I just heard on Bloomberg today that Ford has jumped as the No 1 car maker in the industry in terms of new car quality. However, just few minutes later, I also heard news that Jim Chanos, the well knowned short seller in Enron and mortgage crisis, has a short position in Ford. Let us hear what are his reasons for doing that.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Hedge Fund Analysis on Dan Loeb's Third Point (2010 Q1)
My next analysis is on Dan Loeb's Third Point, LLC. Dan Loeb's top 10 positions has a return 0f 25 percent this year beating the S&P 500 about 5 percent. We can see his portfolio is quite diverse, so his perfomance is very similer to the market as a whole. He had a lot of trades in the first quarter and in the second quarter. He had a few bad trades in the first semester, such as the Citi Group[C] trade. Dan got out his position on Citi after it went tumbled. And he sold it completely, which the market has told us was a really bad move. Also, he left his position on Popular Inc [BPOP] too early. The stock went up more than 100 percent after he sold the stock.
Total Market Value: $1.4 billion
Top Sector:
29% Financial
16% Technology
13% Health care
6% Capital goods
11% Services
24% Others
Top 10 Holdings
1. PHH Corp (PHH): 7.6%
2. Transdigm (TDG): 6.8%
3. CIT Group (CIT): 6.5%
4. Wellpoint (WLP): 6%
5. Health Net (HNT): 5.3%
6. Liberty Interactive (LINTA): 5.2%
7. OSI Pharmaceutical (OSIP): 5.1%
8. Xerox (XRX): 4.9%
9. Airgas (ARG): 4.2%
10. Walgreen (WAG): 4.0%
Recent Trades:
5/21/10
buy
Airgas Inc [ARG]
$61.48
5/21/10
buy
Liberty Interactive [LINTA]
$12.67
5/21/10
buy
OSI Pharm Inc [OSIP]
$57.38
5/21/10
buy
Walgreen Co [WAG]
$33.10
5/21/10
sell
Cablevision Systems Cp Class A [CVC]
$23.20
5/21/10
sell
Citigroup Inc [C]
$ 3.75
5/21/10
sell
Mead Johnson Nutrition [MJN]
$49.09
2/19/10
buy
CIT Group Inc [CIT]
$32.62
2/19/10
buy
Cablevision Systems Cp Class A [CVC]
$22.91
2/19/10
buy
Citigroup Inc [C]
$ 3.42
2/19/10
buy
Mead Johnson Nutrition [MJN]
$46.58
2/19/10
buy
Wellpoint Inc. [WLP]
$58.47
2/19/10
buy
Xerox Corp [XRX]
$ 9.16
2/19/10
sell
Bank of America Corp [BAC]
$15.86
2/19/10
sell
CF Industries Holdings Inc [CF]
$104.00
2/19/10
sell
Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp [LIA]
$ 9.75
2/19/10
sell
Molson Coors Brewing Co [TAP]
$40.59
2/19/10
sell
Pfizer Inc [PFE]
$17.80
2/19/10
sell
Popular Inc [BPOP]
$ 2.00
Taken from Alphaclone
"Third Point, LLC is a New York based hedge fund with a focus on activist investing. The firm was founded in 1995 by Daniel Loeb who is know for his vocal and public criticism of management when he views the company as underperforming."
Monday, June 14, 2010
This week's highlights on hedge funds (June 07-14, 2010)
1. Hedge Funds, Real Estate Funds Fight Tax Plan (The Street)
2 Ex-SAC President Cohn To Launch Hedge Fund (FINalternatives)
3 Possible EU Compromise On Foreign Hedge Funds (FINalternatives)
4 Stock-Market Brainiac Starts Hedge Fund (The Street)
5 Hedge Fund Industry Platform Should Boost Transparency and Efficiency (Seeking Alpha)
2 Ex-SAC President Cohn To Launch Hedge Fund (FINalternatives)
3 Possible EU Compromise On Foreign Hedge Funds (FINalternatives)
4 Stock-Market Brainiac Starts Hedge Fund (The Street)
5 Hedge Fund Industry Platform Should Boost Transparency and Efficiency (Seeking Alpha)
Sunday, June 13, 2010
What I have read this week (June 14)
1 Private Equity's Peculiar Plight: So Much Capital, So Little Credit (Investor’s Business Daily)
2 The Quants by Scott Patterson
3 Wall Street to cities: wanna sell that bridge? (Fortune)
4 Why the worst isn't over yet (Fortune)
5 Europe's Banks May Face Second Funding Squeeze Amid Sovereign-Debt Crisis ( Bloomberg)
2 The Quants by Scott Patterson
3 Wall Street to cities: wanna sell that bridge? (Fortune)
4 Why the worst isn't over yet (Fortune)
5 Europe's Banks May Face Second Funding Squeeze Amid Sovereign-Debt Crisis ( Bloomberg)
Hedge Fund Analysis on William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management (2010 Q1)
William Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has a good performance in first quarter with a net gain of 5.62% (see performance of other funds of Q1). Let's have at his portfolio for the first quarter.
Total Market Value: $ 3.32 Billion
Top Sectors: 70% Services
30% Consumer-non cyclical
Top 8 positions
1 Target (TGT): 32.79%
2 Kraft Foods (KFT): 29.89%
3 Yum Brands (YUM): 17.56%
4 General Growth Properties (GGP): 11.62%
5 Corrections Corp of America (CXW): 6.55%
6 Landry's Restaurants (LNY): 0.84%
7 Borders Group (BGP): 0.55%
8 Greenlight Capital Re (GLRE): 0.20%
Recent Trades:
5/21/10
buy
General Growth Properties [GGP]
$13.12
5/21/10
buy
Kraft Foods Inc [KFT]
$29.69
5/21/10
buy
Yum! Brands [YUM]
$40.15
5/21/10
sell
Automatic Data Process [ADP]
$40.28
5/21/10
sell
Hyatt Hotels Corp [H]
$37.85
2/19/10
buy
Hyatt Hotels Corp [H]
$29.97
2/19/10
buy
Landry Restaurant [LNY]
$20.50
2/19/10
sell
EMC Corp [EMC]
$17.81
2/19/10
sell
Mcdonalds Corp [MCD]
From the Portfolio, we can see that Ackman was very long on consumers goods and retailers. It increased its stake in Kraft and Yum Brands during the filling in May. He was very confident that the economy is in recovery and hence consumers will soon increase their spending.
Recently, we learned that Target's sales outperformed the industry average in May (see report here) and Bill also started a position in Citi group.
Here is an interview with Bill Ackman on why he is interested in the Citi.
Taken from Alphaclone, "Pershing Square is a New York based activist, fundamental value hedge fund founded by William Ackman in 2003. In addition to being a Founder and Trustee at Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P, Mr. Ackman is also a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Gotham Partners Management Co., LLC and has co-managed the partnership since its inception. Mr. Ackman has been the Co-Investment Manager at Gotham LP, Gotham III LP, and Gotham Partners International Limited since January 1993."
Total Market Value: $ 3.32 Billion
Top Sectors: 70% Services
30% Consumer-non cyclical
Top 8 positions
1 Target (TGT): 32.79%
2 Kraft Foods (KFT): 29.89%
3 Yum Brands (YUM): 17.56%
4 General Growth Properties (GGP): 11.62%
5 Corrections Corp of America (CXW): 6.55%
6 Landry's Restaurants (LNY): 0.84%
7 Borders Group (BGP): 0.55%
8 Greenlight Capital Re (GLRE): 0.20%
Recent Trades:
5/21/10
buy
General Growth Properties [GGP]
$13.12
5/21/10
buy
Kraft Foods Inc [KFT]
$29.69
5/21/10
buy
Yum! Brands [YUM]
$40.15
5/21/10
sell
Automatic Data Process [ADP]
$40.28
5/21/10
sell
Hyatt Hotels Corp [H]
$37.85
2/19/10
buy
Hyatt Hotels Corp [H]
$29.97
2/19/10
buy
Landry Restaurant [LNY]
$20.50
2/19/10
sell
EMC Corp [EMC]
$17.81
2/19/10
sell
Mcdonalds Corp [MCD]
From the Portfolio, we can see that Ackman was very long on consumers goods and retailers. It increased its stake in Kraft and Yum Brands during the filling in May. He was very confident that the economy is in recovery and hence consumers will soon increase their spending.
Recently, we learned that Target's sales outperformed the industry average in May (see report here) and Bill also started a position in Citi group.
Here is an interview with Bill Ackman on why he is interested in the Citi.
Taken from Alphaclone, "Pershing Square is a New York based activist, fundamental value hedge fund founded by William Ackman in 2003. In addition to being a Founder and Trustee at Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P, Mr. Ackman is also a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Gotham Partners Management Co., LLC and has co-managed the partnership since its inception. Mr. Ackman has been the Co-Investment Manager at Gotham LP, Gotham III LP, and Gotham Partners International Limited since January 1993."
Hedge Fund Analysis on John Paulson's Paulson & Co (2010 Q1)
I have posted John Paulson's Q1 performance before (click here to see), however, this analysis is dedicated to give a more detailed analysis of the performance of this New York based hedge fund. Please note that most of the Data comes from Alphaclone, unless otherwise indicated.
Total Market Value (as of the end of March): $21.16 Billion
Top Sectors: 59% Financials
13% Basic Materials
11% Services
6% Energy
5% Healthcare
Top 10 Holdings
1. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD): 16.2%
2. Bank of America (BAC): 14.2%
3. Citigroup (C): 9.7%
4. Anglogold Ashanti (AU): 7.8%
5. Comcast (CMCSA) 3.9%
6. Suntrust Banks (STI): 3.8%
7. Boston Scientific (BSX): 3.4%
8. Capital One (COF): 3.3%
9. XTO Energy (XTO): 2.9%
10. Kinross Gold (KGC): 2.7%
Recent Trades
5/21/10
buy
XTO Energy Inc [XTO]
$42.95
2/19/10
buy
Capital One Financial [COF]
$37.75
2/19/10
buy
Comcast Corp Class A [CMCSA]
$15.92
2/19/10
buy
Suntrust Bank Inc [STI]
$23.01
2/19/10
sell
Liberty Med A [LSTZA]
$46.98
2/19/10
sell
Sun Microsystems [JAVA]
$ 9.49
We can see from Paulson's portfolio that he held a large position in Gold in the first quarter, which indicates he was still very bearish about the market. As seen from the performance of the DJIA in May, Paulson was absolutely right. Paulson also showed interest in financial groups such as Citi Group, Bank of America, and JP Morgan chase. Unfortunately, these stocks weren't performing very well in May. My guess is that Paulson still holds them in the second quarter and therefore suffered some loss in May.
Paulson is famous for his bet against the CDO market in 2007, to read more about his story, you can refer to The Greatest Trade Ever, written by Wall Street Journal columnist Greg Zuckerman.
Taken from the Alphaclone
"Paulson & Co. (PCI) is an employee owned hedge fund sponsor. Founded by John Alfred Paulson, the firm primarily provides its services to pooled investment vehicles. The firm invests in the public equity markets across the globe and employs strategies such as merger arbitrage, long/short, and event-driven strategy to make its investments. It employs fundamental analysis to make its investments. Paulson & Co. was founded in July 1994 and is based in New York, New York."
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