Prominent Hedge Funds Short Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France KLM

Various short sale disclosures in European Union markets reveal that numerous prominent hedge funds are short shares of two European airlines: Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.F) and Air France-KLM (AF).

Regulatory rules require funds to publicly disclose when they have a net short position of 0.5% of shares or greater.


Hedge Funds Short Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Senator Investment Group: Net short 0.72% of shares as of July 16th.  This is up from a 0.64% position on July 15th and a 0.54% position on June 8th.

Marshall Wace: Net short 0.7% of shares as of July 22nd, 2015.  This is up from a 0.64% position on July 10th and a 0.55% position on June 19th.

Blue Ridge Capital: Net short 1.02% of shares as of June 18th, 2015.

AKO Capital: Net short 0.69% of shares as of June 29th, 2015.

Discovery Capital: Net short 0.61% as of July 1st.

Lone Pine Capital: Last reported a 0.94% net short position on April 30th, 2015.


Hedge Funds Short Air France-KLM

Blue Ridge Capital: Net short 0.92% of shares as of June 23rd, 2015, an increase from the 0.73% they were short just a day earlier.

Discovery Capital: Net short 0.77% of shares as of July 2nd, 2015.  Up from a 0.63% position on July 1st.

Tyrian Investments: Net short 0.42% of shares on July 1th, down from a net short position of 0.54% on March 5th, 2015.

Odey Asset Management: Net short 0.26% of shares as of July 17th.  This is a decrease from the 0.58% position they had on April 21st and the 1.32% stake they had on February 19th so they've definitely taken down exposure to the name.

AKO Capital: Their last disclosure was a net short of 0.7% of shares back on February 2nd, 2015.

Marshall Wace:  Their net short position size has fluctuated a lot over the past four months.  Their latest disclosure shows a net short of 3.11% as of July 7th.  Their short disclosures in the name go back to April 29th when they were short 2.65%.



You'll notice some overlap in funds on both airline shorts.  You'll also notice another commonality: a lot of 'Tiger Cub' hedge funds, or managers with ties to Tiger Management.

While these positions could either be hedges or alpha shorts, it's still interesting to get a look at the side of the portfolio that's normally quite secretive.

Stay tuned as we reveal more short positions next week.  We've already posted that Lone Pine is short Rolls Royce and Viking Global is short Peugeot. Also, Greenlight Capital is short ARM Holdings.

Greenlight Capital Short ARM Holdings

David Einhorn's hedge fund Greenlight Capital is short shares of ARM Holdings traded in the UK.  Per short selling disclosure rules, funds must publicly disclose when they are net short 0.5% of a company's shares or greater.

As of July 21st, Greenlight was net short 1.36% of ARM Holdings shares.  This is up from a 1.23% position on July 10th and a 1.11% net short position on July 8th, 2015.

Per Google Finance, ARM Holdings is "a United Kingdom-based company engaged in designing of microprocessors, physical intellectual property (IP) and related technology and software, and sale of development tools. The Company's offers products, such as 16/32/64-bit RISC microprocessors, data engines, graphics processors, digital libraries, embedded memories, peripherals, software and development tools, as well as analog functions and high-speed connectivity products. The Company's product offering includes microprocessor Cores, physical IP, development tools and support and maintenance services. ARM licenses and sells its technology and products to international electronics companies, which in turn manufacture, market and sell microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard processors (ASSPs) and microcontrollers (MCUs) based on ARM's technology to systems companies for incorporation into a variety of end products."

While this could be an alpha short, it could also potentially be a hedge to Greenlight's tech exposure, as they've been long names like Applied Materials (AMAT), Micron (MU), Apple (AAPL), ON Semiconductor (ON), and SunEdison (SUNE).

For more from this hedge fund, we've posted Greenlight's Q2 letter here and just yesterday highlighted a stock Greenlight's been buying recently.

To see other hedge fund short positions, click that link to scroll through the recent updates.

Hedge Fund Links ~ 7/24/15

Bridgewater flips view on China [WSJ]

Hedge funds gear up for another big short [WSJ]

Glenview's gamble on health law pays off big [WSJ]

A look at Lone Pine's recent performance [ii alpha]

Omega sees stocks rallying despite Fed [Reuters]

Lackluster Q2 cools off Eton Park [ii alpha]

Carl Icahn fuels criticism of bond ETFs [WSJ]

Women of The Street: Why Female Money Managers Generate Higher Returns [Jones]

Small is beautiful for hedge funds in a crisis, study finds [Bloomberg]

Blackstone champions hedge funds for the little guy [Reuters]

Lone Pine Capital Short Rolls Royce

Steve Mandel's hedge fund firm Lone Pine Capital has filed a regulatory disclosure in the UK regarding shares of Rolls Royce (RR.L), indicating they have a net short position. 


Lone Pine Short Rolls Royce

Lone Pine has disclosed they have a net short position to the tune of 0.59% of Rolls Royce shares.  This is a newly disclosed short position and the disclosure was triggered on July 10th, 2015.  Previously, they were short 0.35% of shares due to a filing on July 8th.

This comes only a few days after new CEO Warren East issued a profit warning, cut guidance, and noted that next year's results would also be weaker than expected.  Prior to joining Rolls, East was the CEO at ARM Holdings.  This is the fourth time Rolls has issued a warning since last early year.  The company also canceled its existing share buyback.

The company's marine division has been impacted by lower oil prices.  Additionally, Rolls Royce said its main segment, civil aerospace, would be impacted next year due to lower orders for its Trent 700 engines.

While it's harder to discern if this is an alpha short or a hedge to one of their longs, it still seems Lone Pine is looking for near-term pain to continue for the company.

On the other side of the trade, Ruane Cunniff (Sequoia Fund) has been long shares and in its year-end 2014 letter they bemoaned the company's move into marine engine and power generation.  They believe that "Rolls' wounds are self-inflicted and reversible" and love the company's "world class business making engines for wide body jets" as it enjoys a duopoly with General Electric with high barriers to entry. 


Short Selling Disclosure Rules in the UK

In 2012, the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) began requiring institutional investors to
to privately notify the FSA when their net short position eclipses 0.2% of the issued share capital of a company.  Notification is also required again at each 0.1% increment after that.  This applies to both increases and decreases in the position.  The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) now monitors short sales.

Public disclosure of the short (as is the case above), is required when net short positions reach 0.5% of issued share capital.  Additionally, disclosure is required when the position subsequently falls below 0.5%.


Stay tuned this week and next as we'll be updating other short positions from prominent hedge funds.  Today we also posted about how Viking Global is short Peugeot.

For more from this hedge fund, we posted that Lone Pine almost doubled its stake in Charter Communications recently.

Viking Global Short Peugeot S.A.

Andreas Halvorsen's hedge fund firm Viking Global has filed a regulatory short position disclosure in France and indicated they have a net short position in shares of Peugeot S.A.

Per the disclosure, Viking Global has a net short position totaling 0.55% of Peugeot's shares as of July 17th, 2015. 

While it's hard to determine whether this is an alpha short or merely a hedge to one of their long positions, the EU's short selling disclosure requirements provide a glimpse into the side of a hedge fund's portfolio that's often not seen.

Short selling disclosures in various European Union countries require institutional investors to publicly disclose a net short position after it reaches 0.5% of the issued share capital of the company and again with each 0.1% increment in the position (either positive or negative).

Stay tuned this week and next as we'll be posting a comprehensive update of short positions at prominent hedge funds.  We also just posted about how Lone Pine is short Rolls Royce.

Per Google Finance, Peugeot is "a holding company passenger cars and light commercial vehicles business. The Company operates in three segments: the Automotive Division, covering the design, manufacture and sale of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles under the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands; the Automotive Equipment Division, corresponding to the Faurecia Group consisting of interior systems, automotive seating, automotive exteriors and emissions control technologies, and the Finance Division, corresponding to the Banque PSA Finance Group, which provides retail financing to customers of the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands, and wholesale financing to the two brands' dealer networks. Banque PSA Finance (BPF) is a financial institution. BPF also provides wholesale financing, and insurance and services."

Greenlight Capital Increases CONSOL Energy Stake

David Einhorn's hedge fund firm Greenlight Capital has filed an amended 13D with the SEC regarding its position in CONSOL Energy (CNX).  Per the filing, Greenlight now owns 12.9% of the company with over 29.6 million shares.

This is up from the 20.5 million shares Greenlight owned at the end of the first quarter. 

An additional Form 4 filed with the SEC by Greenlight indicates that they were buying CNX shares on July 20th, 21st, and 22nd at weighted average prices ranging between $16.3908 to $17.27.

Einhorn isn't the only activist involved in CNX shares, either.  Southeastern Asset Management recently increased its stake to around 21% of the company.  Mason Hawkins' firm would like the company to monetize its E&P portfolio.

In addition to its position in CNX, recently Greenlight also revealed a stake in CNX Coal Resources.

For more from this hedge fund, we recently posted Greenlight's Q2 letter.

What We're Reading ~ 7/22/15

The Emotionally Intelligent Investor [Ravee Mehta]

The smartest man is wild about innovation [Byron Wien]

Decisions under uncertainty [Farnam Street]

What's the biggest risk right now? [A Wealth of Common Sense]

A breakdown of John Malone's empire [Jnvestor]

Video on aluminum and aerospace industry outlook [YouTube]

The supply of equities may soon stop shrinking [Economist]

For eBay, a new chapter begins [Fortune]

A look at Vitec Software Group [Frenzel & Herzing]

Deep analysis on Deere & Co [HVST]

Montier goes to highest cash level since 2008 [FINalternatives]

Are GMOs safe? Yes. The case against them is full of lies [Slate]

Jet.com launches new e-commerce model [USAToday]

Bidding wars return to home market [WSJ]

Capitalist soul rises in Ho Chi Minh City [NYTimes]

On Google's return of Omid Kordestani [Recode]

27 Reasons Why the Smart Money is in Midtown NYC in 3 Weeks

Family office chief investment officers manage the assets for some of the wealthiest and most successful families in the world.  Our friends from the Family Office Club are hosting the Family Office CIO Summit on August 6th in midtown where CIOs at family offices and institutional investors discuss how they devise allocation strategies, manage risk, and evaluate fund managers.  Register today before the early-bird window closes on 7/24: http://FamilyOffices.com/CIO  

Here are 27 reasons why you need to be at this event:  

1. Candice Beaumont, L Investments (Single Family Office)
2. William Braman, Ballentine Partners (Top-50 Family Office)
3. Carol Pepper, Pepper International (Family Office)
4. Henley Smith, Oppenheimer & Co. ($25B Asset Manager)
5. Jonathan Bergman, TAG Associates (Top-50 Family Office)
6. Michael Sury, INDORUS Holdings (Single Family Office)
7. Robert Russell, Avenue Capital Group ($12B+ Investment Firm)
8. Neil Wolfson, SF Capital (Single Family Office)
9. Mark Berman, MB Family Advisors (Family Office)
10. John Jonson, Lyrical Partners ($1B+ Family Office)
11. Sergio Pedro, Jones Family Office (Single Family Office)
12. Douglas Getty, Abbot Downing (Top-50 Family Office)
13. Peter J. Pell, CSM Capital Corp. ($1B+ Family Office)
14. Irina Tanenbaum, The Juilliard School (Endowment Fund)
15. Ben Parr, DominateFund (Author and Venture Capitalist)
16. Leah Zveglich, Aster Family Advisors (Family Office)
17. Christina Conners, Greenway Family Office (Family Office)
18. Ted Seides, Protégé Partners ($2B+ Asset Manager)
19. Thaddeus R. Shelly III, Tiedemann Wealth Management (Top-50 Family Office)
20. Avi Gelboim, Scher Capital Management (Family Office)
21. Richard C. Wilson, Billionaire Family Office 
22. David Paige, Legal Fee Advisors 
23. Amish Jani, FirstMark Capital (Venture Capital Investor)
24. Matt Cohen, City Light Capital (Venture Capital Investor)
25. David Smith, Smith & Associates
26. Stewart Massey, Massey Quick (Family Office)
27. Alex Smith-Ryland, HedgeCoVest & CS Wilton Group (Hedge Fund Platform & Family Office)

To view the full agenda visit: http://WilsonConferences.com/CIO-Brochure.pdf   

Bonus: If you would like to attend the Real Estate Allocator Summit (Aug. 7th), also hosted by the Family Office Club, you can attend both events for only $1,395 – a savings of nearly $600. http://FamilyOffices.com/Real  

Early bird pricing ends Friday, 7/24 so register now to save before prices for this summit go up. If you have any questions give Douglas at the Family Office Club a call at (212) 729-5067 or sign up at http://FamilyOffices.com/CIO

Bridger Capital Discloses SeaSpine Stake After Spin-Off

Roberto Mignone's hedge fund firm Bridger Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of SeaSpine Holdings (SPNE).  Per the filing, Bridger now owns 5.6% of the company with 618,684 shares.

This is a newly disclosed position for the hedge fund. The company recently started trading as it was spun off from Integra LifeSciences (IART).  Holders of IART received 1 share of SPNE for every 3 shares of IART owned as of June 19th.

Bridger did not show a position in IART as of the end of the first quarter.  It's possible that they purchased shares in Q2 and then still received shares in the spin-off.  Alternatively, they could have just purchased SPNE shares once they started trading in the open market. 

Per Google Finance, SeaSpine Holdings is " a medical technology company. The Company is focused on the design, development and commercialization of surgical solutions for the treatment of patients suffering from spinal disorders. The Company has a portfolio of orthobiologics and spinal fusion hardware solutions for neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons, which can be used to perform fusion procedures in the lumbar, thoracic and cervical spine. The Company's orthobiologics products consist of a range of bone graft substitutes that are designed to improve bone fusion rates following surgery. The Company's spinal fusion hardware portfolio consists of a line of products for minimally invasive surgery (MIS), complex spine, deformity and degenerative procedures. The Company's products include Accell Evo3, OsteoSparx, Accell Connexus, Zuma-C Anterior Cervical Fixation System, Zuma IBD, OsSatura TCP and Coral MIS, among others."

You can view previous Bridger Capital portfolio moves here.

Kyle Bass's Hayman Capital Shows Eco-Stim Solutions Stake

Kyle Bass' hedge fund firm Hayman Capital has filed both a 13G and Form 3 with the SEC regarding shares of Eco-Stim Energy Solutions (ESES).  Per the filings, Hayman now owns 17.1% of the company with over 2.1 million shares.

This is a newly disclosed position for the hedge fund.  The filing was made due to activity on July 10th.

For more from this investor, head to Kyle Bass' thoughts at the SALT conference.

Per Google Finance, Eco-Stim is "an early stage technology-driven independent oilfield services company. The Company provides well stimulation, coiled tubing and field management services to the upstream oil and gas industry. The Company is focusing on the active shale resource basins outside of the United States using its technology to differentiate its service offerings. The Company’s operation is in Argentina, a shale resource basin as measured by technically recoverable reserves. The Company may also explore opportunistic acquisitions or joint ventures with established companies in target markets. EcoStim expects to provide well stimulation services based on contractual arrangements. The Company plans to generate revenues from chemicals and proppants that are consumed while performing well stimulation services. The Company expects to provide coiled tubing and other well stimulation services. EcoStim enters into arrangements to provide field management services."

Marcato Capital Increases Avis Budget Stake

Mick McGuire's activist investment firm Marcato Capital Management has filed a 13G regarding shares of Avis Budget (CAR).  Per the filing, Marcato now owns 5.4% of the company with over 5.71 million shares.

This is up from the 3.34 million shares that Marcato owned at the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on July 9th.  CAR traded at $65 to start the year, but has since slowly declined down to current levels of around $42 and Marcato has used the weakness to boost its exposure to the name.

The thesis here has largely been based on the industry consolidating down from a lot of companies into a few major ones, creating an oligopoly.  The thought is that they could act rationally together, raise prices, and profit.  Thus far, that road has been a little bumpier than expected for bulls.

While Marcato primarily takes activist stakes in companies, this looks to be a passive investment, at least for now.  Prior to founding Marcato, McGuire worked at Bill Ackman's Pershing Square.

We've highlighted previous Marcato portfolio activity here.

Per Google Finance, Avis Budget is "a provider of vehicle rental and car sharing services. The Company operates three brands, which include Avis, Budget and Zipcar. Avis is a rental car supplier and Budget is a rental vehicle supplier. The Company also own Payless, a car rental brand and Apex, which is a car rental brand in New Zealand and Australia. The Company operates in three segments: North America, International and Truck Rental. North America segment provides car rentals in the United States and vehicle rentals in Canada, as well as ancillary products and services. International segment provides and licenses the Company’s brands to third parties for vehicle rentals and ancillary products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Truck Rental segment provides truck rentals and ancillary products and services to consumers and commercial users in the United States.."

Steve Einhorn on Wall Street Week: "More Years" Left In Bull Market

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's Wall Street Week this time around featured Steve Einhorn of Omega Advisors.  While many people will be more familiar with Omega's founder Lee Cooperman due to his numerous public appearances, Einhorn is an integral part of the team as well.

In his interview, Einhorn commented that Omega feels that there's still "quite a while to go" in this bull market.  While many investors anticipate markets to get choppy once rates start rising, Omega has taken a different stance.

He thinks that the situation in Greece and the timing of the rate rise aren't that important in the grand scheme of things.  He notes, "the fundamentals that largely determine how the stock market does are quite good, and partly overlooked by investors."

Embedded below is the video of Steve Einhorn's appearance on Wall Street Week (his portion starts at 18:34):



For more from Omega Advisors, we recently highlighted Lee Cooperman's latest interview.

For more from the show, be sure to check out Byron Wien's Wall Street Week interview as well.

Viking Global Files 13G's on Ctrip.com, Qunar

Andreas Halvorsen's hedge fund firm Viking Global has filed two separate 13G's on Ctrip.com (CTRP) and Qunar (QUNR).  While they are separate companies, they are essentially the same bet: Chinese travel.  Viking already owned stakes in both companies and originally disclosed investments in the fourth quarter of 2014.


Viking Files 13G on Ctrip

First, Viking Global shows a 5.2% ownership stake in Ctrip (CTRP) with over 1.68 million shares.  The filing was made due to activity on July 7th.

We've previously highlighted the investment thesis on CTRP shares from an investment conference.

Per Google Finance, Ctrip is "a travel service provider for hotel accommodations, transportation ticketing services, packaged tours and corporate travel management in China. The Company aggregates hotel and flight information to enable business and leisure travelers to make informed bookings. The Company also helps customers book tour packages and guided tours. In addition, its corporate travel management services help corporate clients manage their travel requirements. The Company also offers Internet-related advertising and other related services. The Company enables its customers to choose and reserve hotel rooms in cities throughout China and abroad; book and purchase transportation tickets for domestic and international flights and trains, and choose and reserve packaged tours that include transportation and accommodations, as well as guided tours and other value-added services in some instances."


Viking's Qunar Filing

Second, Viking now shows a 6.5% ownership stake in Qunar (QUNR) with over 10.15 million shares.  The filing was made due to activity on July 7th.

Per Google Finance, Qunar is "engaged in offering mobile and online commerce platform for travel in China. The Company offers a range of travel products, including flights, hotels, vacations packages, attraction tickets and other travel related offerings. The Company has developed Qunar Travel, its mobile application, which enables its users to search for and purchase travel products. The Company's Software as a service (SaaS) system provides an online presence for over 240,000 travel service providers. Its search engine provides real-time travel products information directly sourced from travel service providers and through its SaaS platform. The Company's main lines of business include flight tickets, hotels, vacation packages and attraction tickets. The Company also offers display advertising, train tickets, car services, smart lodging and other services."

You can also view another stock Viking recently bought here.