market folly

Jay Petschek and Steve Major's hedge fund Corsair Capital outline how their portfolio has performed in their third quarter letter. They pinpoint the notion that fear has been driving markets for the past few months. Instead of focusing on hindsight, they look to what investors should be doing today.

Simply put, Corsair does not believe this is a repeat of 2008. They point to better liquidity, solid corporate balance sheets, and insider buying. While they acknowledge that things are not "rosy," they wonder if all the negativity is now priced in the market.

Their letter goes on to talk about their positions in Globe Specialty Metals (GSM), Lyondell Basell (LYB), Neo-Material Technologies (TSE:NEM), Reader's Digest (RDA), and TNS (TNS). They also mention they sold their position in Keystone Industries (KYCN) in a negotiated transaction.

For some of the hedge fund's latest investments, we posted Corsair's investment thesis on Shaw Group (SHAW).

Embedded below is Corsair's letter (email readers click the link to come read it):




As noted in our September hedge fund performance numbers update, Corsair was -9.5% for the year at the end of September but has seen 14.2% annualized returns since inception in 1991.