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. We're aiming to cover 35 or so prominent funds this time around and we'll be releasing the 13f analysis of each individual fund here in the coming weeks. We've already covered Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, and John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital. Next up, we have Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital. If his last name sounds familiar, its because his brother, Timothy Barakett, manages fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital, whom we also track. Taken from their site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process." Tremblant is a $4.1 billion hedge fund based in New York and is run by Bret Barakett, who is a former portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management (the hedge fund run by the great Louis Bacon, whom we also track). So, as you can see, despite having a great mind of his own, Barakett has worked with some of the best in the macro game. But, as we noted in September, Tremblant has had a rough year. Tremblant recently disclosed a 5.2% stake in Advanced Medical Optics (EYE). Also, they added a stake in PharmaNet (PDGI). In addition to these stakes, you can view Tremblant's entire portfolio from the 2nd quarter here.
The following were Tremblant's long equity and options holdings as of September 30th, 2008 as filed with the SEC.
New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
Chipotle (CMG/B)
Select Sector Financial (XLF)
SPDR Homebuilder ETF (XHB)
MEMC Electronic (WFR)
Discovery Holding Co (DSY)
KBW Regional Banks ETF (KRE)
Williams Cos (WMB)
Geoeye (GEOY)
Colfax (CFX)
IPCS (IPCS)
Google (GOOG)
Research in Motion (RIMM) Calls
MEMC Electronic (WFR) Calls
Charter Communications (CHTR)
TW Telecom (TWTC) Calls
Some Reduced Positions (Positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
Visa (V): Reduced by 17%
Apple (AAPL): Reduced by 16%
NYSE Euronext (NYX): Reduced by 6%
Qualcomm (QCOM): Reduced by 46%
Baidu (BIDU)): Reduced by 26%
Redhat (RHC) Calls: Reduced by 49%
Commscope (CTV): Reduced by 43%
Ntelos Holdings (NTLS): Reduced by 37%
CVS Caremark (CVS): Reduced by 36%
Inverness Medical (IMA): Reduced by 44%
Advanced Medical Optics (EYE): Reduced by 33%
Gafisa (GFA): Reduced by 47%
Focus Media (FMCN): Reduced by 68%
American Public Education (APEI): Reduced by 49%
Nuance Communications (NUAN): Reduced by 64%
Virgin Media (VMED): Reduced by 57%
Qualcomm (QCOM) Calls: Reduced by 45%
Focus Media (FMCN) Calls: Reduced by 91%
Positions with no change
none
Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
EMC (EMC) Calls
Chipotle (CMG/A)
Time Warner (TWX)
Cogent Comm (CCOI)
Baidu (BIDU) Calls
Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO)
Time Warner (TWX) Calls
Suntech Power (STP)
Pharmaceutical Prod Dev (PPDI)
Apple (AAPL) Calls
Lehman Bros (LEH) Puts
Anadigics (ANAD)
Bare Escentuals (BARE)
Lululemon (LULU) Puts
Wyeth (WYE)
Central European Media (CETV)
Shenandoah Telecom (SHEN)
Cabelas (CAB) Puts
Petrochina (PTR)
China Petroleum (SNP)
LCAVision (LCAV)
Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)
- Visa (V): 7.68% of portfolio
- Research in Motion (RIMM): 6.24% of portfolio
- CVS Caremark (CVS) Calls: 6.2% of portfolio
- Apple (AAPL): 5.6% of portfolio
- NYSE Euronext (NYX): 5.3% of portfolio
- Hologic (HOLX): 4.47% of portfolio
- Hologic (HOLX) Calls: 4% of portfolio
- Qualcomm (QCOM): 3.9% of portfolio
- Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR): 3.9% of portfolio
- Baidu (BIDU): 3.5% of portfolio
- Corning (GLW): 3.5% of portfolio
- Corning (GLW) Calls: 3.2% of portfolio
- Melco Entertainment (MPEL): 2.9% of portfolio
- Mckesson (MCK): 2.8% of portfolio
- Eclipsys (ECLP): 2.7% of portfolio
- RedHat (RHT) Calls: 2.5% of portfolio
- Commscope (CTV): 2.4% of portfolio
- RedHat (RHT): 2.2% of portfolio
- Ntelos (NTLS): 2.1% of portfolio
- Healthextras: 2% of portfolio
Assets listed in the long portfolio this quarter were a little over $2.1 billion compared to around $4.1 billion last quarter. Tremblant's portfolio definitely has some names that have seen abnormal amounts of selling pressure, so they were out reducing positions and raising cash levels it looks like. Please note that we have not detailed every single change 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 and options holdings and do not reflect the cash or short portions of their portfolio. This is the ninth hedge fund we've covered in our 3rd quarter 2008 edition of our hedge fund tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. We've already covered Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, and John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital. Overall, its been one of the worst years ever for hedge funds, as we noted in our recent October 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 Barakett & Tremblant:
- Tremblant's stake in PharmaNet (PDGI)
- Also, their stake in Advanced Medical Optics (EYE)
- Tremblant's performance numbers
- Tremblant's 2nd quarter '08 portfolio
