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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York:

Activist investors are having their moment, and that reality was on full display at the SALT Conference currently under way in Las Vegas. Leading activist investors including Clifton Robbins of Blue Harbor; Barry Rosenstein of JANA Partners; Tom Sandell of Sandell Asset Management, and Jeff Smith of Starboard Value all brought some of their top ideas to the conference.

Smith led off the panel with his picks including Darden, where he has replaced the entire board following the release of a presentation on Darden restaurant chain Olive Garden that went viral. Smith is also invested in Yahoo! noting that even though Yahoo! has had a rocky ride that he is in conversations with Marissa Mayer.

"There is no value in the core business," he said of Starboard's investment in Yahoo!. "But if you're getting the core business at negative value and it is still generating a billion in positive cashflow I'll take my chances getting that for free."

JANA Partners Barry Rosenstein echoed the same picks he stated earlier this week at the Sohn Conference - Walgreens and Qualcomm. "Qualcomm is our biggest position," he said. "We think there is tremendous value with little downside."

Tom Sandell called out Brookdale Senior Living - a company that seems to be popular among activists. Glenview's Larry Robbins had Brookdale as one of his top picks at Sohn. Both managers cited the high occupation rate and forthcoming site improveme......................

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