According to a recently-amended 13D filing with the SEC, Gregory A. Boland’s West Face Capital disclosed an ownership stake of 4.17 million shares in SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL), which represents 6.1% of the company’s outstanding common stock. This marks a decrease of 205,000 shares to the fund’s position since 30, as disclosed in its latest 13F filing for the second quarter. In the meantime, Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital has disclosed that it now owns 14.72 million shares in Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SPR), accounting for 10.42% of the company’s common stock. This is down by 2.37 million shares since the fund revealed its stake in the company through its most recent 13F filing with the SEC.
Most investors don’t understand hedge funds and indicators that are based on hedge funds’ activities. They ignore hedge funds because of their recent poor performance in the bull market. Our research indicates that hedge funds underperformed because they aren’t 100% long. Hedge fund fees are also very large compared to the returns generated and they reduce the net returns experienced by investors. We uncovered that hedge funds’ long positions actually outperformed the market. For instance the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among funds beat the S&P 500 Index by more than 60 percentage points since the end of August 2012. These stocks returned a cumulative of 118% vs. 57.6% gain for the S&P 500 Index (read the details). That’s why we believe investors should pay attention to what hedge funds are buying (rather than what their net returns are).
West Face Capital is one of the leading alternative investment management firms in Canada. The Toronto-based firm, which is currently overseen by Gregory Boland, and founded in 1998, has assets under management of over $2.5 billion and primarily invests in Canadian and U.S. stocks, though it does not eschew from investing in international opportunities as well. West Face specializes in event-oriented investments and seeks stocks that have recently declined in price or are undergoing restructuring or bankruptcy. As revealed by its latest 13F, West Face Capital manages a public equity portfolio worth $339.10 million as of June 30.
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SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) is a leading global organic food company that primarily specializes in sourcing, processing, and packaging of natural and certified organic food products. The shares of SunOpta have lost almost 19% since the beginning of the year, but may rebound soon enough if the company manages to achieve the potential synergies associated with its recent acquisition of Niagara Natural Fruit Snack Company’s assets. On August 12, SunOpta announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to purchase the assets of the growing and innovative manufacturer of healthy, non-genetically modified and organic fruit snacks, which will in turn enhance SunOpta’s existing healthy snack platform. The acquisition is expected to generate both operational and logistical synergies, which are likely to be noticeable in the company’s upcoming financial results. In the meantime, SunOpta has also recently announced its financial results for the second quarter of the year, reporting revenues of $307.3 million for the quarter, compared to $327.6 million posted in the same quarter a year ago. At the same time, the company’s earnings came to $2.0 million or $0.03 per diluted share, compared to $8.7 million or $0.13 per share reported a year ago. Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Capital Management, one of the 737 actively reporting hedge funds that we track, is among the largest shareholders in SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL), owning a stake of 5.12 million shares as of June 30.
