This is the 3rd Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series we're doing on Hedge Fund 13F's here.
Next up is Touradji Capital ran by Paul Touradji. Touradji is one of many well-known 'Tiger Cubs' who started their own firms after leaving Julian Robertson's Tiger Management. We've already covered many of the 'Tiger Cub' funds including Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, and Chris Shumway's Shumway Capital Partners. Taken from our post on 'Tiger Cub' biographies, "Paul Touradji is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Touradji Capital Management LP, a New York-based hedge fund specializing in fundamental research and active investment in commodities and related assets. The firm manages approximately $3.5 billion and invests in both the public and private markets. Mr. Touradji has well over a decade of experience investing in the commodity, equity, and macro markets. Mr. Touradji began his commodities career at Tiger Management in the mid '90s, where he managed the commodities team; it was at Tiger that he developed his fundamental approach to analysis and investment in commodities. Prior to Tiger, Mr. Touradji’s specialty was quantitative arbitrage, principally with O’Connor Partners. Mr. Touradji is a 1993 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and a Certified Financial Analyst." Recently, at a 'Tiger Cub' hedge fund manager panel, Touradji advocated shorting Copper as the world deleverages and the velocity of money drops.
The following were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of September 30th, 2008 as filed with the SEC. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.
Some New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
Hess (HES)
McDermott (MDR)
Transocean (RIG)
Whiting Petroleum (WLL)
XTO Energy (XTO)
Range Resources (RRC)
Terra Industries (TRA)
Apache (APA)
Talisman Energy (TLM)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Encana (ECA)
Nucor (NUE)
Noble Energy (NBL)
Nexen (NXY)
Steel Dynamics (STLD)
Continental Resources (CLR)
FMC Tech (FTI)
Tesoro (TSO)
Frontier Oil (FTO)
S&P 500 (SPY)
Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
Baker Hughes (BHI): Increased position by 504%
Delta Petroleum (DPTR): Increased position by 38%
Chesapeake Energy (CHK): Increased position by 2.3%
Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
Hornbeck Offshore (HOS): Reduced position by 98%
Oil States Intl (OIS): Reduced position by 94%
Comstock Resources (CRK): Reduced position by 83%
Encore Acquisition (EAC): Reduced position by 74%
BMB Munai (KAZ): Reduced position by 72%
Mosaic (MOS): Reduced position by 66%
Petrohawk Energy (HK): Reduced position by 62%
Cano Petroleum (CFW): Reduced position by 62%
Devon Energy (DVN): Reduced position by 52%
CVR Energy (CVI): Reduced position by 49%
Sandridge Energy (SD): Reduced position by 38.5%
Storm Cat Energy (SCU): Reduced position by 30%
Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Alpha Natural Resources (ANR)
BP (BP)
Gasco (GSX)
Thompson Creek Metals (TC)
Cano Petroleum (CFW)
National Oilwell Varco (NOV)
McMoran Exploration (MMR)
Helix (HLX)
Select Sector Technology (XLK) Puts
Patriot Coal (PCX)
BJ Service (BJ)
Exco Resources (XCO)
St Mary Land & Exploration (SM)
Helmerich & Payne (HP)
Cabot Oil & Gas (COG)
Nabors (NBR)
GMX Resources (GMXR)
Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI)
US Steel (X)
Hercules Offshore (HERO)
Walter Industries (WLT)
Potash (POT)
UNIT (UNT)
Petroquest (PQ)
Goodrich Petroleum (GDP)
Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)
- Petrohawk (HK): 19% of portfolio
- Baker Hughes (BHI): 12% of portfolio
- Delta Petroleum (DPTR): 10.6%
- Hess (HES): 5.8% of portfolio
- McDermott (MDR): 5.4% of portfolio
- Chesapeake Energy (CHK): 5.2% of portfolio
- Comstock Resources (CRK): 4.1% of portfolio
- Transocean (RIG): 3.4% of portfolio
- Sandridge Energy (SD): 3.1% of portfolio
- Whiting Petroleum (WLL): 2.9% of portfolio
- XTO Energy (XTO): 2.2% of portfolio
- CVR Energy (CVI): 2.1% of portfolio
- Encore Acquisition (EAC): 2.1% of portfolio
- Range Resources (RRC): 1.9% of portfolio
- Terra Industries (TRA): 1.7% of portfolio
- Devon Energy (DVN): 1.7% of portfolio
- Apache (APA): 1.6% of portfolio
- Talisman Energy (TLM): 1.5% of portfolio
- Anadarko Petroleum (APC): 1.5% of portfolio
- Hornbeck Offshore (HOS): 1.4% of portfolio
Assets from the collective holdings were $749 million last quarter and were $139 million this quarter. Keep in mind that since Touradji's background is in commodities, the vast majority of his holdings will be in markets other than equities. But, seeing as he has hundreds of millions in equity markets, we think it makes sense to track him to try and pick up on any macro themes. Like many other hedge funds we've seen thus far, Touradji was out decreasing equity exposure across the board last quarter. Please note that we have not detailed changes to every single position in this update, but we have covered all the major moves. Also, keep in mind that these filings only include long equity, notes, and options holdings and do not reflect their cash, short portions, or holdings in other markets (currency, commodities, debt, etc). This is just one of many funds in our hedge fund tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. The other funds we've already covered include:
- Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital
- Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners
- Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital
- Bill Ackman's Pershing Square
- Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital
- John Paulson's Paulson & Co
- David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital
- Dan Loeb's Third Point
- Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp
- Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management
- Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates
- George Soros Soros Fund Management
Overall, its been one of the worst years ever for hedge funds, as we noted in our new November hedge fund performance update. Thus, the recent moves they've made in their portfolios become all the more interesting given the way the market has played out.
More on Touradji:
- 'Tiger Cub' biographies
- Hedge fund manager panel (Tiger Cubs)
- November hedge fund performance numbers
- Julian Robertson's recent buys
- October hedge fund performance numbers
- Hedge Fund Rankings
