market folly

Nelson Peltz's activist firm Trian Partners has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding shares of Sysco (SYY).  Per the filing, Trian now owns 7.08% of the company with over 42 million shares.

Trian built its position in SSY in June, July, and August, mainly around prices of $36-37 per share, with August 12th being the latest reported activity.

The filing notes that, "The Trian Group communicated its view that despite having a number of competitive advantages, the Issuer’s operating and financial performance has underperformed relative to its potential, and that it should adopt strategic and operating initiatives to improve operating margins, enhance working capital efficiency, consider the use of prudent amounts of incremental leverage to increase the amount of capital returned to shareholders,  and take steps to better align management compensation with corporate performance."

Additionally, per an amended 13D filed with the SEC, Peltz and his colleague Josh Frank of Trian have joined Sysco's board of directors, which now has 12 members.

For more on this investor, head to Nelson Peltz's thoughts at the Delivering Alpha conference.

Per Google Finance, Sysco is "a North American distributor of food and related products primarily to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry. The Company provides products and related services to approximately 425,000 customers, including restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other foodservice customers. Sysco provides food and related products to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry. The Company has aggregated its operating companies into a number of segments, of which only Broadline and SYGMA are the main segments. Broadline operating companies distribute a line of food products and a variety of non-food products to their customers. SYGMA operating companies distribute a line of food products and a variety of non-food products to chain restaurant customer locations. The Company’s other segments include its specialty produce, custom-cut meat and lodging industry products segments."