market folly

In a 13G filing with the SEC due to activity on March 3rd, 2009, Lone Pine Capital has disclosed a 5.5% ownership stake in Ctrip.com (CTRP) with 3,620,403 shares beneficially owned. This is a new position for Stephen Mandel's hedge fund, as they previously did not show a stake in CTRP when we covered their portfolio a few weeks ago.

Lone Pine Capital is a hedge fund managed by Stephen Mandel Jr. His $7 Billion fund has returned over 25% annually since its inception in 1997. But obviously, last year was rough on them and many others, as noted in our list of 2008 year end hedge fund performance numbers. 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. Mandel is well versed in the ways of finding undervalued companies and his funds typically like to sniff out solid companies with good management that are trading below their intrinsic value. We just recently covered their entire long portfolio through their latest 13F filing.

Taken from Google Finance, Ctrip.com is "a travel service provider for hotel accommodations, airline tickets and packaged-tours in China. The Company also sells packaged-tours that include transportation and accommodations, as well as guided tours in some instances."