market folly

George Soros' investment firm Soros Fund Management this afternoon filed a 13G with the SEC disclosing a position in Comverse Technology (CMVT). Due to portfolio activity on July 7th, 2010, Soros now shows a 5.14% ownership stake in the company with 10,381,566 shares.

While they did not previously show a position in this name back when we examined Soros Fund Management's portfolio, this actually might not be a new position for them. Shares of Comverse are traded on the pink sheets and those securities typically aren't required to be disclosed in quarterly portfolio updates. All we know is that the hedge fund recently crossed the 5% ownership stake threshold that requires investment firms to file a 13G with the SEC. The fact is: Soros has been adding to this position. The only question that remains is whether it's a brand new position or a smaller previously existing one.

George Soros is only slightly involved with the hedge fund these days as his son Robert runs the flagship Quantum Endowment. For 2009, Soros' fund was up 28% as detailed in our hedge fund performances post. For thoughts from George Soros, check out his most recent book, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means. And for those of you looking for a primer on finance, Soros has penned one of those as well: The Alchemy of Finance.

Taken from Google Finance, Comverse Technology is "a provider of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication and billing services. The Company’s Total Communication portfolio includes value-added messaging, personalized data and content-based services, prepaid, postpaid and converged billing and Internet protocol (IP) communications".

You can find the rest of his investments via George Soros' portfolio.