market folly

Dan Loeb's Third Point Offshore Fund finished April up 1.4% and is now up 10.5% for the year.  In their latest exposure report, we see a few holdings revealed, including positions in Japan Tobacco (a top winner last month) and Banco do Brasil SA (a top loser last month).  The former has been a large holding at Children's Investment Fund.

The other takeaway from April is that Third Point has listed International Paper (IP) as a top holding.  Loeb's firm outlined their thesis on IP in Third Point's Q1 letter and sized up the position in the first quarter.  But now we get some context as to how big of a position it is since it's now a top 5 holding.

The hedge fund originally started a position in this company in the fourth quarter of 2012 and at the end of December, this position was worth almost $60 million.  Since then, IP has run up from $38 to a high of $49 thus far this year so part of the position size could also be attributed to price appreciation.  We've also highlighted how fellow hedge fund Senator Investment Group added to their IP position as well.


Third Point's Top Positions

1. Yahoo! (YHOO)
2. Virgin Media (VMED)
3. American International Group (AIG)
4. International Paper (IP)
5. Ally Financial (multiple securities held)

Looking at their top holdings compared to last month, gold has fallen out of the list (most likely due to the fact that gold prices have fallen this year).

Third Point's net long equity exposure came in at 45.4% at the end of April.  This is largely unchanged compared to the month prior at 45.1% net long.

Dan Loeb was recently listed among the top 10 highest paid hedge fund managers of 2012.