By Stockpickr Staff
Updated at 2:06 p.m. EDT on March 25, 2009

A company can blame its poor financial performance on a slow economy, world politics -- even the weather. But an investor with a large economic position in the company can hold the company accountable by turning to shareholder activism as a way to increase shareholder value.

Despite the worst bear market since the 1930s, activist investors such as Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management and Carl Icahn by all accounts are still finding attractive valuations both on the long and short sided of the equity market.

At Stockpickr, we follow the latest activist situations for investors interested in piggybacking of these activist investors.

On March 17, Wattles Capital Management, managed by Mark Wattles, acquired an additional 4.84 million shares of Blockbuster (BBI), bringing the firm's total position in Blockbuster to 6.8 million shares, or approximately 5.7% of Blockbuster's total shares outstanding.

Mark Wattles knows a thing or two about the movie business from his experience as founder, chairman and CEO of Hollywood Video, which he sold in 2005. Wattles Capital failed last year to achieve a merger of Blockbuster with Circuit City (CC).

On March 20, Blockbuster posted a net loss of $359.8 million, or $1.89 per share, down from a profit of $41 million, or 18 cents per share, during the same quarter in 2008. Revenue for the fourth quarter was reported as $1.38 billion, down from $1.57 billion a year prior. Additionally, same-store sales for all Blockbuster shops were up 4.4%, vs. a 0.9% decline in the last quarter.

On March 3, 2009, shares of Blockbuster were halted on heavy trading volume regarding a rumor that Blockbuster was near to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. However, on the company's latest conference call, management specifically made mention the fact that the company had reached agreements with JPMorgan (JPM) and two other large lenders to amend and extend its revolving line of credit through Sept. 30, 2010. Since then, shares of Blockbuster have recovered substantially.

Given the company's fundamentals, Wattles Capital has said, Mark Wattles does not believe that Blockbuster "has a motive to reorganize under Chapter 11."

Another large shareholder of Blockbuster is Carl Icahn, who owns 16% of Blockbuster class A shares and 8.71% of the class B shares and is a director of the company. Icahn is also active in Yahoo! (YHOO), Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) and Biogen Idec (BIIB).

On Thursday afternoon, Blockbuster was trading down 2 cents, or 2.5%, at 78 cents. Competitor Netflix (NFLX) was up 49 cent, or 1.2%, at $42.05.

The battle between Penwest Pharmaceuticals (PPCO) and Tang Capital Management has intensified, with Tang Capital recently filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Penwest from mailing out any shareholder ballots barring several conditions.

Tang Capital currently owns 12.6 million shares of Penwest, or 42.6% of the entire company.

On March 2, in a letter sent to shareholders regarding Tang Capital, Penwest said: “Tang significantly increased its holdings in Penwest stock beginning in late December, and as a result of the low cost basis of its recent stock purchases, we do not consider its interests to be aligned with the interests of many of Penwest's shareholders. It is pushing an agenda that the Board does not believe is likely to benefit our shareholders.”

Tang Capital believes shares of Penwest Pharmaceuticals could be worth as much as $15.36 per share in their best-case analysis.

Tang Capital is also an activist investor in Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA), Aradigm (ARDM) and Ardea Biosciences (RDEA).

In Thursday afternoon trading, Penwest was trading up 2 cents, or 1.3%, at $1.62.

In other activist news, Crescendo Partners has been actively accumulating shares of Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW) and currently own 1.1 million shares, or 6% of Build-A-Bear Workshop’s common shares outstanding.

Build-A-Bear, which operates as an interactive retailer by customizing stuffed animals, has been hit particularly hard throughout the current recession. For the quarter ending Jan. 3, net income was $5 million, or 27 cents per diluted share, compared with fiscal 2007 fourth-quarter net income of $9.9 million, or 48 cents per diluted. Same-store sales declined 15.7%, including a 6.7% increase in Europe and a 19% decline in North America.

Shares of Build-A-Bear have unperformed the market throughout 2009, down approximately 40% year-to-date. The stock was trading up 14 cents, or 2.3%, at $6.25 on Thursday afternoon.

Activist hedge fund Trinad Capital has increased their position in NTN Buzztime (NTN) by an additional million shares, bringing the firm's total position size to 8.6 million shares, equal to 15.6% of the company’s shares outstanding.

NTN Buzztime distributes various interactive multiplayer games, including trivia quiz shows, play-along sports programming, casino-style games and casual games to restaurants, sports bars, taverns and pubs. The firm is profitable on a gross profit basis but lost 12 cents per share last quarter.

NTN Buzztime was up a penny at 29 cents in Thursday afternoon trading.

For more activist ideas, visit the Latest Activist Filings portfolio on Stockpickr.

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P.S. Where is Cramer putting his own money? Take a free peek at his personal portfolio to see all his buys and sells by clicking here. When you do, Jim will also send you exclusive email alerts telling you everything he’s about to add to or shed from his Action Alerts PLUS portfolio -- before he makes his trade.