The Tiny Activist Fund That Reaped 24% Return by Unearthing ‘Cockroaches’
Ben Axler’s Spruce Point Capital became one of the most impactful short sellers by spotting problems and digging deeper.
The stock market’s closing bell has just rung on the third day of short seller Ben Axler’s campaign against Dexcom Inc. in late March, and things are going pretty much according to plan. That’s to say, things are going terribly for Dexcom.
Almost $2 billion of the company’s market value has been vaporized since Axler’s firm warned that Dexcom, which makes glucose monitors for diabetics, was about to face stiff competition from a cheaper product sold by Abbott Laboratories. The front of his 83-page report that launched the campaign features a photo illustration of a woman with a monitor clipped to the top of her jeans. The screen reads, “Stock Alert: Extreme Sugar High.” On a bare midriff above the monitor, the woman sports a superimposed tattoo of a heart topped by the words “I LOVE BEN.”