed an equity portfolio worth $953.16 million, up from $740.50 million a quarter earlier. The fund made some significant changes during the first quarter. For one, it expanded the portion of communications stocks to 53% from 39% and reduced its bets on casino stocks by removing the position in Pinnacle Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ:PNK) and cutting the stake in Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN). The increased exposure to the communications sector is due to the fund boosting its stake in Zayo Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:ZAYO) by 80% to 2.25 million shares worth $82.80 million. HG Vora also initiated a stake in Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) during the fourth quarter and amassed 3.10 million shares valued at $80.69 million. Together with Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc (NASDAQ:SBGI), which represents HG Vora’s largest holding, Zayo Group Holdings Inc (NYSE:ZAYO) and Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) are the fund’s three largest holdings in terms of value.
HG Vora’s bet on Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) has already paid off pretty well, as the stock is up by 18% since the beginning of the year. Most of the gains came on the back of the French digital performance marketing company reporting its fourth-quarter results. Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) posted EPS of $1.21, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93, while its revenue of $276.94 million increased by 23% on the year and topped expectations by $14.74 million. For the current quarter, Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO) forecasts revenue between $230 million and $235 million, versus a consensus estimate of $204.6 million.
At the end of 2017, there were nine funds tracked by us long Criteo SA (ADR) (NASDAQ:CRTO), down by one fund over the quarter.
On the other hand, DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR), in which HG Vora also initiated a stake during the fourth quarter, saw its stock drop by over 17% since the beginning of 2018. DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR) is a self-administered and self-managed REIT that operates shopping centers and loan investments. The company posted operating FFO of $0.28 per share for the fourth quarter, down from $0.30 a year ago, but slightly better than the consensus estimate of $0.26. Its revenue of $209.32 million declined by 10% on the year and beat the estimates by $1.68 million. The company also reported flat same-store net operating income in 2017 and expects it to inch up by 1.5% this year. One catalyst for DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR) that investors have to look forward to is the spin-off of a portfolio of 50 assets into an independent publicly-traded REIT announced in December. After the transaction is completed, DDR Corp (NYSE:DDR) will continue to operate 236 high-growth US assets with top-tier demographics, while the new REIT, known as Retail Value Trust will include 38 continental US assets and the entire Puerto Rico portfolio of 12 assets, and will focus on operations and private market sales of its assets.
During the fourth quarter, the number of investors in our database increased by one to 23.
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