One of the market’s big winners this year, up a hefty 30%, is Walter Industries, a seemingly boring industrial company engaged in pipe manufacturing, homebuilding, and mining and selling coal.

The stock of another company, James River Coal Co., which has woefully underperformed other coal shares and lost $12 million last year, recently spurted after the firm announced it had retained Morgan Stanley to explore its possible sale.

The stockholders of both companies largely owe their gains to a hedge fund manager, Tom Hudson, the 40-year-old skipper of Pirate Capital in Norwalk, Conn. An activist money manager, he took a sizable stake in the shares of both firms, pushed management to take actions to fatten their stock price (which they did), and threatened a proxy fight if they refused to accede to his wishes.

His modus operandi – a willingness to do battle with corporate America, which has produced sterling results – has attracted a growing number of investors to his fund. A former portfolio manager at both Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, our money management warrior started his company with $2 million of his own money in July 2002. He now manages $1.6 billion, giving him the needed muscle to try to force frightened corporate managers into taking significant stock boosting actions designed to enhance shareholder values.

Mr. Hudson also uses his muscle, in effect the fear factor, to strengthen his position in corporate battles by taking stakes of between 5% and 15% in his would-be prey. In effect, Pirate Capital seeks to arm itself with sufficient weaponry to force corporate America to walk the plank.

Its results are pretty spectacular – a dazzling annual return of more than 30% since Pirate has been in business. So far this year, the fund is up about 10%.

“A junior Icahn who is fast growing into an adult Icahn” (a reference to billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn) is how one Pirate client who knows both men characterizes Mr. Hudson.

Not content to rest on his laurels, the junior Icahn is on the war path again, although his latest prey shows no signs of caving in. That’s Canadian-based Intrawest Corporation, a world leader in destination resorts and adventure travel, such as ski and golf resorts in America and Canada, and a luxury safari tour operator (2004 sales: $1.7 billion).

On February 28, Intrawest announced it had retained Goldman Sachs to review strategic options aimed at increasing shareholder value. These options include a structure review, strategic partnerships, and a business combination. That kind of corporate action might please a lot of investors, but not Pirate Capital, which is Intrawest’s largest holder with an 11.8% stake, or 125.8 million shares, which it largely acquired in the mid- to high $20s. The stock is currently trading at $31.85.

On March 1, Pirate, which didn’t think Intrawest went far enough, fired off a letter to the company’s board, calling on the directors to immediately initiate sale of the entire company. The letter, written by an analyst at Pirate, Stephanie Tran, asserted that the collection of the company’s businesses was worth $45 a share and noted that the public market was discounting the company’s land holdings.

She also pointed out that Pirate had spoken to various parties, including investment bankers, about potential strategic alternatives and that there are numerous possible bidders who may be willing to acquire Intrawest at a substantial premium to the current market price.

Ms. Tran contends that based on current real estate prices and the demographics of Intrawest’s customer base, namely baby boomers at the peak of their earnings power, the company, in a buyout, is worth between $42 and $48 a share or roughly $3.2 billion to $3.8 billion.

Intrawest’s reaction to Pirate Capital: In effect, get lost. “They don’t run this company; we do,” a spokesperson said. “We’ve laid out our plans and that’s it.”

Incidentally, if Pirate Capital is the kind of fund you would like to add to your portfolio, dig deeply into your wallet. Minimum investment is $2 million.