Red Oak Partners Reveals 10% Activist Stake in UniTek Global Services Inc. (UNTK)

In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Red Oak Partners has disclosed ownership of 10.58% stake in UniTek Global Services Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTK). The filing revealed that the fund owns 2.03 million shares of the company’s common stock, the stake has been picked up from approximately 2.00 million shares held earlier by the fund. At the same time, the investor has changed the nature of its stake to activist.

UniTek Global Services Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTK) is engaged in providing permanently outsourced infrastructure services to the telecommunications, broadband cable, wireless, transportation, public safety and satellite television industries. The company has a market cap of $9.42 million.

Another shareholder, Steven B. Klinsky’s New Mountain Capital holds 1.01 million shares of UniTek Global Services Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTK), according to our database.

On Thursday, shares of the company rose by 0.02% to $0.480. It has a 52 week high of $2.12 and a 52 week low of $0.40. The consensus average target price for the stock is $2.50, and the consensus average recommendation is ‘Hold.’

For the first quarter of 2014, UniTek Global Services Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTK) reported net loss of $19.6 million, or $1.02 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $7.7 million, or $0.40 per basic and diluted share, in the same quarter of 2013. The increase in net loss resulted from the increase in the loss from operations being only partially offset by a decline in the loss from discontinued operations, according to a statement.

The company reported loss from continuing operations of $19.6 million, or $1.02 per basic and diluted share, compared with loss from continuing operations of $7.0 million, or $0.37 per basic and diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013.

“While the first quarter was a challenging quarter operationally, we kept our expenses down, realizing a 22% decrease in SG&A expenses year-over-year. We remain focused on wireless customer diversification, generating positive cash flow to reduce our debt, maintaining and improving our liquidity and running our business in an efficient and cost effective manner,” CFO Andrew Herning stated.

New York-based Red Oak Partners is managed by David Sandberg, who founded the fund in 2003. Mr. Sandberg also co-founded the Pinnacle Fund LLP. He received a BA in Economics and a BS in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University in 1990.

Disclosure: none