market folly

In a recent filing with the SEC, Ken Griffin's hedge fund firm Citadel Investment Group has updated their stake in Leap Wireless (LEAP). In a 13G filed due to activity on March 23rd, 2010, we see that Citadel now shows a 5.5% ownership stake in LEAP with 4,246,177 shares. This is an increase in their position as they previously held 1.6 million shares back on December 31st, 2009. This means they've increased their position size by over 160% in the past three months.

This increase is intriguing mainly because we've seen a lot of hedge fund interest in wireless plays as of late. Philip Falcone's hedge fund Harbinger Capital recently announced plans for a 4G wireless network and in the fourth quarter we noticed they added a large position in Sprint (S). Additionally, Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn has a potential catalyst play with his position in Vodafone (VOD). So, we'll have to see what Ken Griffin's firm has in store for this Leap Wireless position. Many analysts and investors have long pondered whether or not LEAP is a takeover/merger target within the wireless provider space but obviously that has yet to materialize.

To learn more about Citadel, we recommend checking out Scott Patterson's new book The Quants as Ken Griffin is featured in it. We also recently noted that Ken Griffin landed on Forbes' billionaire list as well.

Taken from Google Finance, Leap Wireless is "is a wireless communications carrier that offers digital wireless services in the United States under the Cricket brand. Its Cricket service offerings provide customers with unlimited wireless services for a flat rate without requiring a fixed-term contract or a credit check."