Bloomberg- Tudor Investment Corp. and Highfields Capital Management LP bought Motorola Inc. shares in recent months, betting the cell phone-maker will return to profitability and recoup lost market share.
Tudor’s purchase of 46 million shares in the first quarter made Motorola the fund’s largest holding, according to a regulatory filing. Highfields bought 18 million shares of the Schaumburg-based company.
The funds might expect a recovery in 2008, and a bid by billionaire Carl Icahn for a board seat at Motorola might also have attracted them to the stock, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Lawrence Harris said.
Motorola posted its first loss in almost three years in the first quarter.
“There’s been a fairly significant turnover in the holders,” said Harris.” “What you have now is investors who are more focused on 2008 and beyond.”
Icahn also acquired a stake in Motorola during the first quarter in a bid to force profit gains and eventually get the company to return more cash to investors.
