Sold Mercury Systems

I took my profits in Mercury Systems, Inc. (Ticker: MRCY) today at $13.83 generating a net gain of 4.21% over a 4 day period. I entered this as a special situations play with a potential upside target of $15.00 if Boeing (Ticker: BA) makes a bid for the company. If no Boeing, I do not see a bid of $15.00 from any private equity buyers. I decided to play it safe and take some gains in this environment.

Bought Mercury Systems

I picked up some Mercury Systems, Inc. (Ticker: MRCY) today at an average price of $13.27. I’ve been keeping a close eye on this company ever since they put themselves up for sale. Reuters recently reported that Boeing (Ticker: BA) was evaluating this company as a potential acquisition. An acquisition of this company by Boeing would make sense as it will fit nicely in their Defense portfolio.

Bought Loral Space and Communications

Yesterday, I picked up some Loral Space and Communications (Ticker: LORL) for $73.12. Bloomberg has reported that Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is in the lead to acquire Telesat Holdings, which is majority owned by Loral Space and Communications. There have been reports that Loral Space and Communications can go for ~ $80 per share. This deal could be wrapped up soon so we’ll see…

Some IMS Health Holdings

I continue to play the IPO game and was allocated some shares in IMS Health Holdings (Ticker: IMS). I remember acquiring IMS Health stock in 2010 as merger arb play as it was being acquired by a consortium of PE firms. I do like this company and will consider adding to it at the right price. I’m basically on a hold mode right now and waiting to get a glimpse of earnings before making any moves.

March Performance

Needless to say, March was a challenging month as many of my high flyers such as Biogen (Ticker: BIIB) got hit pretty hard. I’ve been generating some income by selling Puts during this down turn, which has helped to buffer some of the decline. Overall my portfolio held up fairly well during this volatility. In terms of special situations / merger arb plays, I sold Puts on Jos. A. Banks (Ticker: JOSB) and Safeway (Ticker: SWY). There really has not been much happening on my end… just patiently looking for good risk return opportunities.

Performance Year to Date = +3.14% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January -0.67%

February +6.50%

March -2.69%

Got Some CBS Outdoor

I decided to jump back into the IPO game and was allocated a few shares in CBS Outdoor (Ticker: CBSO). I actually do like this company and will probably hang on for a bit. I didn’t think bill boards would have a high barrier to entry, but apparently they do. CBS Outdoor occupies some of the very best locations such as New York City. They are actually grandfathered in many of their prime locations as current regulations would prohibit the building of new bill boards. I can see nice steady growth for this company from higher ad rates and the conversion to digital bill boards. Finally, the conversion to REIT status will be another plus so there are lots of catalysts to move this stock higher over time. The last thing on my radar was to own a piece of a bill board company, but this company is nice a cash machine.

What else am I doing? I’ve been doing a lot of Put selling on Gilead (Ticker: GILD). If Gilead drops far enough, I wouldn’t mind owning the stock. Longer term, this company / stock will do well…

Some Safeway

I took a stab at Safeway (Ticker: SWY) today by selling the January 2016 $37 Puts for $1.45 and pocketing the premium. There’s been a lot of chatter that Kroger (Ticker: KG) was going to jump into the mix and make a bid for Safeway, but the news out late today suggests that Cerebus is going to ink the deal for around $40. This looks like a done deal with a possible announcement tomorrow.