Blue Ridge Capital's 13F (John A. Griffin)

(Note: Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series I'm doing on Hedge Fund 13F's HERE.)

Alright so now we're cruising through these hedge funds having already covered Steven Mandel's Lone Pine Capital and Boone Pickens' BP Capital. Next up, we have one of my personal favorites: Blue Ridge Capital ran by John A. Griffin. Now, Griffin is similar to Mandel/Lone Pine in that he too is Tiger Cub aka pupil of Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. However, there is one difference between Mandel and Griffin; Griffin was Julian Robertson's right hand man, while Mandel was merely an analyst (right, "merely," look where he is now haha). So, needless to say, the dude knows his stuff. Blue Ridge seeks absolute returns by investing in companies who quite simply dominate and shorting the companies who have fundamental problems. And, right off the bat that presents us with a bit of a problem in terms of analyzing 13F's. 13F's don't show short positions, they show long positions (unless the firm is short through puts, which we *can* see). So, the inherent problem with analyzing Blue Ridge (or any fund for that matter) is that we can't see the other side of their portfolio. But, this is increasingly important for Blue Ridge simply due to Griffin's investment strategy and the fact that his long positions could in essence only represent half of the portfolio. Now, I use that loosely because there's no way for me to know exactly how much of his portfolio is short. But, I do know that both Griffin and Lee Ainslie over at Maverick Capital (research on him coming later this week) like to effectively hedge with a balance of both long and short positions (like a TRUE hedge fund... not like some of these crazy funds these days with no true hedging). Here's the thing, they don't do pairs trades, so don't classify it as that. I remember specifically being told by representatives at Maverick that they don't pairs trade, even though a respective long and short could be in the same sector or sub-sector. So, make that distinction clear. But, we'll work with what we've got (and believe me, it's still a lot of solid info). Onto the 13F's!

The following is Blue Ridge Capital's current holdings as of March 31st 2008 as released in their most recent 13F filing with the SEC. I've compared the positions in this most recent 13F to last quarter's 13F and here's what the breakdown looks like:

New Positions:(in no particular order)
Apple (AAPL) 1,150,000 shares
Burlington Northern (BNI) 700,000 shares
Eagle Materials (EXP) 1,965,000 shares
Echostar (SATS) 1,906,000 shares
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (FRE) 500,000 shares
Federal National Mortgage Assoc (FNM) 480,000 shares
Fidelity National Information (FIS) 1,470,000 shares
First American Corp California (FAF) 1,050,000 shares
Google (GOOG) 493,000 shares
MBIA (MBI) 2,500,000 shares
Millipore (MIL) 2,700,000 shares
Office Depot (ODP) 3,400,000 shares
Research in Motion (RIMM) 600,000 shares
SLM Corp (SLM) 1,130,000 shares
St. Joe Co (JOE) 645,000 shares
Wyeth (WYE) 3,500,000 shares

Added to:
American Express (AXP) increased by 167% (5,393,200 more shares)
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) increased by 13% (98 more shares)
Compton Petroleum (CMZ) increased by 15.5% (890,400 more shares)
Fairfax Financial (FFH) increased by 50% (63,315 more shares)
First Marblehead (FMD) increased by 549%, no that's not a typo... 549% (1,154,500 more shares)
Fomento Economico Mexicano (FMX) increased by 103% (1,050,000 more shares)
Grupo Aeroportuario Del Paci S.A.B (PAC) increased by 53% (1,225,700 more shares)
Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) increased by 17.5% (235,800 more shares)
Netflix (NFLX) increased by 210%, not a typo either (1,377,700 more shares)
Packaging Corp of America (PKG) increased by 30% (958,264 more shares)
Starbucks (SBUX) increased by 19% (1,150,000 more shares)

Reduced Positions:
Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR) decreased by 2.2% (sold 161,501 shares)
Coach (COH) decreased by 38% (sold 1,440,000 shares)
Discovery Holdings (DISCA) decreased by 4.6% (sold 348,200 shares)
Formfactor (FORM) decreased by 25% (sold 295,000 shares)
Smurfit Stone (SSCC) decreased by 38% (sold 881,099 shares)

Removed Positions:
Positions Blue Ridge sold out of completely
Baidu (BIDU)
Domtar (UFS)
FedEx (FDX)
Gafisa (GFA)
Grace WR (GRA)
ishares TR Puts (IFGL Puts)
Level 3 Comm (LVLT)
Macys (M)
Mastercard (MA)
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft Calls (MSFT Calls)
Novastar Financial (NOVS)
Nutrisystem (NTRI)
Pier 1 Imports (PIR)
Sears (SHLD)
Sterlite (SLT)
Teekay (TK)

Positions with no change:
America Movil (AMX)
American Express Calls (AXP Calls)
Corus Bank (CORS)
Covanta Holdings (CVA)
Crocs (CROX)
Elong (LONG)
Evergreen Energy (EEE)
Gold Reserve (GRZ)
Greenlight RE (GLRE)
Grupo Televisa (TV)
Indymac Bank (IMB)
Perfect World (PWRD)
Charles Schwab (SCHW)
Target (TGT)
Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO)
Walmart (WMT)
Washington Mutual Puts (WM Puts)
Web MD (WBMD)

Top 10 Holdings by % of Portfolio:
1. AXP (Top Holding)
2. CVA
3. GOOG
4. MIL
5. TV
6. AAPL
7. SCHW
8. PAC
9. AMX
10. DISCA

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Breakdown: Alright lots to cover here. First major thing I noticed was Griffin selling out of MA entirely and seemingly replacing it with AXP. He beefed up his position in AXP by 167% and brought it all the way to the fund's top holding. So, clearly they wanted some credit risk to go along with the transaction processing. AXP offers the play on global transition from cash to plastic like MA and V, but they offer the added benefit/detriment (depending on how you look at it) of exposing themselves to credit risk as well. Many would argue that AXP has higher credit quality than that of say a COF or other banks of the like. But, my favorite way to play credit cards is still MA straight up. I can definitely see the play on AXP as well and don't get me wrong I like it, but I'm a big advocate of MA for pure transaction processing. So, considering numerous other Tiger Cubs (ex-Tiger Management funds) still hold MA, it was interesting to see Griffin be the sole person to completely sell off MA. Others merely took profits while he completely swapped out in favor of AXP. It will be very interesting come next quarter to see if any other funds in the Tiger family (Maverick, Lone Pine, Viking) added to AXP following Griffin and Blue Ridge's lead.

Second, just like Lone Pine, we saw Blue Ridge load up on tech, especially the titans AAPL GOOG and RIMM. Obviously all the old Tiger Cubs still keep in touch and share ideas and they all saw screaming opportunity in these names when they sold off hard. Griffin just started his position in GOOG and already brought it up to the 3rd largest fund holding, so he really loaded up. He also just started his position in AAPL and brought it to the 6th largest fund holding. So, as you can see, Griffin really likes these names and now is laughing at everyone who was selling at the lows while he was scooping those shares up in mass (both GOOG and AAPL up significantly since his pick up). So I expect him to obviously take some profits in these names come next round of 13F's, but I'm sure he will still hold a core position.

Thirdly, I noticed the Latin American theme going on. A lot of the ex-Tiger Management guys have been in AMX for a while so that was no surprise to see that still as a top 10 fund holding. However, what I noticed was Griffin slowly but surely building positions in other names. He added to FMX and increased his stake by 103%. He added to PAC by 53% and brought it to the 8th largest fund holding. And, not to mention, he's still got his big chunk of TV sitting as the 5th largest holding of the fund. So, Latin America is a big part of Blue Ridge's portfolio. And, he covers all industries. FMX with beverages, TV with television/entertainment, and PAC with airport service. (For the record, I love FMX and have for a while. I'll definitely be looking more in depth at those other two names.) So, overall so far we've got 2 themes, technology and Latin America.

The next major thing that quite simply confused me was Griffin adding FRE FNM FAF MBI as new positions. I'm not sure if he was screwing around with Fannie and Freddie and bond insurers because he was trading them or if he saw something that the rest of us don't (that wouldn't surprise me either). But, I've got to say that this move puzzled the hell out of me as I wouldn't touch any of those things with a 10 foot pole. But, it's there and he added them so take it for what its worth, but I have no idea how to explain that to you all. He also beefed up his position in FMD, an education lender by a whopping 549%. So, he wasn't messing around with these names, he was picking up shares in mass. Again, I'm not going to try and pretend to explain these moves because frankly bond insurance and the whole fannie/freddie complex makes no sense to me. I don't necessarily want to sit around reading hundreds of thousands of pages like Bill Ackman did in order to better understand the bond insurers, etc. So, there's the information, do with it what you will haha. But I'm not touching any of them.

This next addition really got me interested. In all the major funds I follow I've never seen this company in any of their portfolios: Millipore (MIL). And, Blue Ridge came in last quarter and started a position in it... and a massive one at that. Its the fund's 4th largest holding and it came out of nowhere. Millipore is a life science company and honestly I thought about adding it solely because Griffin came in and added it with such conviction. I'm doing more research on it now but definitely keep it on your radar. Griffin already has a solid maintained position in Thermo Fisher (TMO) to play the lab equipment side of things. I would not at all be surprised to see it in other funds' portfolios here come next quarter. Blue Ridge added a pretty massive position in this thing and I thought it deserved its own paragraph worth of mention.

Lastly, I just want to tie up a few odds and ends that are worth mentioning. Blue Ridge, much like Lone Pine, seemed to be closing out a lot of retail positions (reducing COH by 38%, removing M, SHLD, and PIR completely). But, what struck me as odd was that Griffin sold out of all these retail names, and then goes and starts a position in Office Depot (ODP). So, I was confused by that for sure. Maybe he saw some compelling valuations in ODP I'm not sure. Ex-Tiger buddy Lee Ainslie and Maverick Capital have a large position in OfficeMax (OMX) not the Depot, so that made me even more confused, as usually you will see similarities between their portfolios. But, Blue Ridge picked up some shares of the rival. I don't like either of these companies to be frank. ODP has a lot less debt, but is also trading at slightly richer valuations than OMX. Whaaaatever. Also, I noticed Griffin added to his SBUX a little bit, obviously on the news that Schulz would be back to shape things up in that slowing mammoth of a company. Next, I thought it was worth mentioning that Blue Ridge started a position in St Joe Co, a real estate development company. First off you've got Lone Pine starting a position in CB Richard Ellis (CBG - commercial real estate), and now you've got buddy pal Blue Ridge starting a position in JOE. Veeeery interesting. So, once again, something to watch in the coming months to see if other ex-Tiger funds start adding plays similar to these (or the exact same names). Again, I'm not touching these names as I think I can get much better return for my money in other sectors. But, then again, these guys are the hedge fund managers and obviously are a lot smarter than I. Next, I just want to point out that Blue Ridge sold out completely of their Nutrisystem (NTRI) position and at the same time last quarter Lone Pine added quite a large short position in NTRI through puts. So, if I was Mandel I'd probably have called up Griffin and said "hey yo I'm gonna short the shit out of NTRI so you might wanna wrap that position up... mmmmkay thanks bye." Ok, speaking of wrapping up, I want to highlight the fact that Blue Ridge has a measly 1 put position listed in their entire 13F... yup, just 1. Washington Mutual (WM) Puts. So, we get our tiny glimpse at what Griffin is on the short side of things with. Again, remember he is undoubtedly short a few/a lot of names in the fund but we don't get to see those on 13Fs. The only things we can see are long equity positions, call positions, and put positions. So, as I assumed coming into this: he is just straight up shorting rather than using puts. So, everybody go short the crap out of WM. Oh, wait, its already been driven down hard. Enter sad face here. And that's a wrap, thanks for reading.

My personal favorites out of Lone Pine's Portfolio:
AAPL MIL AXP FMX TV PAC AMX TMO WMT

Most interesting move(s):
1. Adding a boatload of technology and Latin American names
2. Adding Fannie/Freddie/MBIA/First Marblehead ........... ?!?!
3. Exchanging MA in favor of AXP by a lot. AXP = Fund's largest holding now
4. Adding Millipore (MIL) out of nowhere... and with conviction
5. Selling lots of retailers and yet starting a stake in Office Depot. what?!?

Note: Of their positions, I'm long AMX AAPL FMX WMT TMO
And names I will most likely be long after I finish research: MIL TV PAC

Tune in tomorrow when I examine (yet) another protege of Julian Robertson & the Tiger Management gang: Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital.

Lone Pine Capital's 13F (Stephen Mandel Jr.)

(Note: Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series I'm doing on Hedge Fund 13F's HERE.)

The second hedge fund I'm covering in depth this week is Lone Pine Capital, ran by Stephen Mandel Jr. Lone Pine is an $8 Billion fund that has returned over 25% annually ever since its inception in 1997. Why is Mandel worth following you might ask? Well, he served as a consumer/retail analyst for Tiger Management back in the day for legendary investor Julian Robertson. Robertson's proteges/right-hand men have been nicknamed the "Tiger Cubs" and many have started their own funds. So, not only has Mandel learned from one of the best, but he has put up some very solid returns himself. Although Mandel was taught in the ways of finding undervalued companies, his funds typically employ a strategy of selecting stocks of solid companies with good management that are trading below their intrinsic value. Just this past year 1 of his funds was up 34% before fees while another was up 32% before fees. His track record speaks for itself. And, not to mention, he learned from one of the greats in Julian Robertson.

So, let's get right down to it... what was Lone Pine up to this past quarter? The following is Lone Pine Capital's current holdings as of March 31st 2008 as released in their most recent 13F filing with the SEC. I've compared the positions in this most recent 13F to last quarter's 13F and here's what the breakdown looks like:

New Positions: (in no particular order)
CB Richard Ellis (CBG) 11,841,207 shares
Illumina (ILMN) 2,401,239 shares
Monsanto (MON) 2,441,900 shares
NY Times (NYT) Puts (100,000 of them)
Sears (SHLD) Puts (986,800 of them)
Teradata (TDC) 9,254,453 shares
Visa (V) 3,900,000 shares from the i.p.o.
XTO Energy (XTO) 8,069,313 shares

Added to:
Apple (AAPL) increased position by 381% (2,314,005 more shares)
CME (CME) increased position by 32% (144,506 more shares)
Deltek (PROJ) increased position by 18% (343,279 more shares)
Google (GOOG) increased position by 80% (721,474 more shares)
Infosys (INFY) increased position by 79% (3,070,924 more shares)
Nutrisystem (NTRI) Puts, increased put position by 278%
Sandridge Energy (SD) increased position by 53% (3,502,690 more shares)

Reduced Positions:
America Movil (AMX) reduced by 21% (sold 2,783,867 shares)
Brookfield Asset Mgmt (BAM) reduced by 26.5% (sold 3,037,700 shares)
Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS) reduced by 11% (sold 602,404 shares)
EMC (EMC) reduced by 25% (sold 3,622,624 shares)
Fastenal (FAST) reduced by 11% (sold 884,436 shares)
Mastercard (MA) reduced by 7% (sold 70,045 shares)
Priceline (PCLN) reduced by 34.4% (sold 1,075,046 shares)
Qualcomm (QCOM) reduced by 19% (sold 3,126,665 shares)
SAIC (SAI) reduced by 3% (sold 238,680 shares)
Southwest Energy (SWN) reduced by 27.7% (sold 2,829,432 shares)

Removed Positions:
Positions Lone Pine Capital sold out of completely
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
Burlington Northern (BNI)
Career Education (CECO)
Carmax (KMX)
Coach (COH)
Eastman Kodak (EK)
Fidelity National Info (FIS)
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
Overstock (OSTK) Puts
Pharmerica (PMC)
Schlumberger (SLB)
Sina Corp (SINA)
Vulcan Materials (VMC)
WNS Holdings (WNS)

Positions with no change:
Bunge (BG) Puts
Eagle Materials (EXP)
SRA International (SRX)

Top 10 holdings by % of portfolio:
1. GOOG (Top Holding)
2. AMX
3. QCOM
4. XTO
5. AAPL
6. SD
7. FAST
8. CME
9. MON
10. CBG

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Breakdown: Right off the bat I noticed two themes with Lone Pine's additions to the portfolio this quarter: technology and energy. Mandel started a new position in XTO this past quarter and brought it all the way up to the #4 holding in the fund. This was obviously a smart maneuver as XTO has exposure to both oil and natural gas, which are both roaring. Next, we see that he massively added to his AAPL position, by 381%, bringing it to the fund's 5th largest holding. He also added a bit more to his already top holding of GOOG. And, he obviously was buying on the big dip we just saw in that name. MON was a new addition to the portfolio and he added pretty big, making it the 9th largest holding in the fund and it appears this is the way he wishes to play the secular growth in agriculture (I prefer fertilizer myself, but that's a whole nother conversation). Also, interestingly, he added CBG, a commercial real estate services firm and brought it up to the 10th largest holding in the fund. This move puzzled me a little bit, as numerous people think commercial real estate will continue to suffer. Maybe this was a trade or maybe he just saw true value here... only time will tell. He added to his CME position some more (by 32%) and brought it up to the 8th largest holding in the fund. I like the exchanges here, but CME in particular could face major headwinds if the government decides to get involved as rumored. (I like NYX as an exchange play). Notably added to also was his position in INFY. This is significant only because I saw numerous hedge funds add to this name last quarter and so I had to mention it (more on that in the posts to come as well). Mandel has aggressively added to his put position in NTRI, so you might want to look at that as a good short candidate. Also, Lone Pine added to SD, which I pointed out in the last post, mentioning that Boone Pickens was one of many others who had added this name seemingly out of nowhere. Its a natural gas play so it makes sense, and it looks like its definitely time to do some research on this company to see what exactly all these funds are seeing.

Mandel also reduced his AMX position a tad, but it looks just to be profit taking, as it is still easily the #2 fund holding and a favorite of many hedge funds. The same can be said for QCOM... some profit taking to free up cash to put into other tech names. Still like QCOM though as it is in practically all the hedge funds' portfolios I follow. He sold off a little bit of MA as well, undoubtedly profit taking as that name has had a monstrous run, but should easily continue to perform as the world switches from cash to charging with plastic. Mandel's drastic reduction of his SWN position makes me think that he was beginning to swap SD in place of SWN, or he just wanted added diversification in the natural gas space.

Notably, Lone Pine sold completely out of AEO and they seem to have given up on the specialty retailer, waving the white flag in the dreaded consumer discretionary sector. I actually liked AEO due to their compelling valuations here (stock has been absolutely trashed). But, I will admit it was Lone Pine (& a few other funds) presence in the name that gave me added confidence. This was obviously a long term hold name, but it seems as if they have dumped it during these tough times to put the money in sectors that are working (tech, energy). Mandel also sold out of his large position in COH, further assuring us that he is done with specialty retail for now. Lastly, he completely scaled out of his KMX. I believe he kind of followed Warren Buffett into this name to begin with and then he realized that a) no one is really spending big money on cars in this economy and b) the people shopping at Carmax are not necessarily of the best credit quality. So, he was in and out of that name pretty fast.

My personal favorites out of Lone Pine's portfolio: AMX, AAPL, QCOM, XTO, SD, ILMN, INFY, MA

Most interesting move(s): 1. Getting into commercial real estate with CBG. 2. Adding to SD along with a ton of other hedge funds (they obviously all talked to each other about this one). 3. Selling completely out of all their (specialty) retail names (AEO, COH, KMX)

Note: Of their positions, I'm long AMX, QCOM, AAPL, SD, ILMN, V, INFY, MA

Tune in tomorrow when I go over another protege of Tiger Management legend Julian Robertson: John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital.

BP Capital's 13F (Boone Pickens)

Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series I'm doing on Hedge Fund 13F's HERE.

So, first up this week we've got BP Capital. With all the commotion surrounding energy these days, I thought it was only fitting that we begin with an energy focused hedge fund ran by none other than Boone Pickens. If you are unfamiliar with Pickens, he is an energy maverick and his fund returned 300% in 2005. He is a big advocate of Peak Oil Theory and runs an energy-centric hedge fund based in Dallas, Texas. Although he typically holds numerous positions in oil, he is also big on alternative energy (except ethanol) and has numerous holdings there as well. He most recently advocated a large natural gas position and has additionally made a big bet on wind energy. His most recent thoughts can be seen here from my recent post.

Now, let's get down to business. The following is BP Capital's current holdings as of March 31st 2008 as released in their most recent 13F filing with the SEC. I've compared the positions in this most recent 13F to last quarter's 13F and here's what the breakdown looks like:

New Positions:(in no particular order)
Halliburton (HAL) 1,476,346 shares
McMoran Exploration (MMR) 1,017,151 shares
Sandridge Energy (SD) 1,025,621 shares
Transocean (RIG) 1,085, 365 shares
XTO Energy (XTO) 716,762 shares

Added to:
ABB Ltd (ABB) increased position by 2.7% (70,878 more shares)
Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) increased position by 1% (3946 more shares. Note: This is also Pickens' company)
Dresser Rand (DRC) increased position by 2.7% (24,731 more shares)
Fluor (FLR) increased position by 2.7% (15,980 more shares)
Foster Wheeler (FWLT) increased position by 139% (422,788 more shares)
Greenbrier (GBX) increased position by 2.7% (15,183 more shares)
Interoil (IOC) increased position by 0.8% (7,652 more shares)
Jacobs Engineering (JEC) increased position by 2.7% (23,766 more shares)
KBR (KBR) increased position by 2.7% (16,353 more shares)
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) increased position by 2.7% (52,277 more shares)
Schlumberger (SLB) increased position by 16.6% (164,306 more shares)
Shaw Group (SGR) increased position by 2.7% (17,914 more shares)
Talisman (TLM) increased position by 2.7% (79,210 more shares)
Titanium Metals Corp (TIE) increased position by 2.7% (28,847 more shares)
Weatherford Intl (WFT) increased position by 41% (160,845 more shares)

Reduced Positions:
Chevron (CVX) decreased position by 55% (sold 529,063 shares)
Denbury Resources (DNR) decreased position by 7.2% (sold 238,679 shares)
Suncor (SU) decreased position by 31% (sold 559,812 shares)

Removed Positions:
Positions BP Capital sold out of completely
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Exxon Mobil (XOM)
Valero (VLO)

Positions with no change:
None

Top 10 holdings by % of portfolio:
1. RIG (top holding)
2. OXY
3. SU
4. SLB
5. DNR
6. FLR
7. ABB
8. JEC
9. HAL
10. TLM
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Breakdown: So, it appears that Boone Pickens is moving away from the integrated oil plays and into companies that do not have exposure to refining. He's cut his CVX position in half and gotten completely out of XOM and VLO. And, you can't blame him with Oil at current prices... refining margins just flat out suck here. I really like his move (back) into RIG. In his 13F prior to this one, he had sold out of RIG completely and I was very puzzled by that maneuver. But, good to see he's back in the name considering they are seeing very high high day rates. And, in fact, RIG is now BP's largest holding in the portfolio. And, he just picked it all up this past quarter. I wouldn't be too worried about him selling some SU seeing as he's probably just doing some profit taking as well as freeing up cash to put in more natural gas oriented plays. He's stated numerous times that he really likes the Canadian oil sands for their market positioning. He really beefed up his position in FWLT and it looks like he really likes infrastructure plays with his picks of FWLT, JEC, and FLR, with FLR being his top infrastructure holding. I definitely agree on FLR and FWLT, but I'm not entirely sold on JEC yet (time for more research). He also started a position in SD which is interesting because numerous other hedge funds also started a position in SD this past quarter (more on that in the posts to come). But, given his bullish stance on natural gas, this play makes perfect sense. So, there you have it, a glimpse inside Boone Pickens' mind and a peek inside his portfolio.

My personal favorites out of his portfolio: RIG, OXY, SU, FLR, FWLT, XTO
Most interesting move: His addition of SD, considering numerous other hedge funds added it too

Note: Of his positions, I'm long RIG, OXY, SU, FLR, FWLT, SD

Tune in tomorrow when I detail the changes within Lone Pine Capital's portfolio, ran by Steven Mandel (a protege of legendary investor Julian Robertson).

Hedge Fund Activity / 13F

(Just FYI: This post marks the first of a series I will be doing this week that details what the "smart money" has been up to lately.)

Four times a year, hedge funds & asset managers with > $100 million AUM (assets under management) are required to report to the SEC their holdings from the previous quarter. I check these 13F filings quarterly just to get a sense as to where these funds are putting their money sector wise. If you just sit down and do some simple number crunching between last quarter's 13F and this quarter's 13F, you can see exactly where these funds have been moving their money.

Now, these 13F's should be treated as a lagging indicator simply because the 13F's that were just released May 15th 2008 show the funds' holdings as of March 31st 2008. So, in the past month and a half, they could have completely changed their portfolio. But, at the same time, its easy to see which sectors they are flocking to.

I like to specifically follow value based hedge funds in the hope that they won't experience ridiculously high turnover and thus allowing me to track their sector rotations. Specifically, I follow the Tiger Cubs (otherwise known as the proteges of former Tiger Management legend Julian Robertson). Many of these former proteges/right hand men have started their own funds and here are the ones I've been following:

- Blue Ridge Capital (John Griffin)
- Lone Pine Capital (Steve Mandel)
- Maverick Capital (Lee Ainslie)
- Viking Global (Andreas Halvorsen)

Additionally, I also like to follow the Commodities Corporation "offspring" which typically employ a global macro strategy.

- Tudor Investment Corp (Paul Tudor Jones)
- Moore Capital (Louis Bacon)
- Caxton Associates (Bruce Kovner)

So, I follow a core of value funds in depth and then I also follow a core of global macro funds in depth. Over the next week, I will be going into detail as to what those specific funds were up to this past quarter. Additionally, I like to follow other "whales" and funds that are not necessarily value based, but are still top performers on Wall Street. I won't be going into detail on some of these names, but I will provide some very useful links that give a broad overview of what some of these whales have been buying/selling. Because, after all, you've got to at least keep tabs on what these guys are doing:

- Warren Buffett (obviously)
- Carl Icahn (rabblerousing at its best)
- RBS Partners (Eddie Lampert)

Then, of course, there are some just straight up beastly funds which you have to keep an eye on due to their awesome returns over the years:

- Atticus Capital (Timothy Barakett)
- BP Capital (Boone Pickens)
- Greenlight Capital (David Einhorn)
- Paulson & Co (John Paulson)
- D.E. Shaw & Co (David E. Shaw)
- Jana Partners (Barry Rosenstein)

And, lastly, a few deep value & activist funds.

- Third Point (Daniel Loeb)
- Pershing Square (Bill Ackman)
- Okumus Capital (Ahmet Okumus)
- T2 Partners (Whitney Tilson)
- Tontine Partners (Jeffrey Gendell)

So, over the coming week I'll touch on some important position moves some of these funds/whales have made (new positions, removed positions, etc). And, specifically, I'll be looking in depth at some of my favorite funds on a quarter by quarter comparison. Here are the links to my in-depth analyses of said funds.

- Blue Ridge Capital
- Lone Pine Capital
- Maverick Capital
- BP Capital
- Atticus Capital