Reminder: Free TurboTax Online

It's starting to get down to the wire for taxes so just wanted to give everyone a friendly reminder that you can get TurboTax Online for free. We've already gone through and used it and they give ya free preparation, free e-filing... all that good stuff.

Oh, don't forget you can get Free Quicken Online too. This freebie fits into the whole 'money management' category so its worth checking out, especially since its free.

Have a good weekend with march madness!

Jeffrey Gendell's Tontine Associates Files Amended 13D on Neenah Enterprises (NENA)

Hedge fund Tontine Associates has filed an amended 13D with the SEC and has disclosed a 65.3% ownership stake on Neenah Enterprises (NENA). Tontine shows an aggregate amount of shares beneficially owned of 9,550,697 due to activity on March 18th, 2009.

Jeffrey Gendell's hedge fund firm has been quite busy over the past year, and in particular over the past few months. As two of his hedge funds have closed down, his portfolio has been shuffled around all over the place. (Some of their recent changes can be seen here). As we've detailed before, Tontine has recently sold out of 15 positions, as well as filed amended 13D's to many of their holdings, and then they most recently sold out of 9 more positions.

If you're unfamiliar with Tontine, they specialize in macro investing and take very large, concentrated positions in companies he feels will benefit from those macro themes. Additionally, he will take on an activist role when necessary, to ensure shareholder returns. The fund has posted returns in excess of 100% in both 2003 and 2005. Conversely, this year has been the year from hell for Tontine. Recently, they announced they would be closing two of their hedge funds: Tontine Capital LP and Tontine Capital Partners LP. Two of Tontine's funds will remain open: Tontine-25 and Tontine Financial.

It has definitely been an astonishing year for Gendell, whose Tontine firm is named after an annuity invented by Lorenzo de Tonti. In such an annuity, investors contribute and collect dividends. As investors each die off, their share is left to the remaining partners. Therefore, the last man alive receives all the money. Gendell's desire is clearly to be that 'last investor' remaining. Such a goal becomes slightly ironic when you consider his firm suffered monumental losses and almost 'died' this past year.

For more on top hedge funds, check out our portfolio tracking series where we're in the middle of tracking a different fund's Q4 holdings each day.

Taken from Google Finance,

Neenah Enterprises, Inc. is "a foundry company in the United States and is a supplier of casting to the heavy municipal market. The Company sells these municipal castings throughout the United States to state and local government entities, utility companies, precast concrete manhole structure producers, and contractors for both new construction and infrastructure replacement."

Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme According to Sesame Street

Funny video parody of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme illustrated by the children's show Sesame Street, courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel:

What We're Reading 3/20/09

Inside the Bear Stearns Boiler Room [CNN Money - Fortune]

China Sees the Elephant in the Room - Dollar Reserves at Risk [Character141 by tradefast]

Doug Kass: It Ain't Heavy, It's a Bottom [TheStreet] (Note that we don't share his view... but interesting read nonetheless)

REIT risk perception and more pain ahead for REITs (Zero Hedge)

Latest on General Growth Properties (Value Plays)

Hedge funds seek redemptions with payouts (FT)

Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital Files Amended 13G on PharmaNet Development Group (PDGI)

In an amended 13G filing with the SEC, hedge fund Tremblant Capital has disclosed a 0% ownership stake in Pharmanet Development Group (PDGI) due to activity on February 19th, 2009. Back on their latest 13F filing, they owned 1,123,365 shares as of December 31st, 2008 as we noted when we covered Tremblant's portfolio holdings. So, they have now sold entirely out of their position. If you missed the news, private equity firm JLL Partners has issued a tender offer for all PDGI shares.

Tremblant Capital is a $3 billion hedge fund based in New York ran 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). If the last name of 'Barakett' sounds familiar, its because his brother, Timothy Barakett, manages fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital, whose portfolio we recently covered. 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." Barakett has worked with some of the best in the macro game and obviously is quite knowledgeable himself. But, as we noted back in September, Tremblant had a rough year. Over the course of last year, they disclosed a 5.2% stake in Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) and a stake in PharmaNet (PDGI). And, obviously now, they no longer hold that stake in PDGI. But, more recently, they've made a 13G filing on Chipotle, where they have been adding to their large position.

Taken from Google Finance, PDGI is "a global drug development services company providing clinical development services, including consulting, Phase I and bioequivalency clinical studies, and Phase II, III and IV clinical development programs to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generic drug and medical device companies around the world."

S&P 500 (SPX) Technicals: 800 is Resistance

Wanted to post up a quick technical look at the overall markets. We've got two charts basically illustrating the same thing, courtesy of two solid technical analysis bloggers.

Firstly, Kevin looks at the S&P and notes that the past support is now future resistance around 804. Additionally, the 50 day moving average will also serve as resistance. So, he feels some selling will come into the market, and I'd definitely agree. The only thing that could disrupt this would be the newfound euphoria surrounding Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve's actions taken yesterday. Obviously, since those actions, we are now trading around the 795 level on the chart below, so make sure you take that into consideration, as this chart was from the day prior.

(click to enlarge)

Next, Stewie looks at the Diamonds (DIA) and notes the similar area of resistance. That similar level of support in October and November is now resistance in March. He also points out the recent volume, which could indicate things might start to sputter.

(click to enlarge)

So, you could play this level of resistance for a trade, as some sellers should come in. This trade is very easily managed as well, given the 'line in the sand' you can draw around 800-805 in the S&P500. As always: stay nimble and make sure you've got stops in place. Play the line in the sand in either direction, whichever way the market decides to flow. Adaptability is the name of the game.

Hedge Fund Shumway Capital Files 13G on Equinix (EQIX)

In a 13G filing with the SEC, hedge fund Shumway Capital Partners has disclosed a 5.39% stake in Equinix (EQIX) with aggregate amount beneficially owned of 2,037,527 due to activity on February 26th, 2009. This is a newer position for them, as they've previously did not own it as of their November portfolio update disclosed in a SEC 13F filing.

Shumway Capital Partners is 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)." Lastly, at a '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.

Taken from Google Finance,

Equinix "provides network-neutral colocation, interconnection and managed information technology (IT) infrastructure services to enterprises, content providers and financial companies."

Nouriel Roubini's Portfolio

In a shocking development, Nouriel Roubini, a.k.a. the harbinger of doom himself has been thrust in the spotlight yet again. And by shocking, we mean not shocking at all. Anyways, the FT recently gave us a glimpse into what Roubini himself invests in,

"Just ask Nouriel Roubini of New York University, who has a reputation as the most pessimistic economist in academe. He deserves it. His most recent paper, published last week, is entitled: “Can the Fed and Policy Makers Avoid a Systemic Financial Meltdown? Most Likely Not.”

Nobody is more aware of the gravity of the financial situation, and nobody has done more to point out the risks of a systemic crisis.

So how are Roubini’s own funds invested? They are 100 per cent in equities. In the long run stocks do best and he is not yet close to retirement, so he keeps putting more money into index funds each month.

Fully aware of the gravity of the financial situation, he is also aware of the futility of trying to take action or to time the market. Those tempted to make the investing equivalent of a goalkeeper’s depairing dive should take note."

Felix Salmon of Portfolio went one step further and then notes that while Roubini's 401k is in equities, he has his interests in his firm as well as a lot of cash on the sidelines. So, while Roubini has cash on hand, you'd have to think that he would be inclined to put more of it to work at some point. But, maybe the fact that he is so incredibly pessimistic will blind him from his own contrarian indicators... who knows. I have yet to decide whether or not Roubini turning bullish (if that ever happens) is a good or bad thing. I'm actually scared for that day. The point is, though, that Roubini is human. He has a 401k just like practically everyone else out there. And, he is invested in the markets for the long-term. So, if you were to extract a positive from all of this, there you have it. And, if I were you, I would savor it. Because after all, don't forget that Roubini's picture is listed under 'doom' in the dictionary.

We recently noted that Roubini's estimate for the S&P 500 is 600 on the dot. At that level, he suggests that the S&P companies will earn $50 a share and trade at 12x. He also did not rule out the possibility of seeing 500. Considering we are getting relatively close to his targets, you have to wonder if he is starting to get slightly more constructive deep down. You would assume that he would possibly be investing his own money if/when we reach those levels. But, that is pure speculation on our part. We're mainly making this point to show that while he is not apt to time the market, he has identified a level of valuation he deems acceptable.

Just remember that now you, too, can be Nouriel Roubini by printing off this Roubini Halloween mask and proceeding to talk about doom and destruction nonstop.

March Madness College Basketball Bracket Pool

Sorry for the offtopic post, but we here at MarketFolly are huge college basketball fans (Rock Chalk Jayhawk). I know it's last minute, but we just wanted to point out that some of us in the financial blogging/twitter community have all joined a March Madness CBS bracket pool (no entry fee). Abnormal Returns and Daily Options Report have teamed up to present you the: Abnormal Options Bracket Challenge. All the details you need are in that post, so definitely check it out. Hurry because the tournament starts this morning around lunch time!

Also, some other resources for those of you statistical in nature:

Pomeroy's 2009 rankings

Jeff Sagarin ratings

How to act like a hedge fund manager in your bracket pool

Let us know in the comments who you've picked to win it all. We'll be cheering for our Jayhawks even though there's no way they will win it back-to-back. We're taking either Memphis or Louisville to win it all in some of our brackets. This is one of the most wide open fields we've seen in a while, as we could easily see Pitt, UNC, UConn, Duke, Louisville, or Memphis winning it all. Tough to pick just one winner! Best of luck to everyone who participates!

Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management 13F Filing, Q4 2008

This is the 4th Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings preface.

This week, turning the focus to global macro funds, we'll be checking in on Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management. Do note that global macro funds are typically not necessarily equity focused funds. While they do indeed have equity exposure, the majority of their holdings are in other markets. So, we mainly track them to check in on their sector exposure to see what types of global macro themes they may be investing in. This 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. Global macro funds seek to find investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. But, they are only required to disclose equity holdings.

Louis Bacon comes from the group of "offspring" of the legendary Commodities Corporation. Moore emerged as a successful offspring along with fellow great macro traders Bruce Kovner (Caxton Associates) and Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp). Moore, named after Bacon's middle name, is a $10 billion global macro set of hedge funds. Louis Bacon is a famed trader and risk manager. And, interestingly enough, Bacon helped get his firm off the ground when Paul Tudor Jones stopped accepting capital from investors and instead turned them to Bacon's firm. Returning 31% annually since inception in 1990, Bacon can be very proud of his flagship fund, Moore Global Investments. But, it doesn't stop there. His returns have shown little correlation to the stock market and low volatility. He is the definition of a risk manager. For 2008, their Global Investments fund finished -4.3%, their Global Fixed Income fund finished +1.3%, and their Emerging Markets Fund finished -17.6%, as noted in our comprehensive list of hedge fund performance numbers.

Bacon credits his risk management skills to the futures markets, where he learned to be sensitive to market action. And, he learned such skills at an early age. While getting his MBA at Columbia, he used his student loan money to trade. And, he lost it all. Clearly, he learned a lesson he would never forget. Such a lesson stuck with him as he worked various jobs in the financial industry before eventually starting his own firm. And, in his first year managing Moore Capital Management, he returned 86%. Bacon strives to identify long running macro trends. While he has a longer-term macroeconomic view, he won't let that stop him from making money by trading around the position in the mean time. If you want to hear some insightful thoughts from Louis Bacon himself, head over to our post on Hedge Fund manager interviews.

Many successful members of Moore have gone on to start their own funds. For instance, we track Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, who learned his trade at Moore. Also, its worth pointing out that Stanley Shopkorn, formerly of Moore Capital, has started his own fund. Additionally, we recently learned that Christopher Pia, another Moore alum will be starting his own fund. But, enough about those who have gone on to do their own thing. Let's check out what Moore was up to.

The following were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of December 31st, 2008 as filed with the SEC. We have not detailed the changes to every single position in this update, but we have covered all the major moves. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Some New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
Transocean (RIG)
Home Depot (HD)
Lowe (LOW)
State Street (STT)
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY)
AMR (AMR)
PS Wilderhill (PBW)
Continental Airlines (CAL)
Philip Morris International (PM)
Whirlpool (WHR)
Delta Air (DAL)
Exxon Mobil (XOM)
Lennar (LEN)
Toll Brothers (TOL)
Altria (MO)
Shaw Group (SGR)
Foster Wheeler (FWLT)
Stanley Works (SWK)
First Solar (FSLR)
Procter & Gamble (PG) Puts
Exxon Mobil (XOM) Puts
Mylan (MYL)
Hartford Financial (HIG)
Carnival (CCL)
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Puts
IPC Holdings (IPCR)
Potash (POT)
Hess (HES) Calls
Suncor (SU) Puts
Flextronics (FLEX)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
US Steel (X): Increased position by 725%
Electronic Arts (ERTS): Increased position by 683%
Navistar (NAV): Increased position by 521%
Vale (RIO): Increased position by 400%
Commercial Metals (CMC): Increased position by 386%
Walter Industries (WLT): Increased position by 313%
AK Steel (AKS): Increased position by 303%
Select Sector Energy (XLE): Increased position by 260%
Micron (MU): Increased position by 42%
Suncor (SU) Calls: Increased position by 18%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
Sandisk (SNDK) Calls: Reduced by 95%
Cresud (CRESY): Reduced by 84%
Water Resources ETF (PHO): Reduced by 68%
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR): Reduced by 67%
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): Reduced by 60%
Energy Solutions (ES): Reduced by 42%
Crown Holdings (CCK): Reduced by 41%
Ace (ACE: Reduced by 35%
Textron (TXT) Calls: Reduced by 20%
Homebuilders ETF (XHB): Reduced by 14%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Foundry Networks (FDRY)
Companhia Siderurgica (SID)
Cemex (CX)
Formfactor (FORM)
Citigroup (C)
Hewlett Packard (HPQ) Puts
Wells Fargo (WFC)
Teradata (TDC) Calls
Chevron (CVX)
Cisco (CSOC) Puts
Informatica (INFA) Call
Genentech (DNA)
Rio Tinto (RTP)
Citrix (CTXS)
Lennar (LEN) Puts
Activision Blizzard (ATVI)
Informatica (INFA)
Qualcomm (QCOM)
Anheuser Busch (BUD)
Barr Pharma (BRL)
Cameco (CCJ)
Imclone (IMCL)
Applied Materials (AMAT) Calls
Data Domain (DDUP) Calls
Barclays (BCS-PD) Preferred D
Rohm & Haas (ROH)
KLA Tencor (KLAC) Calls
Goldman Sachs (GS)
Ishares Emerging Markets (EEM)
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. Select Sector Energy (XLE): 13.67% of portfolio
2. Select Sector Energy (XLE) Puts: 8.72% of portfolio
3. Select Sector Energy (XLE) Calls: 8.72% of portfolio
4. Max Capital (MXGL): 5% of portfolio
5. Transocean (RIG): 4% of portfolio
6. Ace (ACE): 3.9% of portfolio
7. Home Depot (HD): 3.5% of portfolio
8. Lowe (LOW): 3.34% of portfolio
9. State Street (STT): 3.25% of portfolio
10. Homebuilders ETF (XHB): 2.9% of portfolio
11. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY): 2.26% of portfolio
12. Electronic Arts (ERTS): 1.75% of portfolio
13. Water Resources ETF (PHO): 1.75% of portfolio
14. AMR (AMR): 1.6% of portfolio
15. PS Wilderhill (PBW): 1.6% of portfolio
16. Continental Airlines (CAL): 1.5% of portfolio
17. Philip Morris International (PM): 1.5% of portfolio
18. Whirlpool (WHR): 1.5% of portfolio
19. Delta Airlines (DAL): 1.5% of portfolio
20. US Steel (X): 1.5% of portfolio

Moore was out adding massively for a few select names, increasing their position in many cases by > 300%. There seems to be a theme of a lot of economic recovery and 'early cycle' plays as if to position the portfolio to benefit from an increase in global activity. Assets from the collective long US equity, options, and note holdings were $1.3 billion last quarter and were $821 million this quarter. This is just one of many funds in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. We've already covered Paulson & Co (John Paulson), Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, George Soros, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, David Stemerman's Conatus Capital, James Pallotta's Raptor Capital Management, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates, and Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp. Look for our updates as we will be covering a new fund each day.

Summary of Jim Rogers' Recent Portfolio

Jim Rogers has been in the media a lot over the past couple weeks and we wanted to provide a summary of these thoughts. He is a noted investor and founder of the highly successful yet now defunct Quantum Fund (with George Soros). Rogers has been out providing his opinion on various topics and giving us a deeper glance at some of his portfolio plays. We've compiled a list of some of his major positions below. Firstly, we'll examine some of the plays he's revealed just over this past week.

The rally we've been seeing in equity markets is a bear market rally that can last anywhere from days to months, according to Rogers. He sees the economy as getting worse before it gets better, citing more bankruptcies to come. It might be 'a bottom,' but its not 'the bottom,' Rogers said. He's very bearish on a macro level and thinks it could take 7 to 8 years to really clean out the system. He's noted that all the bailouts have added to the risks of an economic depression. His displeasure with the US government is no secret, as he thinks they are 'throwing money' at the wrong things.

In terms of the US financials, Rogers has covered his Citigroup (C), which was a short that had paid him off handsomely. He has also mentioned that he has covered most of his short positions in stocks. But, he is now short JP Morgan Chase (JPM), as he sees negative 'off balance sheet' exposure, along with derivatives exposure, and large exposure to the credit card business. Rogers has noted something that we here at MarketFolly have been talking about for some time: credit cards as the next credit crunch. And, head of JPMorgan Jamie Dimon even acknowledges this as well. Rogers has chosen to short JPM for a myriad of reasons, but credit cards are certainly one of them. Even the 'good house' in the 'bad neighborhood' can't escape. While he has that short position in the financial space, he has no positions in the insurers. He notes that sure, financial institutions can rally back from their lows, but that they still aren't financially sound. He thinks that financials won't be an attractive investment for years to come. Additionally, while not a financial, he mentioned he was short IBM (IBM), presumably due to their large financial services exposure.

Rogers has again re-voiced his concern with government debt, which has recently expanded five-fold. He was previously short the long-dated treasuries, but had to cover back in the fourth quarter. He has been patiently evaluating for a time to re-enter this position for the longer trend he forecasts. In the midterm, he won't fight the government though, as e expects them to buy treasuries in an effort to stem borrowing costs. Governments around the world are printing a ton of money and borrowing insane amounts. Rogers cites this as the reason for his desire to short the bonds eventually. We agree with Rogers on this point, and are willing to have extreme patience before entering this trade in size. It undoubtedly will take much longer to play out than many realize, especially when the Federal Reserve is still active and busy. We laid out our basic rationale for shorting treasuries down the road as well. Again, as Rogers emphasizes, patience is key.

Additionally, he has been waiting to establish a short position in the US dollar. He has been long the Dollar, which he says is rallying artificially, and is looking for this unwind to continue before he unloads the rest of his Dollar position, as he believes the US is trying to devalue its currency. He also currently owns some Japanese Yen and has elaborated on currencies recently. Considering his distaste for some of these paper currencies, he has a small gold position. But, he prefers silver and agriculture to gold.

We already know that he is bullish on commodities, and very bullish on agriculture. He has re-hashed this view numerous times. He might be early, but he has always claimed that he is not a market timer. He feels this trend will eventually arrive and he is poised to benefit from it. Raw materials and commodities are the only sectors with improving fundamentals according to Rogers. He expects low inventories and tons of shortages in the longer term (10-20 years). You have to keep in mind that Rogers is not a market timer and instead positions himself for broad, longer-term trends. He favors the commodities themselves over commodity resource stocks. And, he has even gone out and bought physical farmland. He has active investments in Agcapita Farmland Investment Partnerships (in Canada) and Agrifirma Brazil. As we noted in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series, Rogers' ex-Quantum Fund buddy George Soros has also bought a ton of Potash. So, they definitely share a bullish stance on agriculture. Lastly, its also worth noting that respected investment strategist Don Coxe is also an ag bull.

Overall, Rogers has a bearish macro view and expects bear market rallies, as they are just part of the cycle. And, while certain toxic companies like the financials may rally, he notes that they still have big problems ahead of them. He isn't a market timer and expects rampant inflation as well as bull markets in agriculture and commodities. He has placed bets to the tune of these forecasts and will continue to monitor the investment landscape for broad macro trends he can capitalize on in the future. If you enjoyed this post, please consider getting our free updates via email or for free via RSS reader. We cover gurus like Jim Rogers as well as other prominent hedge fund managers on a daily basis.

Lastly, if you've missed them, you can also see Rogers thoughts on the topics of:

• China, inflation, & the recession
• Agriculture
• Commodities
• The British Pound
• Other Currencies
• Long-term US bonds
  

Sources: Bloomberg, (again), CNBC, and various other media appearances

Chase Coleman's Tiger Global Files Amended 13D on Longtop Financial Technologies (LFT)

In an amended 13D filing with the SEC, Chase Coleman's Tiger Global Management has disclosed a 17.7% ownership stake in Longtop Financial Technologies (LFT) with 8,951,065 aggregate amount of shares beneficially owned due to activity on March 9th, 2009. This is a slight decrease from their 10,083,165 shares that they owned as listed in their most recent 13F filing which disclosed shares held as of December 31st, 2008. So, in the past 3 months, they have decreased their position somewhat. The amened 13D lists a secondary sale of 1,132,100 shares on March 9th at a price of $17.69 a share. You can view the rest of Tiger's Q3 2008 portfolio here.

Chase Coleman attended Williams College and started Tiger Global with the blessing of Julian Robertson after learning his ways 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%.

Taken from Google Finance, LFT is "a software developer and information technology (IT) services provider targeting the financial services industry in China. The Company develops and delivers a range of software solutions with a focus on meeting the IT needs of financial institutions in China."

Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp 13F Filing, Q4 2008

This is the 4th Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings preface.

This week, turning the focus to global macro funds, we'll be checking in on Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp. Do note that global macro funds are typically not equity focused funds. While they do indeed have equity exposure, the majority of their holdings are in other markets. So, we mainly track them to check in on their sector exposure to see what types of global macro themes they may be investing in. This 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. Global macro funds seek to find investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. But, they are only required to disclose equity holdings.

Paul Tudor Jones comes from the group of "offspring" of the legendary Commodities Corporation. Tudor Jones emerged as a successful offspring along with fellow great macro traders Bruce Kovner (Caxton Associates) and Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management). Taken from Wikipedia, the bio of PTJ is as follows: "In 1980 he founded Tudor Investment Corporation which is today a leading asset management firm headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Tudor Group, which consists of Tudor Investment Corporation and its affiliates, is involved in active trading, investing and research in the global equity, venture capital, debt, currency and commodity markets. One of Jones' earliest and major successes was predicting Black Monday in 1987, tripling his money during the event due to large short positions. Jones uses a global macro strategy when trading in some of his funds. This strategy can be seen in the 1987 PBS film "TRADER: The Documentary". The film shows Mr. Jones as a young man predicting the 1987 crash. Jones' firm currently manages$17.7 billion (as of June 1, 2007). Their investment capabilities are broad and diverse, including global macro trading, fundamental equity investing in the U.S. and Europe, emerging markets, venture capital, commodities, event driven strategies and technical trading systems." So, as you can see, PTJ is quite an accomplished gentleman, earning him the title of THE macro trader.

If you want to hear some insightful thoughts from Tudor Jones himself, head over to our post on Hedge Fund manager interviews or our post on quotes from PTJ. We should note that in the past, Tudor's equity portion of their portfolio has been run by James Pallotta in Tudor's Raptor fund. But, Pallotta recently left Tudor to start his own hedge fund. So, we've started to cover Pallotta's new Raptor Capital Management, and we will also continue to track Tudor. Pallotta was essentially responsible for the great track record at Tudor, so that's why we continue to track his 'spun-off/new' venture. We'll track Tudor simply because they have some of the greatest minds in the macro game. And, that's why we track macro funds in the first place: to monitor their sector exposure to pick up any possible macro themes they might be playing.

In terms of recent activity, Tudor has been pretty busy. They earlier filed numerous 13G's with the SEC, amending a bunch of their holdings. Additionally, we just learned that they will be starting a new Momentum Fund. They still of course have their main flagship BVI Global fund that finished 2008 -4.5% as noted in our 2008 hedge fund performance numbers. Keep in mind that as of right now, Tudor has only a miniscule amount of their overall portfolio allocated to equities. They are a multi-billion dollar firm and only have equity exposure of a few hundred million, as detailed below.

The following were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of December 31st, 2008 as filed with the SEC. We have not detailed the changes to every single position in this update, but we have covered all the major moves. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Some New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
Kraft (KFT)
Genentech (DNA)
Prudential (PRU)
Harris (HRS)
Amylin (AMLN)
Monsanto (MON)
Metlife (MET)
Semiconductor Holdrs (SMH)
State Street (STT)
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A)
CIT Group (CIT)
Mastercard (MA)
Blackrock (BLK)
Teva (TEVA)
Vertex Pharma (VRTX)
Wendys (WEN)
Cigna (CI)
Citigroup (C)
Devon Energy (DVN)
Corning (GLW)
SLM (SLM)
Select Sector Industrial (XLI)
Market Vectors Agribusiness (MOO)
Sandisk (SNDK)
Legg Mason (LM)
Agilent (A)
US Steel (X)
Potash (POT)
Och Ziff (OZM)
Onyx Pharma (ONXX)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
Select Sector Energy (XLE): Increased by 165%
Select Sector Healthcare (XLV): Increased by 137%
Dell (DELL): Increased by 61%
Select Sector Financial (XLF): Increased position by 57%
Hartford Financial (HIG): Increased by 31%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
Activision Blizzard (ATVI): Reduced by 95%
Invesco (IVZ): Reduced by 92%
Coach (COH): Reduced by 61%
Wyeth (WYE): Reduced by 31%
3Com (COMS): Reduced by 26%
Ishares Emerging Markets (EEM): Reduced by 18.5%
Select Sector Technology (XLK): Reduced by 13.6%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)
Willis Group (WSH)
NBTY (NTY)
Select Sector Materials (XLB)
Jamba (JMBA)
Tenet (THC)
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR)
Ico Global (ICOG)
Viacom (VIA-B)
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
Theravance (THRX)
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
RCN (RCNI) Calls
Accenture (ACN)
Pfizer (PFE)
Select Sector Consumer Staples (XLP)
Ishares China (FXI)
Cisco (CSCO)
Macrovision (MVSN)
Terrestar (TSTR)
Fomento Economico (FMX)
Ishares S. Korea (EWY)
Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN)
Fibertower (FTWR)
Fidelity Info (FIS)
KBW Bank ETF (KBE)
Heinz (HNZ)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Ishares Japan (EWJ)
Plains Exploration (PXP)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. Kraft Foods (KFT): 9.83% of portfolio
2. Progenics Pharma (PGNX): 6.97% of portfolio
3. Genentech (DNA): 5.88% of portfolio
4. Prudential Financial (PRU): 4.98% of portfolio
5. Harris Corp (HRS): 4.86% of portfolio
6. Amylin Pharma (AMLN): 4.81% of portfolio
7. Wyeth (WYE): 4.53% of portfolio
8. Monsanto (MON): 3.73% of portfolio
9. Metlife (MET): 3.59% of portfolio
10. Semiconductor Holdrs (SMH): 3.54% of portfolio
11. State Street (STT): 3.29% of portfolio
12. Mako Surgical (MAKO): 3.16% of portfolio
13. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): 2.88% of portfolio
14. Select Sector Technology (XLK): 2.56% of portfolio
15. CIT Group (CIT): 2.47% of portfolio
16. Select Sector Financial (XLF): 1.87% of portfolio
17. Mastercard (MA): 1.72% of portfolio
18. Blackrock (BLK): 1.7% of portfolio
19. Select Sector Energy (XLE): 1.69% of portfolio
20. Taleo Corporation (TLEO): 1.68% of portfolio

Last quarter, Tudor didn't have a large percentage of their assets in equity markets. And, this quarter, that trend continued. Assets from the collective long US equity, options, and note holdings were $452 million last quarter and were $334 million this quarter. As we mentioned in the beginning, due to their global macro nature, they are invested in all kinds of markets. And, more often than not, equity exposure takes a backseat to currencies, commodities, futures, and the like. But, at the same time, they had been ratcheting down their equity exposure as things started to deteriorate in the stock market, a wise move. This is one major advantage of the global macro strategy. They are nimble and move wherever they see opportunity. This is just one of many funds in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. We've already covered Paulson & Co (John Paulson), Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, George Soros, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, David Stemerman's Conatus Capital, James Pallotta's Raptor Capital Management, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, and Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates. Look for our updates as we will be covering a new fund each day.

David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital Files 13G's on Jones Apparel (JNY) & Harman (HAR)

In 2 separate 13G filings made with the SEC, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital has disclosed:

• A 5.1% ownership stake in Harman (HAR) with 2,960,060 shares beneficially owned
• A 5.5% ownership stake in Jones Apparel (JNY) with 4,657,300 shares
  

These are both brand new positions, as neither were present in their latest 13F filing, as noted in Greenlight's portfolio. The Harman filing was made due to activity on March 4th, 2009, while the Jones activity was the following day. Einhorn has been pretty busy adding various holdings over the past few months, including Gold and Gold Miners, among other things.

Greenlight Capital is a $6 billion fund ran by David Einhorn that specializes in spin-offs and value investing and has seen annual returns of over 20%. Einhorn's name has been popping up in the media a lot over the past year, as he talked about his well documented short position in Lehman Brothers (LEH). And, while that position paid off handsomely for him, it barely offset losses he experienced from other positions. He was caught in the massive Volkswagen short squeeze as he detailed in one of his latest investor letters. Einhorn has also recently detailed the saga between his fund and Allied Capital, a company he shorted, in his book Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Story. It gives you an inside perspective as to how Greenlight constructs and researches their investment theses and we highly recommend it. Greenlight approaches things by identifying mispricings in the markets and going from there.

Taken from Google Finance,

Jones Apparel is "a designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded apparel, footwear and accessories. The Company markets its products to the consumers, through a chain of specialty retail and stores and through the e-commerce Web sites."

Harman is "engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of high-fidelity audio products and electronic systems. The Company has developed, both internally and through a series of acquisitions, a range of product offerings. It operates in three segments: Automotive, Consumer and Professional."

Hedge Fund Lone Pine Capital Files 13G on Strayer Education (STRA)

In a 13G filing with the SEC due to activity on March 6th, 2009, Lone Pine Capital has disclosed a 5.1% ownership stake in Strayer Education (STRA) with 714,764 shares beneficially owned. This is a brand new position for Stephen Mandel's hedge fund, as they previously did not show a stake when we covered their portfolio in its entirety a few weeks ago. This is yet another brand new position for them, as they also recently filed a 13G on their new position in Ctrip.com (CTRP).

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, Strayer is "a post-secondary education services corporation. The Company offers a variety of academic programs through its wholly owned subsidiary, Strayer University, Inc., both in classroom courses and online via the Internet. The Strayer University is an institution of higher learning that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business administration, accounting, information technology, education and public administration at 65 campuses."

Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates 13F Filing: Q4 2008

This is the 4th Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings preface.

This week, turning the focus to global macro funds, we'll be checking in on Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates. Do note that global macro funds are typically not equity focused funds. While they do indeed have equity exposure, the majority of their holdings are in other markets. So, we mainly check in on their sector exposure to see what types of global macro themes they may be investing in. This $9 billion firm is one of many global macro oriented funds which we cover. This 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. Global macro funds seek to find investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. But, they are only required to disclose equity holdings.

Kovner comes from the group of "offspring" of the legendary Commodities Corp. Kovner emerged as a successful offspring along with fellow great macro traders Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp), and Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management). If you want to hear some insightful thoughts from Bruce Kovner himself, head over to our post on Hedge Fund manager interviews. Taken from Wikipedia, Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." Kovner is also featured in Jack Schwager's book, Market Wizards. Caxton's Global Investments fund saw Caxton's net returns of 13% (after performance fees), as noted in our year-end performance numbers post. Kovner last year told Alpha magazine that, "One of the most important skills you need is to consistently reinvent where you put resources. You must seek out undiscovered information." His hedge fund is named after the first printer of books in English from the fifteenth century.

The following were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of December 31st, 2008 as filed with the SEC. We have not detailed the changes to every single position in this update, but we have covered all the major moves. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Some New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
WR Berkley (WRB)
Ecolab (ECL)
Western Union (WU)
McDonalds (MCD)
Kraft (KFT)
Northern Trust (NTRS)
Urban Outfitters (URBN)
Oil Service ETF (OIH)
Liberty Media (LMDIA)
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY)
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)
Devon Energy (DVN)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Potash (POT)
American Express (AXP)
Ambev (ABV)
KBW Bank ETF (KBE)
Teva Pharma (TEVA)
United States Steel (X)
Morgan Stanley (MS)
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR)
Noble (NE)
Ishares Brazil ETF (EWZ)
CF Industries (CF)
Unibanco (UBB)
Ishares Mexico ETF (EWW)
Weyerhaeuser (WY)
Fluor (FLR)
Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
Amgen (AMGN): Increased position by 285%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY): Increased position by 71%
General Mills (GIS): Increased position by 17.8%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Reduced position by 92%
Crown Holdings (CCK): Reduced position by 69%
Gilead (GILD): Reduced position by 67%
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): Reduced position by 67%
DirecTV (DTV): Reduced position by 65%
Lorillard (LO): Reduced position by 63%
Total (TOT): Reduced position by 56%
Wells Fargo (WFC): Reduced position by 53.7%
Ferro (FOE): Reduced position by 51%
Raytheon (RTN): Reduced position by 50.5%
Medco Health (MHS): Reduced position by 49%
Apollo Group (APOL): Reduced position by 47%
Google (GOOG): Reduced position by 47%
Netease (NTES): Reduced position by 47%
Waste Management (WMI): Reduced position by 46.4%
XTO Energy (XTO): Reduced position by 42%
Colgate Palmolive (CL): Reduced position by 38.9%
Walmart (WMT): Reduced position by 37%
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): Reduced position by 36%
Priceline (PCLN): Reduced position by 34.5%
Lazard (LAX): Reduced position by 30%
WR Grace (GRA): Reduced position by 27.6%
Qualcomm (QCOM): Reduced position by 26%
Visa (V): Reduced position by 22.8%
Philip Morris Intl (PM): Reduced position by 12%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Great Atlantic (GAP)
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR-A)
RTI (RTI)
Barr Pharma (BRL)
Home Depot (HD)
Trinity Industries (TRN)
Reinsurance Group (RGA-B)
Precision Castparts (PCP)
Greenfield Online (inactive)
Kohls (KSS)
Mohawk Industries (MHK)
Rockwood (ROC)
Goldman Sachs (GS)
Lennar (LEN)
Fastenal (FAST)
Bucyrus (BUCY)
NDS (NNDS)
Titanium Metals (TIE)
Schlumberger (SLB)
Tercica (TRCA)
Ariba (ARBA)
Symantec (SYMC)
Estee Lauder (EL)
Scripps Networks (SNI)
Altria (MO)
Campbell Soup (CPB)
Ikon Office (IKN)
Grey Wolf (GW)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. Service Corp (SCI): 4.37% of portfolio
2. General Mills (GIS): 4.14% of portfolio
3. Philip Morris (PM): 3.66% of portfolio
4. Walmart (WMT): 3% of portfolio
5. Occidental Petroleum (OXY): 2.6% of portfolio
6. Raytheon (RTN): 2.25% of portfolio
7. XTO Energy (XTO): 2.1% of portfolio
8. WR Berkley (WRB): 1.9% of portfolio
9. Priceline (PCLN): 1.85% of portfolio
10. Hewlett Packard (HPQ): 1.84% of portfolio
11. Wells Fargo (WFC): 1.84% of portfolio
12. Vivus (VVUS): 1.78% of portfolio
13. Colgate Palmolive (CL): 1.73% of portfolio
14. Medco Health (MHS): 1.64% of portfolio
15. Ecolab (ECL): 1.63% of portfolio
16. Waste Management (WMI): 1.57% of portfolio
17. Apollo Group (APOL): 1.53% of portfolio
18. Western Union (WU): 1.49% of portfolio
19. McDonalds (MCD): 1.49% of portfolio
20. Amgen (AMGN): 1.46% of portfolio

Caxton was moving out of equities in a big way this past quarter. Assets from the collective long US equity, options, and note holdings were $2.2 billion last quarter and were $770 million this quarter. That's really the only major move worth noting... the fact that they were selling out of so many things. Overall, they have a pretty blue-chip littered portfolio. They're playing it 'safe' considering their holdings and the fact that they have so little equity exposure now. This is just one of many funds in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. We've already covered Paulson & Co (John Paulson), Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, George Soros, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, David Stemerman's Conatus Capital, James Pallotta's Raptor Capital Management, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, and John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital. Look for our updates as we will be covering a new fund each day.

Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital Files 13G on Ctrip.com (CTRP)

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."

Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital Files 13G on Cardiovascular Systems (CSII)

In a recent 13G filing with the SEC, hedge fund Maverick Capital has disclosed a 16.2% stake in Cardiovascular Systems (CSII) with 2,228,441 aggregate amount beneficially owned. This is a new position for them, as they did not own it when we covered their portfolio just last week.

If you're unfamiliar with Maverick, here's their background: Lee Ainslie started Maverick Capital back in 1993 with $38 million. Nowadays, the fund is worth $4 billion. Ainslie, like many of the other fund managers we've profiled, has a background rooted in learning from legendary great Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. These proteges (nicknamed 'Tiger Cubs') learned from the best and have had great success running their own funds. Some of the other Tiger Cubs include Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital and Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global. Maverick's strategy is straight up stock picking, both long and short. While they focus on both the long and short sides of the book, they do not employ pairs trades.

They try to hedge their positions like the true definition of a hedge fund. Maverick uses a value approach (obviously learned from Julian) and one of their most popular metrics is finding companies and comparing their enterprise value to sustainable free cash flow. Their Maverick Fund finished -26.2% for 2008, as noted in our year-end hedge fund performance numbers post.

Taken from Google Finance,

Cardiovascular Systems is "a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, in-licensing and commercializing anti-infective products. The Company had been developing its product candidate REP3123, an investigational narrow-spectrum antibacterial agent for the treatment of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) bacteria and C. difficile infection and its other anti-infective programs based on its bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication inhibition technology."