Peter A. Wright‘s P.A.W Capital Partners recently disclosed its equity portfolio as of the end of March in a 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Quite a few of the fund’s top picks posted double digit gains over the quarter. Wright, a Cornell University Graduate, founded P.A.W Capital in 1990. Currently the firm has about $207 million in assets under management. In order to generate double digit returns for its investors, P.A.W Capital pays special attention to growth oriented companies operating in rapidly changing industries. The market value of the fund’s equity portfolio increased to $101.25 million at the end of the first quarter from the $94.58 million it stood at to close the previous quarter. The technology sector represented 53% of the portfolio value with the top long-term equity holdings consisting of Web.com Group Inc (NASDAQ:WWWW), IGATE Corp (NASDAQ:IGTE) and Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK). Stock picks from other sectors that headed the portfolio and have formed part of Wright’s bets for more than a year included Fairway Group Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FWM) and Allot Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT).
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Coming back to P.A.W Capital’s equity portfolio, the fund’s largest holding was in Web.com Group Inc (NASDAQ:WWWW). The $1.17 billion provider of internet services such as domains, website design, search engine optimization and e-commerce solutions etc., to small businesses has been in the fund’s portfolio dating all the way back to pre-2010. During the first quarter, the stake in Web.com Group Inc (NASDAQ:WWWW) was increased by 10% to 430,000 shares valued at $8.15 million. The company’s stock is up by nearly 20% year-to-date amid solid financial results for the first quarter, which included an EPS of $0.56, coming in $0.03 ahead of estimates, and revenues of $137.69 million that beat expectations by $2.05 million. Ahmet Okmus‘ Okmus Fund Management is the largest stockholder of Web.com Group Inc (NASDAQ:WWWW) with 7.78 million shares that represent 14.8% of the company’s outstanding common stock.
With 1.09 million shares valued at $7.38 million, Fairway Group Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FWM) represented P.A.W’s second largest holding at he close of the first quarter. The fund initiated a position in the company during the first quarter of 2014, and after increasing its stake in subsequent quarters, it shed 70,000 shares in the most recent quarter. Fairway Group Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FWM) has appreciated by a staggering 40.63% year-to-date. The company’s new leader, CEO Jack Murphy has made considerable operational improvements and investors are now more optimistic about the future outlook for the food retailer. Besides P.A.W Capital, Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies and David Shaw’s D E Shaw are two other shareholders of Fairway Group Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FWM).
Wright’s holding of IGATE Corp (NASDAQ:IGTE) in his fund dates back to the first quarter of 2010. An increase of 4% in the stake during the last quarter took the firm’s exposure to the New Jersey-based integrated technology and operations solutions provider to 120,000 shares valued at $5.12 million. IGATE Corp (NASDAQ:IGTE)’s stock has risen by 20.2% year-to-date, outpacing the IT services industry, which has gained 6.01% during the same time, according to Morningstar data. IGATE reported an improvement in gross margins to 35.1% in the first quarter as compared to 34.8% in the previous quarter, though margins declined from the 37.5% they stood at in the same quarter a year ago. Lee Munder‘s Lee Munder Capital Group held nearly 106,900 shares of IGATE Corp (NASDAQ:IGTE) at the end of the fourth quarter.
Allot Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT) represented the fund’s top pick in the telecommunication services sector with its holding of 490,000 shares valued at $4.31 million. The $984 million provider of broadband solutions became a part of the fund’s equity portfolio in the second quarter of 2013. Allot Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT)’s stock hasn’t fared so well this year, sliding by about 15% year-to-date. Although the first quarter EPS of $0.09 beat estimates by $0.02, revenues of $29.53 million came in $0.26 million lighter than expected. Mark N. Diker‘s Diker Management has placed a bet on Allot Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:ALLT) to the tune of 1.53 million shares according to the fund’s latest filing.
P.A.W Capital’s fifth largest equity stake is in Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK), which has unfortunately been another loser this year, as the stock is down by about 17% year-to-date. The holding was comprised of 200,000 shares valued at $2.82 million. In its first quarter financial results, the provider of proactive identity theft protection services posted the best figures for new member acquisitions in its history. This was partly fueled by the data breach of insurance company Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) in February, which affected about 80 million people. Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK) is currently trading at a forward earnings multiple of 16.95. Citadel Investment Group, the renowned managed futures fund, held about 1.65 million shares of Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK) at the end of 2014.
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