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☆ Starboard urges GoDaddy to set 'prudent' guidance and offer specifics on cost savings
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Starboard has a more than 6% stake in the company, and has been pushing the company to expand free cash flow and improve margins. Of the 20 companies in peer group in Starboard's letter, GoDaddy has a higher multiple than only TeraData and Box . Starboard believes that GoDaddy can achieve free cash flow of $9 per share by this fiscal year, and $14 per share by fiscal year 2026. Those targets are higher than GoDaddy's $6.1 free cash flow per share for the fiscal year ending September 2023, according to FactSet data. Starboard expects that GoDaddy could generate more than $4 billion in free cash flow over the next three years.

Persons: Peter Feld, GoDaddy, Aman Bhutani, Feld, Mark McCaffrey, Starboard's Jeffrey Smith Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, GoDaddy Locations: New York City

☆ Starboard CEO makes case for spinning off real estate assets from WSJ owner News Corp
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

– in particular to see its real estate business separated from the rest of the company. Smith said News Corp. should split out its real estate assets, including an interest in REA Group of Australia. On Tuesday, Smith called out the valuation discrepancies between the news and real estate businesses. Meanwhile, News Corp.'s real estate assets trade at eight-times, he said. "It's a great business, a great asset, it's just too cheap," Smith said of News Corp.'s stock price.

Persons: Jeffrey Smith, CNBC's David Faber, Smith, Murdoch, It's, it's Organizations: News Corp, –, REA Group of Australia . News Corp, Dow Jones, Wall Street, New, CNBC, Reuters, Street, Fox Corp, New York Times Locations: New York

☆ Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith on stake in News Corp., push for separation of divisions
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailStarboard Value CEO Jeff Smith on stake in News Corp., push for separation of divisionsStarboard Value CEO Jeff Smith joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss the Starboard's stake in News Corp., why he believes it makes sense for News Corp. to spin off its Dow Jones news division and its REA real estate division, and more.

Persons: Jeff Smith, REA Organizations: News Corp, Dow Jones

☆ Some notable investors scored a win with Splunk takeover — Here's what they are betting on next
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

High-profile investors Jeff Smith and Alex Sacerdote hit home runs after Cisco 's buyout of cybersecurity software company Splunk sent shares surging. The move marked a big win for the two hedge fund investors with big stakes in Splunk. Splunk was Smith's Starboard Value's third-biggest holding at the end of June, with a bet worth more than $430 million. The stock, Whale Rock's fifth-biggest stock bet as of the end of June, has soared more than 66% this year. Sacerdote also had a big bet on another cybersecurity company like Splunk, Fortinet .

Persons: Jeff Smith, Alex Sacerdote, Splunk, Smith, Sacerdote, Fortinet Organizations: Cisco, Rock Capital Management, Acacia Research, Big Tech, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Netflix, Guggenheim Locations: Splunk, Wix.com

☆ Activist Starboard has a variety of strategies to build value at Bloomin’ Brands
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Its restaurant portfolio includes Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. But a better opportunity might be their hidden gem in the 150 Outback restaurants in Brazil. As for Starboard, the firm has had extensive success at both Papa John's and Darden, but in strikingly different ways. Papa John's was a very amicable engagement in which Starboard was invited onto the board and worked with management to create extensive shareholder value. If management is smart, they will view Darden as a warning, and Papa John's as the opportunity.

Persons: David C, George, Bloomin, outperforming Darden, Jeff Smith, Papa John's, Chris, Del Frisco's, accretive, Jana Partners, John P, Gainor, Lawrence V, Jackson, Jana, Papa, Darden, Ken Squire Organizations: Brands, Wine, Papa John's, Darden, Texas Roadhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse, Texas, Fogo De Chao, 13D Locations: United States, BLMN, Fogo De, Brazil

"This quarter puts Salesforce in a league of its own and isn't being appreciated nearly enough at these prices," Jim says. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce's year-to-date stock performance. That is likely why Salesforce stock traded at a valuation "well below" its peers, Smith argued at the time. For context, here's the full list of Salesforce peers included Starboard's presentation: Club holding Microsoft 's (MSFT) productivity and business processes segment, Adobe, Club holding Oracle (ORCL), Intuit (INTU), ServiceNow, Workday and SAP (SAP). Importantly, that $265 target is strictly the result of applying current average peer valuation to Salesforce's current growth/profit mix.

Persons: Marc Benioff, Jim Cramer, Jim, Salesforce, Jeff Smith —, Smith, Salesforce's, —, it's, Jim Cramer's, Patrick T Organizations: —, Club, ServiceNow, Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, Intuit, SAP, CRM, CNBC, Salesforce.com Inc, Global Technology, Fallon, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: That's, TurboTax, Salesforce's, Laguna Beach , California, U.S

☆ Activists ease up on Salesforce — plus, 10 other Club stocks traded by Wall Street pros
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The extraordinary activist-investor interest in Salesforce (CRM) eased further in the second quarter, according to the latest regulatory filings from influential Wall Street pros. His firm still owned about 2 million Salesforce shares as of June 30. Tepper also bought 2.3 million shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and 480,000 shares of Apple (AAPL) during the second quarter. As a result, Appaloosa's holdings as of mid-August may differ significantly from the conclusion of the second quarter. GOOGL YTD mountain Alphabet YTD performance Bets on Google's parent company, Alphabet (GOOGL), varied in the second quarter.

Persons: Dan Loeb's, Jeff Smith's, Salesforce, Jeffrey, Starboard's Jeff Smith, Smith, he's, 13Fs, it's, Marc Benioff, Mason Morfit, Paul Singer's Elliott, Elliott, Elliott —, Nelson Peltz's, Bob Iger, Peltz, David Tepper, Tepper, Bill Ackman's, Seth Klarman, Loeb, Klarman, Stanley Druckenmiller, Druckenmiller, Eli Lilly, That's, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Kim Kulish Organizations: Inclusive Capital, CNBC, Paul Singer's Elliott Management, Constellation, Club, Constellation Brands, Corona, Modelo, DIS, Disney, Management, Walt Disney Co, Peltz, Nvidia, Appaloosa Management, Microsoft, Micro Devices, Apple, AMD, Bill Ackman's Pershing, Capital Management, Oracle, Duquesne Family Office, Jim Cramer's Charitable, Corbis, Getty Locations: Salesforce, Tuesday's

☆ Starboard's Jeff Smith says A.I. is an enormous opportunity, benefiting Salesforce and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

"AI is an enormous opportunity," Smith said Tuesday on CNBC's " Squawk on the Street ." The internet was one to start with ... maybe you talk about cryptocurrency blockchain and then you might talk about AI." Smith said AI is an "enormous opportunity" for Salesforce , the software company that he took an activist stake in in 2022. Revenue growth did slow a little bit, which was expected," Smith said of Salesforce. Smith said he's also bullish on software name Splunk , which he said is slightly behind Salesforce in terms of execution.

Persons: Jeff Smith, Smith, blockchain, chatbot, they've, Salesforce, there's, he's Organizations: Nvidia, Ramius Locations: York

☆ Jana brought an aerospace rock star to Mercury Systems. These next steps could help build value
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Business: Mercury Systems is a manufacturer of essential components, products, modules and subsystems. On July 6, Bill Ballhaus, Mercury Systems' interim president and CEO, was also named chairman. Mercury Systems has been a successful manufacturer of small electronic components with many favorable attributes. Further, unlike many peers, it pays for its own R&D, making Mercury Systems more nimble and allowing it to have higher operating margins. In June 2022, Jana and Starboard each won a seat on the company's board: Bill Ballhaus (Jana) and Howard L. Lance (Starboard).

Persons: it's, Jana, Barry Rosenstein, Rosenstein, Scott Ostfeld, Gerard J, DeMuro, Roger A ., Bill Ballhaus, Starboard's 13D, Howard L, Ballhaus, Ozzy Osbourne, Steven Tyler, Ken Squire Organizations: Mercury Systems, U.S, Starboard's, Computer Sciences, 13D Locations: U.S

☆ Activist Starboard prepares the groundwork to reduce leverage and build value at Algonquin Power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Business: Algonquin Power is a renewable energy and utility company that provides energy and water solutions and services in North America and internationally. Algonquin Power is a utility company based in Canada with most of its assets in the United States. Instead, the acquisition would have added to an already over-leveraged balance sheet, putting Algonquin Power in an even less stable financial position. So, companies like Algonquin Power will close facilities and retire equipment and build new facilities and buy new equipment that can be added back into the rate base. Algonquin Power is a holding in the fund.

Persons: Arun Banskota, Ken Squire, Squire Organizations: Algonquin Power, Algonquin Power's, Kentucky Power, Federal Energy Regulatory, JPMorgan, 13D, Algonquin Locations: Algonquin, North America, Canada, United States, EBITDA

☆ How Wall Street pros traded 7 of our Club stocks, including Salesforce, in the first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Lots of Club holdings, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOGL), were among the stocks traded by some of Wall Street's biggest investors and money managers in the first quarter. That firm, Jeffrey Ubben's Inclusive Capital, had owned 1.63 million Salesforce shares at the end of December, worth nearly $217 million at the time. Jeff Smith's Starboard Value also sold some Salesforce shares in Q1, leaving the firm with 2.5 million shares at the end of March. Mason Morfit's ValueAct Capital amplified its Salesforce stake in the first quarter, ending with 3.5 million shares, up from just 560,221 shares at the end of 2022. Loeb's Third Point amassed 4.75 million shares of Alphabet, worth $492.7 million at the end of the first quarter.

☆ Here's how Wall Street pros traded 13 Club stocks last quarter, including Salesforce and Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Big-name investors and hedge funds made moves in Club holdings Disney (DIS), Nvidia (NVDA) and TJX Companies (TJX) in the fourth quarter. Starboard's position stood at 3.03 million shares — valued at $401.22 million — at the end of the fourth quarter, according to the firm's 13F. Inclusive's 1.63 million shares were worth $216.77 million and ValueAct's 560,221 shares carried a market value of $74.28 million. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) YTD performance In addition to Salesforce, a number of other Club holdings appeared in hedge funds' quarterly disclosures. Some of the activists swarming at Salesforce have positions in other Club holdings and made changes to them during the fourth quarter.

☆ Starboard nominates directors to the board at Rogers. Here’s how the firm could boost margins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Activist Commentary: Starboard Value is a very successful activist investor and has extensive experience helping companies focus on operational efficiency and margin improvement. On Dec. 15, 2022 , Starboard delivered a letter to the company nominating four directors for election to the board at the 2023 Annual Meeting. Both sides seem to share the same views regarding margin improvement, and there is a new CEO who Starboard likely supports. Having Starboard representation on the board would help management stay focused and get the support it needs. While Starboard is not advocating for any strategic transaction, the firm is an economic animal with fiduciary duties.

☆ Exclusive: Starboard to challenge engineering materials maker Rogers' board -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The board challenge comes after chemical company DuPont (DD.N) in November walked away from a $5.2 billion deal to acquire Rogers because it failed to secure regulatory approval for the transaction in China. Starboard and Rogers did not respond to requests for comment. Its stock price tumbled after the DuPont deal was scrapped and is down 47% over the last 52 weeks. The company has made changes since the DuPont deal fell apart. Starboard has been active, including recent bets on cloud-based software company Salesforce (CRM.N), software company Splunk (SPLK.O) and website maker Wix.com (WIX.O).

☆ Op-ed: Salesforce appoints ValueAct’s Morfit to its board and a proxy fight may loom ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The firm's principals are generally on the boards of half of ValueAct's core portfolio positions and have had 55 public company board seats over 22 years. Adding Morfit to the board of Salesforce makes a ton of sense regardless of the activist environment. Morfit has experience helping management increase both growth and margins from a board level, and both can be improved at Salesforce. The looming question is whether he will initially be doing this with an activist cloud hanging over the company's head in the form of a proxy fight by one of the other activists involved. It likely had been engaging with Salesforce management for several months, and this appointment may have happened just as a threatened proxy fight was reported.

☆ Canada's Ritchie Bros raises cash payout under revised offer for IAA
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Canada's Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (RBA.TO) on Monday sweetened the cash component of its buyout offer for IAA Inc (IAA.N) by 28%, valuing the U.S. auto retailer at $5.94 billion, and also secured the backing of a key IAA shareholder which had questioned the initial offer. IAA shares rose 4.9% in morning trade, while Ritchie Bros's Toronto-listed shares were up 3%. The improved offer comes at a time when many companies are reducing costs and initiating layoffs in face of a potential economic downturn. Under the revised offer, IAA stockholders would receive $12.80 in cash, up from $10 earlier, and 0.5252 Ritchie Bros. share for each IAA share, down from 0.5804. Ritchie made the initial offer in November, valuing the company at about $7.3 billion, including debt.

☆ Activist investors in Salesforce spell good news for shareholders like us
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Pressure from activist investors is mounting at Club holding Salesforce (CRM). Elliott's investment in Salesforce comes roughly three months after activist investor Starboard Value disclosed a position in the company. Moreover, Jim Cramer has said, at least two other investors with activist backgrounds, including Jeff Ubben , have taken a stake in Salesforce. If these high-profile investors thought Salesforce was irreparably damaged company, whose tech was at a competitive disadvantage, they may have looked elsewhere. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Splunk CEO Gary Steel joins 'TechCheck' from Davos 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSplunk CEO Gary Steel joins 'TechCheck' from Davos 2023Gary Steele, Splunk CEO, joins 'TechCheck' from Davos 2023 to discuss outlook on the company, cybersecurity, Starboard's stake in the company and more

Here are 12 of the weirdest and most fascinating animal behaviors scientists spotted in 2022. Here are 12 bizarre and amazing things animals were spotted doing, some of which had never been seen before. It turned out that at least 12 species of primates had been reported doing so, a review published in the Journal of Zoology in October found. A dolphin swallowed 8 venomous sea snakesA sea snake (indicated with pink arrow), moments before it is captured and eaten by a Navy dolphin. Though animals have often been spotted using tools, these usually are used to give the animal a clear survival advantage.

☆ Activist Starboard takes a stake in Vertiv, and an opportunity to boost margins is in sight
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Activist Commentary: Starboard is a very successful activist investor and has extensive experience helping companies focus on operational efficiency and margin improvement. Starboard sees Vertiv as a great business in a solid industry with secular tailwinds – more data is being generated every day requiring more data centers. After going public, Vertiv delivered solid results, which allowed management to continue to focus on revenue growth, rather than operating margins. This is a typical situation for Starboard: a private company CEO running a public company like a private company leading to underperforming operating margins. Both Starboard and Vertiv seem to be on the same page.

☆ Jim Cramer on Starboard Value's stakes in Wix, Splunk, Salesforce and Vertiv
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJim Cramer on Starboard Value's stakes in Wix, Splunk, Salesforce and VertivCramer on Monday gave his thoughts on Starboard's busy October.

☆ Cramer breaks down Starboard's thesis that drove its recent investments
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCramer breaks down Starboard's thesis that drove its recent investmentsCramer explained why he believes Starboard recently took stakes in Wix, Splunk, Salesforce and Vertiv.

☆ Two potential opportunities for value creation emerge as Starboard takes a stake in Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Starboard views Salesforce as a high quality and sticky business at an attractive valuation with the potential for significant value creation through a better balance of growth and profitability. Salesforce peers are operating at a "rule of 50" – average revenue growth plus adjusted operating margins of peers equals 49.4. Salesforce currently has a revenue growth rate of 17.0% and 20.4% operating margins, which brings it to 37.4 combined. Starboard has had extensive experience with growth companies that begin to see slowing growth rates and need to either regain that growth and/or focus on margins. Even if they were to hit that target, this would only bring them to a growth + margin of 42.

☆ An activist investor's profit-focused push at Salesforce is good news for shareholders
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

An activist investor we respect has taken a notable stake in Club holding Salesforce (CRM), sending shares higher by more than 4% on Tuesday. Rather, we're pleased with Starboard's activist campaign because its goal — creating more value through improved profitability — is good for shareholders. ... For the quality of the business, for their growth opportunity of the business, for the margin opportunity of this business, this is why we get excited about it." Smith added that he's been in contact with Salesforce management since Starboard took its stake and has had "good dialogue with them." As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Jim Cramer on Starboard Value's stake in Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJim Cramer on Starboard Value's stake in SalesforceCramer gave his thoughts on activist investor Starboard's stake in Salesforce.

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