In several newly amended filings, John H. Lewis‘ Osmium Partners disclosed raising its positions in Rosetta Stone Inc (NYSE:RST) and Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ:INTX). In Rosetta Stone, the fund reported raising its stake to 2.28 million shares of the company, which represent 10.67% of the company, from 2.12 million shares disclosed in its latest 13F filing. In Intersections, Osmium reported the acquisition of almost 123,700 shares at an average price of $3.84 per unit, raising the stake to around 2.89 million shares, equal to 15.6% of the company’s outstanding stock.
Moreover, Osmium disclosed that it has entered into a nomination and support agreement with Rosetta Stone Inc (NYSE:RST), under the terms of which, the company has appointed Osmium’s former Senior Advisor, Arthur “John” Hass to the company’s board of directors. Mr. Hass is a former partner at Goldman Sachs and at Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Rosetta Stone Inc (NYSE:RST) is a small cap provider of technology-based language learning solutions, being engaged in development and sale of language-learning solutions through its software, online and mobile platforms under its Rosetta Stone brand. Its stock lost around 21% year-to-date mainly on the back of a significant decline in earnings that also have come below the analyst expectations. For the third quarter, the company reported a net loss of $0.76 per share, versus $0.19 in the same quarter a year ago, and below the consensus estimate of -$0.20.
Aside from being a significant position in Osmium Partners’ equity portfolio, Rosetta Stone Inc (NYSE:RST) also represents one of the top holdings in terms of value in the 13F portfolio of David Nierenberg‘s Nierenberg Investment Management, which reported ownership of 1.69 million shares, the $13.60 million stake amassing 16.7% of its equity portfolio. Earlier in August, soon after Osmium went activist on Rosetta Stone, Niernberg said in a filing that it welcomes the investor’s decision to go activist, since Osmium is focused on Internet commerce, social networking and digital marketing companies and has experience in this area. Moreover, Nierenberg added that Osmium has a great track record of maximizing shareholder value at other companies, such as ZipRealty (sold to Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY)) and Spark Networks Inc (NYSEMKT:LOV), which will help it to turn things around at Rosetta Stone as well.
Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ:INTX) is another stock with a huge decline since the beginning of the year. The share price of the nano cap consumer protection services company dropped by almost 50% year-to-date, also after the company reported declines in revenues and earnings per share. For the third quarter, Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ:INTX)’s revenue slipped to $60 million, from $76 million a year ago, while its net loss expanded to $0.21 from $0.08.
Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies is another shareholder of Intersections Inc. (NASDAQ:INTX), which disclosed holding 767,200 shares in its latest 13F filing, up by 5% on the quarter.
Disclosure: none
