Four Stocks Bernard Selz Bought in Q1 and One He Got Rid Of

Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX)

– Number of shares held by Selz Capital LLC as of March 31: 100,000

– Value of Selz Capital’s holding as of March 31: $560,000

New York-based Selz Capital LLC added a new position of 100,000 shares of Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX) during the first quarter of this year, which was worth $560,000 at the end of March. Helix Energy Solutions is an international offshore energy services company that offers specialty services to the offshore energy industry, mostly focusing on well intervention and robotics operations. The company’s total net revenues for 2015 decreased to $695.80 million from $1.11 billion in 2014, mainly due to reduced opportunities for work and reduced rates. In mid-March, analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded the company to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’, putting strong emphasis on the company’s well intervention; intervention engineering; production enhancement; inspection; repair and maintenance; and life of field support services. Well maintenance and repair services are less dependent upon energy companies’ discretionary capital spending, which can allow Helix Energy Solutions to easily survive a sustained low-crude-oil-price environment. Just recently, analysts at Credit Suisse also upgraded the offshore services company to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’. Helix Energy Solutions has seen its market value gain 25% year-to-date. Higher crude oil prices, several analyst upgrades, as well as better-than-expected bottom-line results have pushed Helix’s shares higher this year. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management was the largest equity holder of Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX) within our database at the end of 2015, holding 6.74 million shares.

Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ)

– Number of shares held by Selz Capital LLC as of March 31: 0

– Value of Selz Capital’s holding as of March 31: $0

Selz Capital LLC owns no shares of Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) as of March 31, having unloaded 13,000 shares it held at the end of the previous quarter. Williams Partners is a limited partnership involved in the gathering, processing and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids, as well as in the petchem production of ethylene, propylene and other olefins. In May 2015, Williams Partners and Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE:WMB) announced a merger agreement under which the latter was set to acquire the former at a 1.115 ratio of WMB share per WPZ common unit. However, Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE:ETE) sent a public offer to acquire Williams Companies for $64.00 per share, with the condition on terminating the previously-inked merger agreement with William Partners. As a result, William Partners announced plans to abandon the deal in late September 2015, with Williams Companies being required to pay a termination fee of $428 million, which were set to be paid through a reduction of quarterly incentive distributions. Williams Companies owns approximately 58% limited partnership interest in William Partners and all 2% general partner interest as of the end of 2015. Shares of Williams Partners are 8% in the red year-to-date and are down 49% in the past 12 months. David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management LP acquired a new stake of 2.37 million shares in Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) during the December quarter.

Disclosure: None