market folly

We're posting up notes from the Ira Sohn Conference.  Pershing Square's Bill Ackman gave a presentation on J.C. Penney (JCP).

Best ideas are most contrarian. Like buying GGP, right before bankruptcy. Short AAA stocks is most contrarian. Shorted MBIA.  Long JCP pitch again. Same JCP thesis, same story Ron Johnson said last night.

Says comps worse than expected but still moving ahead with the turnaround. Says customer is beginning to understand the process.  He focuses on the cost savings; JCP spends 31% on SG&A, Kohl's (KSS) only about 21%. "Not a lean company trying to cut costs, they are running fat."

At JCP, employees used Netflix and consumed 20% of corporate bandwidth! Spending 6% of Rev on ads, KSS around 4.5%. Bloated inventory, etc, etc.

We've also posted up Bill Ackman's presentation on Burger King for those interested.


P.S. - Don't miss other presentations from David Einhorn, John Paulson, Larry Robbins & more: notes from Ira Sohn Conference 2012.