What We're Reading ~ Hedge Fund Links 10/24/14

Paul Tudor Jones says commodities will be ugly until 2020 [Business Insider]

Investors add $18b to hedge funds in Q3 [FINalternatives]

On hedge funds' use of social media [ValueWalk]

A look at Paulson & Co's recent activity [ii alpha]

Children's Investment Fund drops Coal India campaign & sells stake [FT]

Bill Ackman targets stake in US company [Bloomberg]

Lukewarm reaction to corporate splits ding hedge funds [WSJ]

Hedge fund favorites tumble with average stock loss 16% [Bloomberg]

Misery widespread at hedge funds [WSJ]

Paulson urges Allergan to consider buying Shire [Dealbook]

Top pension funds probed for hedge fund use [Bloomberg]

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 10/23/14

On the mantra that interest rates have to rise [Aleph Blog]

Why market volatility matters: it makes investors do stupid things [Abnormal Returns]

A look at Hertz Global [Seventeen Mile]

On how much Bank of America is actually making [Bloomberg View]

Ocwen still under scrutiny from regulators [Bloomberg]

Some companies should stop giving forecasts [Herb Greenberg]

How should investors view cash? [Vanguard]

Profile of Jim Koch, the head of Sam Adams [Atlantic]

Enhancing financial stability by improving culture in FinServices industry [NY Fed]

Has IBM been utilizing their cash poorly? [Dealbook]

Full Vanity Fair interview with Apple's Jony Ive [Apple Insider]

What makes a great investor from a venture capital perspective [Product Hunt]

Third Point's Q3 Letter: Long Amgen, eBay & Alibaba, Exited Sony

Dan Loeb's hedge fund firm Third Point is out with its third quarter letter.  In it, the firm reveals that they've added to their stake in Amgen (AMGN), established a sizable new position in eBay (EBAY), and have a significant direct investment in the newly public Alibaba (BABA). 

Additionally, they've exited their long of Sony.  They also reduced or exited positions in AIG, Hertz, Softbank, LNG.

Then, with the recent market volatility, they lifted some hedges and added back to positions that they had previously sold at higher levels.  Third Point writes, "Although consensus has shifted to lower growth, slower inflation, modest rates, and continued monetary expansion, we think the markets will resume an overall upward trajectory in the US through year-end."

Embedded below is Third Point's Q3 letter where they specifically talk about AMGN, EBAY, BABA and SNE:



You can download a .pdf copy here.

Corvex Capital's Presentation on Crown Castle (CCI)

At the Robin Hood Investors Conference the past few days, Keith Meister of Corvex Capital sat down with CNBC to talk about his positions.

He owns almost $1 billion worth of Crown Castle International (CCI), the wireless tower operator.  He says it's the best combination of real estate and telco.  He likes their fixed cashflow and that they benefit from the big

He says the problem with CCI is they need to payout cash to shareholders by ramping up a dividend and growing that dividend at 10% a year.

Meister also noted that he's a passive shareholder of Allergan (AGN) and likes being aligned with Bill Ackman's Pershing Square.  Simply put, he wants AGN to sell their company for the highest price possible.


Embedded below is the video of Meister's interview at Robin Hood:



As well as Meister's interview on Allergan:





Additionally, here's Corvex's presentations on CCI via embedded slideshows below:

Letter to CCI Shareholders:




CCI Presentation:




Robin Hood CCI Presentation:




You can download the .pdf's here.

David Einhorn: Seeing Buying Opportunities Past Few Weeks

At the Robin Hood Investors Conference this week, Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn sat down with CNBC to talk markets.  He said he's seeing a lot of opportunities now and has bought "a bunch of things" the past couple of weeks.

Einhorn says he's not concerned with the day-to-day swings of the market as that's not his circle of competence.  He mentioned he hasn't been as long as some other people and has used the recent weakness to add to positions/establish new ones.

He continues to like Apple (AAPL), saying it trades at 10x next year's earnings net of cash.  The Greenlight founder also continues to be short AthenaHealth (ATHN).

Lastly, he likes SunEdison (SUNE) and thinks it can head to $32 per share (just under $19 now), arguing that it's a simple thesis but a complicated financial story since they own interests in various companies.


Embedded below are the videos of Einhorn's interview at Robin Hood:


Video 1




Video 2




Video 3




Video 4

Robin Hood Investors Conference 2014: Summary of Stock Picks

The 2014 Robin Hood Conference took place over the past two days in New York where hedge fund managers presented their latest investment ideas to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation which fights poverty.  Julia La Roche of Business Insider tweeted tidbits from the event and here's an aggregation of them all.


Stock Picks From Robin Hood Investors Conference 2014


David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital): long SunEdison (SUNE), Greek banks like Alpha and Piraeus (via warrants).  Short French debt.

David Tepper (Appaloosa Management): short the Euro.

Larry Robbins (Glenview Capital): long Community Health (CYH), Realogy (RLGY), VCA (WOOF), Fidelity National Financial (FNF)

Dan Loeb (Third Point): long Amgen (AMGN) and has talked to management

Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp): Thinks commodities will be a mess until 2020, likes US stocks.

Jim Chanos (Kynikos Associates): Short Petrobras

Scott Ferguson (Sachem Head): Long Comcast (CMCSA).  He previously worked at Ackman's Pershing Square.

Keith Meister (Corvex Capital): Long Crown Castle International (CCI), also long Allergan (AGN).

Zach Schreiber (PointState Capital): ex-Duquesne guy, used to work with Stan Druckenmiller.  Long Cheniere Energy (LNG).

Nehal Chopra (Tiger Ratan Capital): long Charter Communications (CHTR)

Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures): Venture Capital, not equities but insinuated he'd be short Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), and eBay (EBAY).

Tom Wagner (Knighthead Capital): long American Airlines (AAL)

Matthew Sidman (Three Bays Capital): long Churchill Downs (CHDN)

Ricky Sandler (Eminence Capital): long Telefonica Brasil (VIV) and eBay (EBAY)

Traci Lerner (Chesapeake Partners): long American Airlines (AAL), Gencorp (GY) and Eagle Materials (EXP)

Whitney Tilson (Kase Capital): long Sodastream (SODA) and Micron (MU).  Short Lumber Liquidators (LL) and Exact Sciences (EXAS)

Ivy Zelman (Zelman Associates): long homebuilders, Lennar (LEN), Pulte (PHM), Toll (TOL), as well as Fortune Home & Security (FBHS) and Mohawk (MHK).

Bill Eigen (JPMorgan): Short bonds to play volatility

Nathaniel August (Mangrove Partners): Short Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), long Fortress Investment Group (FIG)

Oleg Nodelman (EcoR1 Capital): long Clovis (CLVS)

Amish Mehta (SQN Investors): long Blucora (BCOR)

Huge Discount to the 3-Day Family Office Super Summit in Miami for Our Readers

MarketFolly has secured 7 tickets at a heavily discounted price to next month's Family Office Super Summit in Miami on November 11-13, 2014.  This 3-day conference features 40+ family office executives presenting on topics such as fund manager selection, building a direct investment program, and asset allocation models.  This is a rare opportunity to hear from the CIOs that manage capital for the world's wealthiest families, all while networking in beautiful Miami, Florida.

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Family Office Super Summit Speakers List

• Michael Connor, Consolidated Investment Group 
• Matthew McCarthy, Nottingham & Spirk 
• Jonathan Bergman, TAG Associates 
• Elliot Dornbusch, CV Advisors 
• Al Bhatt, Coral Gables Trust 
• Paul Vogel, Argos Partners 
• Richard Joynt, Bedell Family Office 
• John Jonson, Lyrical Partners 
• Christian Zabbal, Black Coral Capital 
• David Rosen, Pritzker Group 
• David Fisher, Bentley Capital 
• Gary Domoracki, Ten Mountain Capital 
• Jimmy Hickey, RiverRock Capital 
• Candice Beaumont, L Investments 
• Ronald Macleod, Baciu Family Capital 
• Timothy Smith, Petro Lucrum 
• Mauricio Gruener, GFG Capital 
• Mark Renz, Barclay Breland Family Office 
• Cliff Oberlin, Oberlin Wealth Partners 
• Roman Khlupin, W Family Office 
• Declan Ramsaran, Redwood Wealth Canada 
• William Kidd, KIDD & Company 
• Camilo Nino, AKRO Group 
• James Cassel, Cassel Salpeter & Co. 
• Blakely Page, Spouting Rock Capital 
• Ira Perlmuter, T5 Equity Partners  
• Jorge Carstensen, Helvetica 1890 
• Santiago Ulloa, WE Family Office 
• Abe Tatar, The Hysek Group 
• Michael Weinberg, MOW & AYW 
• Stuart Dunn, Holdun Investment Partners 
• Christian Jagodzinski, Desdemona Capital 
• Gregory Spick, UPS Investments 
• Anthony Ritossa, Ritossa Olive Oil & Family Office 
• Richard Stone, Stone Family Office 
• Scott Freund, Family Office Research 
• Henley Smith, Commonwealth Asset Management 
• Paul de Sousa, BMG, Inc. 
• Rodolfo Paiz, The Guayacan Group 
• Christina Dikareva, Single Family Office (Private) 
• Logan Powell, Copper Beech Capital 
• Daniel Shakhani, RDS Capital 
• Sergio Pedro, Private Family Office 
• Greg Curtis, Greycourt & Co. 
• Andrew Mehalko, AM Global Family Investment Office 
• Harris Fried, Fried Family Office 
• Peter Marquardt, The Leo Group 
• Leah Zveglich, Aster Family Advisors 
• Richard C. Wilson, Billionaire Family Office 
• Jesse Shemesh, Kite & Key Realty Group 
• Thomas Handler, Handler Thayer

Conference Details: http://WilsonConferences.com/Super

Where: JW Marriott of Miami in Brickell ($200 discounted rooms available)

When: November 11-13, 2014

Why: Learn from top family office investors, form new family office relationships, and access three days of family office insights covering a range of institutional investing topics.


Limited Time Discount For Market Folly Readers

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Richard C. Wilson
(212) 729-5067
Wilson Conferences
Family Offices Group Association
3300 NW 185h Avenue Suite #108
Portland, Oregon 97229
Team@WilsonConferences.com
http://WilsonConferences.com/Super

The New House of Money: Jim Chanos' Interview With Steven Drobny

Steven Drobny has released a chapter from his new book, The New House of Money. Chapter 2, The Biggest Short, features an interview with short seller Jim Chanos of hedge fund Kynikos Associates.

Embedded below is the chapter from The New House of Money:



You can find out more about the book here.

Bridger Capital Increases Position in The Medicines Company

Roberto Mignone's hedge fund firm Bridger Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding their stake in The Medicines Company (MDCO).  Per the filing, Bridger now owns 5.1% of MDCO with over 3.3 million shares.

This means they've boosted their stake by over 1.44 million shares since the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on October 8th.

You can view additional portfolio activity from Bridger here.

Per Google Finance, Medicines Co is "a pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of critical care patients through the delivery of medicines to the global hospital marketplace. The Company has three marketed products: Angiomax(bivalirudin), Cleviprex (clevidipine butyrate) injectable emulsion and its ready-to-use formulation of Argatroban. It also has a pipeline of acute and intensive care hospital products in development, including three late-stage development product candidates, cangrelor, oritavancin and MDCO-157, and two early stage development product candidates, MDCO-2010 and MDCO-216. All of its acute care generic products are injectable products."

JANA Partners Ramps Up Hertz Stake, Files 13D

Barry Rosenstein's hedge fund firm JANA Partners has filed a 13D with the SEC regarding their stake in Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ).  Per the filing, JANA now owns 7% of HTZ with over 32 million shares (including options to purchase 11.37 million shares).

They've increased their position size by over 26.1 million shares since the end of the second quarter.  The filing was required due to portfolio activity on October 10th and notes that while they were our purchasing shares in mid-October around $21.67, they also acquired a lot of shares upon the exercise of options.

JANA's 13D indicates JANA has had (and may continue to have) discussions with the board of directors regarding management succession and board composition.

They're not the only hedge fund who has been intrigued by shares of HTZ as they've fallen.  Last week we pointed out that Glenview Capital's Larry Robbins was positive on car rental companies (specifically HTZ and Avis Car Budget (CAR)).

Hertz has been somewhat of a hedge fund hotel and and lot of investors have come and gone.  As a result, shares have been more volatile.  Clearly, JANA has seen this volatility as opportunity.

JANA has been actively trading recently and we highlighted how they exited their QEP Resources stake and added to their Walgreen position.

Per Google Finance, Hertz is "its operating company and a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Hertz Investors, Inc., which is wholly owned by Hertz Holdings. Its business operates in two segments: rental and leasing of cars, crossovers and light trucks (car rental), and rental of industrial, construction and material handling equipment (equipment rental). In its equipment rental business segment, it rents equipment through approximately 340 branches in the United States, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, China and Saudi Arabia, as well as through its international licensees."