According to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pasco Alfaro and Richard Tumure‘s Miura Global Management has increased its stake in restaurant operator Zoe’s Kitchen Inc (NYSE:ZOES) to 1.68 million shares or 8.67% of the company’s outstanding stock, from 960,000 shares that it owned at the end of June. In another filing, Eric Semler‘s TCS Capital Management revealed that it now owns slightly over 10.6 million shares or 7.8% of the outstanding common stock of Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:CETV), significantly above 7.08 million shares it revealed in its latest 13F filing.
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Miura Global Management is a New York-based long/short equity hedge fund founded by Pasco Alfaro and Richard Tumure in 2004. The fund was seeded by iconic hedge fund Tiger Management’s Julian Robertson. In July last year, the fund closed its doors to new investors, citing its goal to cap the size of the fund at $2 billion. As of June 30, its U.S. equity portfolio is worth over $1.64 billion and more than a half of it was represented by stocks from the consumer discretionary sector.
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The stock of Zoe’s Kitchen Inc (NYSE:ZOES) is up by more than 120% since it made its secondary market debut in April, 2014, at $15 per share. At the end of the last year, the Mediterranean cuisine focused restaurant chain had its presence in 15 states across the United States through three franchise restaurants and 129 company-owned outlets. However, with the opening of its latest location in Newport News, Virginia, on September 3, the company now boasts a total of 160 outlets. The company came out with better than expected second quarter results on August 27, reporting EPS of $0.05 on revenue of $54.50 million, compared to analysts’ consensus estimate of EPS of $0.04 and revenue of $53.46 million. Among the hedge funds we track, Donald Chiboucis‘ Columbus Circle Investors, with 405,851 shares, was the second-largest shareholder of Zoe’s Kitchen Inc (NYSE:ZOES) after Miura Global Management at the end of June.
TCS Capital Management is a also a New York-based long/short equity hedge fund that was founded in 2001 by Eric Semler, who holds an MBA from Harvard University. Prior to founding TCS Capital, Mr. Semler served as Managing Director of WaterView Advisors, L.L.C. The fund employs a bottom-up stock picking approach and mainly invests in the telecom and media sector. At the end of June, TCS Capital Management’s equity portfolio was worth slightly above $197 million and contained around 40 holdings.
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Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:CETV) is a Czech-based broadcasting company that operates 33 TV channels across Croatia, Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Romania. After a private placement and rights offering in May 2014, it was revealed that Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) owned almost 75% of the company on a diluted basis. Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:CETV)’s stock has lost 90% of its value in the past five years and this year alone it has slid by some 32%. For the second quarter of fiscal 2015, the company reported a loss of $0.11 per share and revenue of $166.83 million, compared to a loss of $0.32 and revenue of $204.87 million delivered a year earlier. Apart from TCS Capital, Rob Citrone‘s Discovery Capital Management was among the top shareholders of Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ:CETV), owning almost 4.7 million shares at the end of June.
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