What We're Reading ~ Hedge Fund Links 1/9/14

Love him or hate him, Bill Ackman now runs the top hedge fund [Bloomberg]

Meet the most powerful woman in hedge funds [CNBC]

ValueAct takes swipe at MSCI [FT]

Jeff Gundlach: I just hope the Fed thinks carefully about what it's doing [FUW]

Kyle Bass going after big pharma [Business Insider]

3G Capital eyes next targets [WSJ]

Mohnish Pabrai: I have no original ideas, I am a 100% cloner [Rakesh Jhunjhunwala]

Permanent capital: perpetual cash machines [FT]

Top hedge fund trends for 2015 [FINalternatives]

Tiger Global funds Glassdoor [Glassdoor]

Is something a 'failure' if other successes come from it? [Eddie Lampert]

Tom Brown on Ocwen's abominable deal with New York regulators [Bank Stocks]

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 1/7/14

The simple concept of intrinsic value [Base Hit Investing]

Distinguishing skill from luck [Economist]

The 2015 sleeper ideas list: trends, stocks & private companies [Forbes]

The 2015 buy list [Crossing Wall Street]

The danger of 1-year performance numbers [Wealth of Common Sense]

The best and worst investments they ever made [WSJ]

Investing advice for my son [Clear Eyes Investing]

A look at the upcoming Shake Shack IPO [Brooklyn Investor]

What happened when Marissa Mayer tried to be Steve Jobs [NYTimes]

China's video hosting sites see boom times [FT]

WaMu's $600m private rebirth [Seeking Alpha]

The conventional wisdom on oil is always wrong [Five Thirty Eight]

Why gas feels cheap and why it's not historically [WSJ]

Endangered species: young US entrepreneurs [WSJ]

ESPN without cable? For $20 it's a reality [Atlantic]

CEO's predictions on what's next in wireless [T-Mobile]

The economics (and nostalgia) of dead malls [NYTimes]

Viking Global Reduces Illumina, Mohawk Industries Stakes

Andreas Halvorsen's hedge fund Viking Global has filed two separate 13G's with the SEC regarding some of their positions.


Reduces Illumina Stake

First, Viking has disclosed they now own 5.8% of Illumina (ILMN) with over 8.18 million shares.  This is a decrease of 461,081 shares since the end of the third quarter.  The filing was made due to portfolio activity on January 2nd.

Per Google Finance, Illumina is "a developer and manufacturer of life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company is organized in two business segments: Life Sciences and Diagnostics. Its Life Sciences business unit includes all products and services related to the research market, namely the product lines based on its sequencing, BeadArray, VeraCode, and real-time PCR technologies. Its Diagnostics business unit focuses on molecular diagnostics. Its customers include genomic research centers, academic institutions, government laboratories, and clinical research organizations, as well as pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrigenomics, and consumer genomics companies."









Cuts Mohawk Industries Position

Second, the hedge fund firm has revealed they own 5.5% of Mohawk Industries (MHK) with over 4 million shares.  They've reduced their position by over 1.63 million shares since the end of the third quarter.  The filing was required due to activity on January 2nd.

Per Google Finance, Mohawk Industries is "a flooring manufacturer. The Company's manufacturing and distribution processes provide carpet, rugs, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone and vinyl flooring. The Company's key brands include American Olean, Bigelow, Daltile, Durkan, Karastan, Kerama Marazzi, Lees, Marazzi, Mohawk, Pergo, Quick-Step and Unilin. The Company has three reporting segments: the Carpet segment, the Ceramic segment and the Laminate and Wood segment. The Carpet segment designs, manufactures, sources, distributes and markets its carpet and rug products. The Carpet segment also markets and distributes ceramic tile, laminate, hardwood, resilient floor covering, carpet pad and flooring accessories. The Ceramic segment designs, manufactures, sources, distributes and markets ceramic tile, porcelain tile and natural stone products. The Laminate and Wood segment designs, manufactures, sources, licenses, distributes and markets laminate and hardwood flooring."

We've also highlighted some other recent portfolio activity from Viking Global here.

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