P.A.W. Capital Partners is a Greenwich-based hedge fund launched at the end of 1990 by its current Chief Investment Officer, General Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager, Peter A. Wright. After leading his fund for 28 years, and considering his previous work history, Peter Wright has more than 30 years of experience in the securities industry. Before he founded his own investment fund, Mr. Wright broadened his investment philosophy as the President and CEO at SoundView Financial Group, where he was in charge of trading, research, corporate finance, and more. Prior to joining SoundView Financial Group, he was an Executive Vice President and Research Director at the Gartner Group, where he had an opportunity to closely evaluate companies in the technology sector. Wright started his investment career at I.B.M. Corporation as a Financial Analyst. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from Cornell University.
P.A.W. Capital Partners mainly invests in businesses from the technology sector, using a long/short investment strategy. Aside from the tech sector, the fund also has an eye for companies in healthcare and retail, especially those with “good/bad industry dynamics and improving/worsening company fundamentals”. The fund has around $160 million in total capital under management.
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P.A.W Capital’s stock picks have had both ups and downs in recent years, though many more ups. Its P.A.W. Small Capital Partners LP fund, which is long-oriented and invests mainly in US Technology, Retail/Consumer, and Healthcare turnaround stocks, returned an amazing 24.55% in 2013. The next two years were not so friendly, as the fund lost 14.46% in 2014, and 3.66% in 2015. Then, in 2016, it had a positive comeback, generating a return of 3.60%, after which it managed an impressive 21.47% in 2017. The current year has also been favorable for the fund, as it has gained 14.27% since January through October 29. P.A.W. Small Capital Partners LP fund had a total return of 613.60% and a compound annual return of 9.93%.
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On September 30, P.A.W. Capital Partners’ equity portfolio was valued at $94.96 million and counted 66 positions. Of those holdings, 9 were added during the third quarter, while the fund also dumped 7 companies from its portfolio. We’ll run through the biggest changes on the next page.
The largest two positions P.A.W. Capital Partners held at the end of the third quarter were in Attunity Ltd (NASDAQ:ATTU) and Allot Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT) occupying 4.81% and 4.59% of its 13F portfolio, respectively. The fund actually lowered its stake in software company Attunity Ltd (NASDAQ:ATTU) by 20% to 240,000 shares, which were valued at $4.53 million at the end of September. In Allot Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT), the fund also reduced its stake, but by just 3% to 700,000 shares worth $4.33 million.
In the meantime, the biggest new additions to the fund’s portfolio were stakes in Pieris Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PIRS), in which the fund obtained 250,000 shares valued at $1.4 million, and The Rubicon Project Inc (NYSE:RUBI), 300,000 shares of which were bought by P.A.W. It’s been a completely story on the stock market in 2018 for Pieris Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PIRS), whose shares are down by 50%, and the Rubicon Project Inc (NYSE:RUBI), whose shares have jumped by 54.8%.
Among the companies, P.A.W. Capital Partners seemed to lose optimism for during Q3 were Eiger Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EIGR) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), in which the fund lowered its stakes by 62% to 35,000 shares, and by 45% to 25,000 shares, respectively. It is interesting to see that the fund is reducing its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), as the company was the 10th most popular stock among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey’s database at the end of the second quarter (see the list of the 25 most popular stocks among hedge funds). The biggest positions the fund decided to sell during the third quarter included Akebia Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKBA), in which it held 100,000 shares valued at $998,000 on March 31, and MacroGenics Inc (NASDAQ:MGNX), in which the fund had held a position valued at $516,000 that counted 25,000 shares.
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