A large shareholder in Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp. said on Tuesday the maker of industrial simulation software should “explore strategic alternatives”,including a possible sale.
Shares of MSC closed up nearly 3% on a recent market value of $547 million.
New York-based investment firm Elliot Associates LP, which owns a 9% stake in the company, made the recommendations in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The firm said it reserves the right to have discussions with management, potential acquirers, financing sources or other shareholders and formulate proposals.
MSC’s software enables manufacturers to simulate different stress, vibration and heat conditions to predict how designs of products will behave in the real world.
The software avoids having to build and test expensive prototypes.
Customers include Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., PSA Peugeot Citro & #235;n SA, United Technologies Corp. and Caterpillar Inc.
MSC is wrapping up a big overhaul that started in 2004.
It’s focusing on selling bundled software packages to an entire company, instead of piecemeal software programs to individual engineering teams.
For the first quarter, MSC had sales of $61 million, up 6% from a year earlier. The company saw a loss of about $6 million, vs. the $2 million it lost in the same period a year ago.
