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Tiger Global (Chase Coleman) Hedge Fund Tracking: 13F Filing Q3 2008

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 Chase Coleman's Tiger Global. Chase Coleman is yet another 'Tiger Cub,' or manager who learned their trade under the watch of Julian Robertson while at Tiger Management. We've already covered many of the 'Tiger Cub' funds' portfolios including Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, Chris Shumway's Shumway Capital Partners, and Touradji Capital (Paul Touradji). And, recently, many of these managers gathered at a 'Tiger Cub' hedge fund manager panel, where they laid out investment theses for the future.

Chase Coleman attended Williams College and started Tiger Global with the blessing of Julian Robertson after learning the ways of success at Tiger Management. His focus has always been on smaller cap names and on technology. Although, he has since expanded his horizons with time. In 2007, Tiger Global returned 70%, and from 2001-2007, Coleman bolstered an average return of 47%. In terms of recent performance, they were down 14.3% in the month of September and were down 13.7% for the year at that time.

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):
Zions Bancorp (ZION)
Gushan (GU)
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN)
Marshall & Isley (MI)
Data Domain (DDUP)
Synaptics (SYNA)
Service Corp (SCI)
True Religion (TRLG)
Cavium Networks (CAVM)
Regions Financial (RF)
LDK Solar (LDK)
Comerica (CMA)
Under Armour (UA)
Istar Financial (SFI)
Vocus (VOCS)
Washington Mutual (WAMUQ)
Graco (GGG)
Beazer Homes (BZH)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
Longtop Fin (LFT): Increased position by 3,438%
Apple (AAPL): Increased position by 426%
Visa (V): Increased position by 201%
Coach (COH): Increased position by 139%
General Motors (GM): Increased position by 105%
First Horizon (FHN): Increased position by 98%
Discovery Holding Class A (DISCA): Increased position by 66%
Lorillard (LO): Increased position by 51%
Mastercard (MA): Increased position by 22%
CSX (CSX): Increased position by 20%
American Tower (AMT): Increased position by 14%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
China Security (CSR): Reduced position by 55%
America Movil (AMX): Reduced position by 51%
Fifth Street Finance (FSC): Reduced position by 48%
Ambac Financial (ABK): Reduced position by 44%
Hovnanian (HOV): Reduced position by 36%
SBA Comm (SBAC): Reduced position by 30%
A-Power Energy (APWR): Reduced position by 23%
Transdigm (TDG): Reduced position by 13%
Sina Corp (SINA): Reduced position by 8%
Emcore (EMKR): Reduced position by 8%
Qualcomm (QCOM): Reduced position by 7%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Ctrip (CTRP)
Luminex (LMNX)
Fairpoint Comm (FRP)
Omnivision (OVTI)
ETrade (ETFC)
Conceptus (CPTS)
Utstarcom (UTSI)
Nalco Holding (NLC)
Popular (BPOP)
First Bancorp (FBP)
Sierra Wireless (SWIR)
Stec (STEC)
Greenhill (GHL)
China Finance (JRJC)
China Nepstar (NPD)
Agfeed (FEED)
Google (GOOG)
Baidu (BIDU)
Priceline (PCLN)
New Oriental Educ (EDU)
Level 3 Communications (LVLT)
Research in Motion (RIMM)
Mentor Corp (MNT)
Trustmark Corp (TRMK)
Starent Networks (STAR)
Polaris (PII)
Pachex (PAYX)
American Superconductor (AMSC)
Middleby Corp (MIDD)
Watts Water (WTS)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. American Tower (AMT): 12% of portfolio
2. CSX (CSX): 11.9% of portfolio
3. Mastercard (MA): 10.2% of portfolio
4. Lorillard (LO): 8.7% of portfolio
5. Visa (V): 6.9% of portfolio
6. Qualcomm (QCOM): 5.2% of portfolio
7. Longtop Finl (LFT): 4.2% of portfolio
8. Transdigm (TDG): 4% of portfolio
9. Apple (AAPL): 3.7% of portfolio
10. America Movil (AMX): 3.6% of portfolio
11. SBA Comm (SBAC): 2.9% of portfolio
12. Mercadolibre (MELI): 2.6% of portfolio
13. Coach (COH): 2.5% of portfolio
14. Sina Corp (SINA): 2.5% of portfolio
15. Zions Bancshares (ZION): 1.9% of portfolio
16. General Motors (GM): 1.3% of portfolio
17. Gushan (GU): 1.2% of portfolio
18. Huntington Bancshares (HBAN): 1.1% of portfolio
19. Marshall & Isley (MI): 1.1% of portfolio
20. First Horizon National (FHN): 1.1% of portfolio

Assets from the collective holdings were $4.4 billion last quarter and were $3.3 billion this quarter. Its interesting to note that numerous other 'Tiger Cubs' have similar top positions including Lorillard (LO), Mastercard (MA), Visa (V), Apple (AAPL), and America Movil (AMX). Julian Robertson himself was even out buying some of those names as well. You can definitely see similarities in the investment process between these funds. Although Tiger Global decreased overall long equity exposure last quarter, they did so in a less severe manner than many of the other funds we've tracked. 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. They 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 the 'Tiger Cubs':
- '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

Videos of Peter Thiel's Latest Comments (Clarium Capital)

Peter Thiel of hedge fund Clarium Capital recently spoke about numerous topics in videos linked below:

Video 1: On whether the US is the next Japan.

Video 2: Four theories on the bubble and bust economy

Video 3: What the decline of hedge funds means for main street

Video 4: On the history of economic bubbles

And don't forget to check out Clarium Capital's latest equity portfolio holdings changes, which we recently detailed here.

Touradji Capital (Paul Touradji) Hedge Fund Tracking: 13F Filing Q3 2008

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)

1. Petrohawk (HK): 19% of portfolio
2. Baker Hughes (BHI): 12% of portfolio
3. Delta Petroleum (DPTR): 10.6%
4. Hess (HES): 5.8% of portfolio
5. McDermott (MDR): 5.4% of portfolio
6. Chesapeake Energy (CHK): 5.2% of portfolio
7. Comstock Resources (CRK): 4.1% of portfolio
8. Transocean (RIG): 3.4% of portfolio
9. Sandridge Energy (SD): 3.1% of portfolio
10. Whiting Petroleum (WLL): 2.9% of portfolio
11. XTO Energy (XTO): 2.2% of portfolio
12. CVR Energy (CVI): 2.1% of portfolio
13. Encore Acquisition (EAC): 2.1% of portfolio
14. Range Resources (RRC): 1.9% of portfolio
15. Terra Industries (TRA): 1.7% of portfolio
16. Devon Energy (DVN): 1.7% of portfolio
17. Apache (APA): 1.6% of portfolio
18. Talisman Energy (TLM): 1.5% of portfolio
19. Anadarko Petroleum (APC): 1.5% of portfolio
20. 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

Cheap Oil

In one of Gregor's latest posts, he lays out a simple premise that cheap oil is incompatible with growth. He writes,

"...The price signal given to the world from oil since 2002, in a context of flat global oil production, more than strongly indicates that oil at 45.00 dollars a barrel is not even remotely close to a sustainable price–unless a collapse in global industrialism maintains for some time to come. Thus we arrive pretty easily at a conclusion many now suspect: growth and cheap oil are incompatible..."

(click to enlarge)

So, if the price of oil is dependent on supply and demand, then you have an increasingly difficult time arguing against cheap oil prices for the future. On the demand side, it would seemingly take a prolonged global recession/depression to keep demand down. On the supply side, it would mean that somewhere in the world there would need to be a discovery large enough that it could fend off demand for years to come. While this potentially could happen, the outlook for this scenario is still bleak. Just look at the chart above. While there have been some bountiful discoveries every 10 or 20 years, each subsequent discovery has provided less production than the last.

Then there is the wrench that is alternative energy. Throw that into the mix and you could potentially see it affect oil. But, the main caveat with that argument is scale. Alternative energy would take years to truly bring to scale. And, we would argue that for it to be implemented en masse, it would require high oil prices in the first place. After all, now that we're seeing relatively 'cheap oil' again these days, the alternative energy buzz has noticeably dropped off. Sure, many (us included) still advocate pushing for green energy, but the catalyst for such an event is more than simply buzz or increased awareness. It is expensive oil. Only when the masses are emptying out their pocket books for gas (as they were this past summer) does the spark ignite the fuse.

Shumway Capital Partners (Chris Shumway): Hedge Fund Tracking 13F Filing - Q3 2008

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've already covered:

• 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
  

Next up is Shumway Capital Partners run by Chris Shumway. Shumway started his own fund after leaving well-known Julian Robertson's Tiger Management. And thus, as a progeny of Robertson, he is a part of what people call the 'Tiger Cubs' (people who have started their own firms after succeeding at Tiger). 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, and Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global. Taken from our post on 'Tiger Cub' biographies, "Chris Shumway is the Founding Partner of Shumway Capital Partners (“SCP”), an investment management firm founded in 2001. SCP, which manages a multibillion dollar group of private investment funds, uses a private equity-like research model for public market investment on a global basis. Prior to forming SCP, Mr. Shumway was a Senior Managing Director at Tiger Management (1992-1999), an Analyst at Brentwood Associates (1990-1991), and an Analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co. (1988-1990). He received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (1993) and a B.S. from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia (1988)." Shumway's Ocean Fund was up 0.85% for the month of October but was -8.24% for the year at that time, as we noted in our October hedge fund performance update (see also our recent November update). Lastly, at a recent 'Tiger Cub' hedge fund manager panel, Shumway suggested that buying stocks that were down largely due to hedge fund liquidations would be a winning strategy longer-term.

The following were Shumway's 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):
CVS Caremark (CVS)
Medco Health (MHS)
Focus Media (FMCN)
Wyeth (WYE)
News Corp (NWS-A)
Hansen Natural (HANS)
Mercadolibre (MELI)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
SBA Comm (SBAC): Increased position by 20%
Qualcomm (QCOM) Calls: Increased position by 1.6%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
Cisco Systems (CSCO): Reduced position by 86%
Google (GOOG): Reduced position by 84%
Teva Pharma (TEVA): Reduced position by 74.5%
Qualcomm (QCOM): Reduced position by 72%
Potash (POT): Reduced position by 68%
Chipotle (CMG-B) B Shares: Reduced position by 55%
Waters (WAT): Reduced position by 49%
Sirius Satellite (SIRI) Notes: Reduced position by 37%
Mastercard (MA): Reduced position by 35%
Zimmer Holdings (ZMH): Reduced position by 34%
NII Holdings (NIHD): Reduced position by 29%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Union Pacific (UNP)
XTO Energy (XTO)
Burlington Northern (BNI)
Apple (AAPL)
St Jude (STJ)
Research in Motion (RIMM)
American Tower (AMT)
Visa (V)
Crown Castle (CCI)
Colgate Palmolive (CL)
Occidental Petroleum (OXY)
EMC Corp (EMC)
Baidu (BIDU)
Monsanto (MON)
SLM (SLM)
Chipotle (CMG)
Staples (SPLS)
Mosaic (MOS)
Liberty Global (LBTYK) Series C Common
Liberty Global (LBTYA)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. Qualcomm (QCOM) Calls: 11.9% of portfolio
2. Mastercard (MA): 11.8% of portfolio
3. NII Holdings (NIHD): 9.4% of portfolio
4. Qualcomm (QCOM): 8.8% of portfolio
5. SBA Comm (SBAC): 8.6% of portfolio
6. CVS Caremark (CVS): 8.3% of portfolio
7. Waters (WAT): 7.3% of portfolio
8. Teva Pharma (TEVA): 5.9% of portfolio
9. Zimmer Holdings (ZMH): 5.6% of portfolio
10. Medco Health (MHS): 4.1% of portfolio
11. Potash (POT): 3.8% of portfolio
12. Cisco Systems (CSCO): 3.2% of portfolio
13. Focus Media (FMCN): 2.2% of portfolio
14. Wyeth (WYE): 2% of portfolio
15. Google (GOOG): 1.6% of portfolio
16. Sirius (SIRI) Notes: 1.4% of portfolio
17. News Corp (NWS-A): 1.1% of portfolio
18. Chipotle (CMG-B) B shares: 1.1% of portfolio
19. Sirius (SIRI) Notes2: 1.1% of portfolio
20. Hansen Natural (HANS): 0.4% of portfolio

Assets from the collective holdings were $7.88 billion last quarter and were $1.78 billion this quarter. As you can easily tell from the raw figures, Shumway was making a large move out of equity markets over the last quarter. And, they were largely scaling out of natural resource and commodity related names that have seen extreme selling pressure the past few months. 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, 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. 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, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, John Paulson's Paulson & Co, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, and Dan Loeb's Third Point, Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp, Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management, Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates, and Soros Fund Management (George Soros). 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 Shumway:
- '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

What We're Reading

- Hedge fund industry imprisons its clients (The Economist)

- Toscafund Asset Management's November letter to investors in .pdf format (Dealbreaker)

- Marc Faber thinks 2009 will be a total disaster (CommodityBullMarket)

- Funny: How corporate logos look after the crisis (BusinessPundit)

- The Problem with deleveraging (Big Picture)

Stock Market Collapse: Simply a Reversion to the Mean

Doug Short has shown us that we are merely reverting to the mean...

(click to enlarge)

Hedge Fund Tracking: George Soros (Soros Fund Management) - 13F Filing Q3 2008

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've already covered:

• 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
  

Next up is Soros Fund Management ran by George Soros. Soros is famous for his stellar returns with partner Jim Rogers when they ran their Quantum fund. Soros' fund is a switch from some of the more value oriented funds we've been covering, like the 'Tiger Cub' funds including Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, and Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global. Soros is more of a global macro player, seeking investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. So, keep in mind that these equity positions only represent a portion of the fund's overall holdings. They are not required to disclose holdings outside of equities, notes, and stock options.

Soros is great to track because of his excellent macro sense and formidable track record as an investor. His thoughts on the current financial landscape are detailed in his latest book, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means. Soros sees a vast consolidation in the hedge fund space in the near future, as we noted when we recently checked in on Jim Rogers & George Soros. As such, he testified before Congress recently regarding the hedge fund industry, which you can see via video here. If you want to hear some more insightful thoughts from George Soros himself, head over to our post on Hedge Fund manager interviews or check out his recent interview with Fareed Zakaria to discuss the current crisis. If you want to get a better sense as to how Soros' mind works, we highly recommend reading his first book, The Alchemy of Finance.

Before beginning, you might be interested in checking out Soros' portfolio holdings from Q2 2008. The following were Soros' 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):
Research in Motion (RIMM)
Arch Coal (ACI)
Ishares Real Estate (IYR)
Powershares QQQ (QQQQ)
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) Calls
Whiting Petroleum (WLL)
Global Ship Lease (GSL)
Suncor (SU)
Chesapeake (CHK)
RedHat (RHT) Notes
Best Buy (BBY)
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD)
Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC)
Anheuser Busch (BUD)
Frontline (FRO)
Vale (RIO) Calls
Unibanco (UBB)
Bank of America (BAC)
Collective Brands (PSS)
Companhia Siderurgica (SID)
Fidelity National Info (FIS)
Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS)
Entergy (ETR)
Suntrust (STI)
Global Ship Lease (GSL-WS)
Nasdaq (NDAQ)
General Growth Properties (GGP)
Teradata (TDC)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
Walmart (WMT): Increased position by 519%
Consol Energy (CNX): Increased position by 428%
Schlumberger (SLB): Increased position by 400%
Emulex (ELX): Increased position by 279%
Hess (HES): Increased position by 277%
Potash (POT): Increased position by 91%
RF Micro (RFMDL): Increased position by 88%
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR): Increased position by 84%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
JetBlue Airways (JBLU): Reduced position by 51%
Wind River (WIND): Reduced position by 46%
Symmetricom (SYMM): Reduced position by 40%
Auxilium Pharma (AUXL): Reduced position by 14%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
iShares Emerging Markets (EEM) Puts
Lehman Brothers (LEHMQ)
S&P500 (SPY) Puts
Talisman Energy (TLM)
Mosaic (MOS)
Energy Solutions (ES)
Monsanto (MON)
Halliburton (HAL)
BPZ Resources (BPZ)
Freeport McMoran (FCX)
Sandridge Energy (SD)
Bucyrus (BUCY)
Joy Global (JOYG)
Century Aluminum (CENX)
Weatherford (WFT)
Kroger (KR)
Tibco Software (TIBX)
National Oilwell Varco (NOV)
Patterson UTI Energy (PTEN)
Union Pacific (UNP)
McDermott (MDR)
Powershares QQQ (QQQQ) Puts
Costco (COST)
Intrepid Potash (IPI)
Net Servicos Comunicacao (NETC)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR): 24.3% of portfolio
2. Potash (POT): 11.5% of portfolio
3. Walmart (WMT): 6% of portfolio
4. Hess (HES): 4.5% of portfolio
5. Conoco Phillips (COP): 3.3% of portfolio
6. RF Micro (RFMDL) 1st batch of Notes: 3.2% of portfolio
7. Mercury Computer (MRCY) Notes: 3% of portfolio
8. Audiocodes (AUDC) Notes: 2.9% of portfolio
9. Research in Motion (RIMM): 2.9% of portfolio
10. LSI Corp (LSI) Notes: 2.5% of portfolio
11. RF Micro (RFMDL) 2nd batch of Notes: 2.5% of portfolio
12. Arch Coal (ACI): 2.5% of portfolio
13. Ishares Real Estate (IYR): 2.1% of portfolio
14. Agere Systems (inactive) Notes - 2.1% of portfolio
15. Powershares QQQ (QQQQ): 2% of portfolio
16. Novell (NOVL) Notes: 2% of portfolio
17. Mcdata (inactive) Notes: 1.9% of portfolio
18. Red Hat (RHT) Notes: 1.4% of portfolio
19. Schlumberger (SLB): 1.1% of portfolio
20. MAP Pharma (MAPP): 1.1% of portfolio

Assets from the collective holdings were $3.6 billion last quarter and were $3.8 billion this quarter. Soros definitely has a lot of Note holdings, opting to take positions in those rather than common stock. 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, 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. 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, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, John Paulson's Paulson & Co, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, and Dan Loeb's Third Point, Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp, Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management, and Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates. 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 Soros:
- Soros' books: The Alchemy of Finance / The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means
- Checking in on George Soros & Jim Rogers
- Soros interview with Fareed Zakaria
- November hedge fund performance numbers
- Soros testimony before Congress
- Soros Q2 holdings
- October hedge fund performance numbers
- Hedge Fund Rankings

Global Macro Hedge Funds Returning to Their Roots

If someone was asked to name a fund in the global macro game, undoubtedly Tudor Investment Corp or Moore Capital Management would be some of the most frequent responses. The global macro strategy has fared well in the world of hedge funds. Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp has earned an annualized return of greater than 20% over the span of two decades. Louis Bacon's of Moore Capital Management shares the same accolade. And, while they are both down this year, they have fared much better relative to many of their peers and the market indexes in general. Tudor's flagship fund finds itself -5% for the year, while Moore was -2.9% year-to-date through November as we noted in our November hedge fund performance update. But, in a never-ending quest for outperformance, Tudor and Bacon want more. And, in order to accomplish that, they see it fit to return to their roots.

Taken from Moore Capital Management's latest letter to investors, Bacon wrote,

"...We had become disheartened by the complexity of our portfolio given our results and took decisive steps to change our format....
...The combination of a streamlined and liquid portfolio, high cash balances and mostly macro-oriented managers has allowed us to focus on the opportunities in a macro period that is going to continue to be of historic proportions..."

Moore's funds saw requests for redemptions to the tune of 8% of the fund's assets. Bacon seemed worried that his firm had become almost 'too diversified' and had become overstretched, trying to hit every idea. Bacon noted that he will cease private equity investments and will allocate more money to his global macro traders and equity investment team. This decision comes as a polar opposite to what we've recently seen in Moore's portfolio. Their equity holdings decreased from $4.45 billion two quarters prior to only $1.36 billion this past quarter. So, as Bacon has noted, we should see a change there in the coming months and year.

Paul Tudor Jones shares similar thoughts to his global macro colleague. Recently, Tudor halted withdrawals from its Global BVI Fund, in an effort to separate illiquid from liquid assets. Much like Moore Capital Management, Tudor was out decreasing equity exposure across the board last quarter, as we noted in our latest update of Tudor's portfolio.

In his letter to investors, Tudor talked about returning to the global macro roots he built his firm upon, writing,

"Those of you who have visited recently have heard me refer to this return to our roots as back to the future."

Overall, global macro funds have weathered the storm relatively well this year. In part, this is due to their ability to maneuver between multiple markets, wherever they see opportunity. And, unless equity indexes can ramp up and lend a hand to value oriented players, we think macro funds will continue to be poised to outperform relative to their peers and the markets in general; especially as they cease to outstretch themselves and return to their roots.



Source: Bloomberg