market folly

In a 13G filed with the SEC recently, we see that George Soros' hedge fund Soros Fund Management is now showing a 5.11% ownership stake in Mercury Computer (MRCY). The filing was made due to activity on April 17th, 2009 and they currently hold 1,160,077 shares. These figures are a combination of their 1,111,219 common shares as well as their 48,858 shares issuable from their 2% Senior Convertible Notes due 2024. This is not a new holding for Soros, as they held Mercury when we last looked at Soros' portfolio. However, it looks like they have added to their tally of common shares recently.

Soros is good 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 Quantum Fund ex-partners Jim Rogers & George Soros. If you want to get a better sense as to how Soros formulates his investment theses, we highly recommend reading his first book, The Alchemy of Finance. This book is a staple in our recommended reading list and after you read it, you'll understand why. We like to track Soros since he has a solid track record and a great macro sense.

Soros is famous for his stellar returns with partner Jim Rogers when they ran their Quantum fund. (We recently covered Jim Rogers' portfolio here). Now, Soros has carried his investment style over to his own firm, Soros Fund Management. Whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, or commodities, Soros is more of a global macro player, seeking investments in whatever market they can gain an edge. The experience Soros has experienced is vastly evident with his appearance on Forbes' billionaire list, as well as on the top 25 highest paid hedge fund managers.

2008 was an interesting time to be investing, to say the least. Recently, Soros detailed his thoughts about his portfolio from 2008 and it makes for a good read. His fund finished '08 up 8% as noted in our hedge fund year end performances post. His success in 2008 came from making correct bets on the US dollar and betting that short term interest rates in the UK would decline. Interestingly enough, Soros was down for much of the year, until he fought his way back with overtrading. And, as such, Soros Fund Management is now ranked #8 in the 2009 hedge fund rankings. We've covered the rest of Soros' portfolio here.

Taken from Google Finance,

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc "designs, manufactures and markets high-performance computer, signal and image processing systems and software for embedded and other specialized computing markets. The Company’s primary market segments are aerospace and defense, which includes systems for radar, electronic warfare, sonar, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence and electro-optical; life sciences, which includes systems for medical diagnostic imaging and advanced visualization; semiconductor, which includes systems for semiconductor wafer inspection, reticle inspection and mask writing; geosciences, which includes software for oil and gas exploration, and telecommunications systems."