UPDATE 2-Starboard takes nearly 5% stake in construction firm Fluor, sources say

(Changes sourcing throughout) Oct 20 (Reuters) – Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a nearly 5% stake in construction firm Fluor and plans to push for ways to boost the company's shares, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. Fluor has an almost 40% stake in small nuclear reactor developer NuScale Power, which has seen a jump in shares this year due to increased demand for data centers and other technologies fueled by the artificial-intelligence boom. Fluor's shares rose 6.7% after the bell following the Wall Street Journal report, which first reported the news. The stock has lost nearly 3% so far this year. Starboard is one of the industry's busiest activist investors. Its founder, Jeff Smith, is expected to detail some of the firm's investment ideas at the 13D Monitor Active Passive Investment Summit in New York on Tuesday. He will talk about the firm's plans for TripAdvisor, Reuters reported on Sunday. Starboard believes that Fluor's core business is being undervalued in the market relative to the value that investors are attributing to the NuScale stake, the sources said. The activist investor thinks Fluor should explore options for its NuScale stake, including a potential sale, according to the sources. Starboard also thinks Fluor, which helps build critical infrastructure, should benefit from new policies under President Donald Trump that are boosting planned investments in the U.S., the sources added. Both Starboard and Fluor did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters. Fluor posted in August a 6% fall in second-quarter revenue to $4 billion, also missing analysts' estimates of $4.55 billion. The construction firm revised down its annual adjusted profit per share to be in the range of $1.95 to $2.15, from its earlier projection of between $2.25 and $2.75 apiece. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in New York; Editing by Alan Barona)

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