market folly

Clint Carlson's hedge fund firm Carlson Capital has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in Vitamin Shoppe (VSI).  Per the filing, Carlson now owns 6.94% of the company with over 2 million shares.

This is an increase from the 1.86 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing shows they were out buying in late July, sporadically throughout August and September, and most recently on the first two days in October at $31.70-$32.48.

Their 13D also notes they intend to continue to have discussions with management and the board about reducing the company's expenses, altering the company's capital allocation and buyback policies and the composition of the board.

Per Google Finance, Vitamin Shoppe is "a multi-channel specialty retailer and contract manufacturer of vitamins, minerals, herbs, specialty supplements, sports nutrition and other health and wellness products (VMS). The Company operates through three segments: retail, which includes Vitamin Shoppe, Super Supplements and Vitapath retail store formats; direct, which consists of its e-commerce and catalog formats, and manufacturing, which consists of the Nutri-Force manufacturing operations. The Company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc. and Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc.s' wholly owned subsidiaries, VS Direct Inc., Vitamin Shoppe Mariner, Inc. (VSM), VS Hercules LLC (VSH), Vitamin Shoppe Global, Inc. (VSG) and Vitapath Canada Limited (VCL)."