Self-made billionaire Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group has significantly increased his stake in Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS) according to a recent 13G form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The massive $176 billion investment firm has increased its stake in the $957.39 million telecommunications company to 4.69 million shares, up from 632,200 that it reported previously. The new stake amasses 5.4% of Ruckus Wireless’ outstanding shares.
Citadel is a managed futures fund renowned for its secretive and complicated computer algorithms that have helped the fund achieve exceptional returns. Hard hit by the financial crises, Citadel lost about 55% of its value during those trying times. However Griffin got back to the business of making money and by the start of 2012 he had made up for the losses. While most hedge funds struggled last year, Citadel’s equity fund generated whopping 23% returns. The market value of the fund’s public equity portfolio rose to $89.8 billion at the end of the first quarter from $83.07 billion in the quarter before. The consumer discretionary and technology sectors each contributed 22% and 19% to the portfolio value.
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The operations of Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS) involve providing ‘Smart WiFi’ products to mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises. Its financial results for the first quarter fell short of estimates, with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.07 and revenues of $82.08 million missing the $0.08 EPS and $85.62 million revenue marks expected of it. Moreover, Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS)’s management provided a soft guidance for the second quarter with revenues falling in the range of $86 million to $91 million and EPS guidance falling between $0.07 and $0.10. The estimates were $90.7 million in revenues and $0.10 EPS. According to CEO Celina Lo, large enterprise deals in the U.S. are taking longer than expected, but are not lost to competitors. The company hopes that its recent move to improve its sales execution in the form of the appointment of new Chief Commercial Officer, Ian Whiting, will solve this problem in the future.
Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS) recently announced its project to create more than 300 ‘Smart Stations’ in China using its WiFi products. The project is in collaboration with Smartac Group China Holdings Limited, one of the most experienced mobile internet gateway providers in China. The goal is to not only to provide fast wireless internet to passengers, but also to provide railway station operators with real-time passenger data. Deployments of Ruckus Smart WiFi networks to 105 stations have already been completed, one at Beijing Railway Bureau station, 100 at Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corporation stations, and four at Lanzhou Railway Bureau stations.
So far this year Ruckus’ stock has slid by nearly 8% which is still better than the computer systems industry, which is down by almost 15% during the same period. Just at the end of last month, one of Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS)’s co-founders, Chief Technology Officer Bill Kish, resigned and also stepped down from the board.
Among the over 700 active hedge funds that we track, the interest in Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS) has significantly increased over the course of the first quarter, as 31 firms had invested $128.44 million in the company at the end of March as compared to 19 funds with $51.60 million invested as of the end of 2014. John W. Rogers‘ Ariel Investments and Bruce Kovner‘s Caxton Associates LP are the two of the largest stockholders of Ruckus Wireless Inc (NYSE:RKUS) within our database, with holdings of 1.66 million and 1.42 million shares respectively.
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