Steven Cohen’s New Holding – Stage Stores Inc.

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Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio)’s SAC Capital returned about 19% in 2013, Forbes reported, in spite of criminal proceedings against the firm for insider trading. The manager on Sept. 25 reported buying interest in a new stock, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks – Stage Stores Inc. (SSI).

Cohen owns 1,607,326 shares of the company, giving him 5.07% ownership. He bought the shares through his Point72 Asset Management LP and Cubist Systematic Strategies, investment vehicles that manage his private assets. Point 72 “focuses primarily on discretionary long-shirt equity investing and makes signifncant quantitative and macro investments,” its web site says.

Based in Houston, Texas, Stage stores is a “small-town and neighborhood” retailer of family apparel. Year to date the company’s share price declined by more than 22%.

For its second quarter, Stage Stores reported a 4.2% year-over-year decrease in sales to $ 377 million, and net income of $ 11.2 million, or $ 0.35 per diluted share, compared to $ 9.6 million, or $ 0.35 per diluted share, a year prior. Net sales for the first half of the year declined by 2.2%.

The company’s full-year guidance is for sales in the range of flat to an increase of 2%, or $ 1.61 million to $ 1.625 million, compared to $ 1.61 million for fiscal 2013. It expects EPS in the range of $ 1.05 to $ 1.15 compared to $ 1.22 the prior year. The company’s CEO said in the release that the company expected improved second-half results “given our sales driving initiatives.”

Over the past five years, Stages Stores has seen annual growth rates of 9.5% for revenue, 2.6% for EBITDA, and 3.3% for book value.

The company trades at a P/B ratio near a two-year low at 1.22 and P/S ratio also near a two-year low at 0.34.

Another notable investor who bought Stage Stores stock in the second quarter was Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio). John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio) also increased his stake in the company, and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) cut back their holdings.

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