Friday, November 17, 2017

Pershing Square Q3 Letter: Restructures Herbalife Short

Bill Ackman is out with Pershing Square's third quarter letter to investors.  Pershing Square returned -3.7% net in the third quarter and was down 4.2% for the year at that time.

Pershing has restructured its short position in Herbalife (HLF).  Rather than shorting common stock, they've covered that and are now short via put options.

Ackman is also quite bullish on Mondelez (MDLZ): "We believe MDLZ is currently substantially undervalued given its high business quality, long-term secular growth potential - especially in emerging markets - and substantial opportunity to improve profit margins.  Today, Mondelez trades at 17 times our estimate for 2018 earnings per share, a discount to the S&P 500 market multiple, for a business whose attributes are substantially better than the average company in the S&P 500."

The letter also provides updates on their holdings: Restaurant Brands (QSR), ADP (ADP), Howard Hughes (HHC), Chipotle (CMG), Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac, Platform Specialty Products (PAH).

Embedded below is Pershing Square's Q3 letter:



For more recent hedge fund commentary, we've also posted up Third Point's Q3 letter as well as Greenlight Capital's Q3 letter.


Thursday, November 16, 2017

Why over 1,000 investors and investment professionals are meeting in 3 weeks

Here is why over 1,000 investors and investment professionals are gathering in just a few weeks at the Family Office Super Summit: http://FamilyOffices.com/Super

1) Billions of Dollars in Capital On Stage (and much more in the room): Our conferences feature actual family offices, not brokers or junior financial planners, because we know that families in our network and the hundreds of attendees in the room want to learn from the biggest single family offices and top-50 multi-family offices on what has worked for them, how they manage their capital, and what it takes to do business with a leading family office. Take a look at the speaker-lineup for yourself to confirm it is more family offices on stage than any even you have ever attended or seen available: http://FamilyOffices.com/Super

2) Tap into the Fastest-Growing Investor Group: Family offices are becoming an increasingly important investor group for hedge funds, private equity managers, real estate companies, private companies, and anyone who relies on outside capital. These families control hundreds of billions of dollars and we invite family offices from all asset classes to attend this annual summit in South Florida.

3) Get Real Business Done: Unlike other conferences and trade shows, the Family Office Super Summit is all about getting real business done and building real relationships. There are multiple networking sessions throughout the 3 days, starting with a welcome cocktail hour the night of December 4th and continuing through the conference. A Florida single family office CIO cheerfully told us at the end of our last event, “I came here with 100 business cards, I have 4 left.”

4) Skip the Bull: This conference isn’t a pitch fest; it is a conference for investment and wealth management professionals. You’ll hear directly from real family offices looking to allocate capital and, like all of our events, the investors on stage will give it to you straight on what drives their portfolio strategy, how they select investments, and where they are looking to invest their money going forward.

5) More Value for Less Money: If you are wondering how to budget your marketing and conference dollars, consider this – the Family Office Super Summit is our largest conference of the year, featuring 60+ family offices on stage and many more in the audience over 3 days. For the chance to engage such an exclusive audience for a single day, you can usually expect to pay north of $2,000 for just one day. Attend the Family Office Super Summit on Dec. 5-6th and the Welcome Reception on Dec. 4th for just $995 or become a charter to attend for free (more info on charter membership: http://FamilyOffices.com/Association)

To attend the Family Office Super Summit please complete the form at the bottom of this page: http://FamilyOffices.com/Super or call Richard at (305) 503-9077.

"For 10 years running, the Family Office Club is the premier community for more than 1,500 registered family offices who manage $1 trillion+ in assets"



What We're Reading ~ 11/16/17


15 questions to ask management teams [Clear Eyes Investing]

Jim Chanos betting against dialysis companies [Reuters]

A handful of value managers hoard cash as stocks surge [Bloomberg]

How the right decisions and compounding can lead to huge results [Of Dollars and Data]

The nature of underperformance and why it pays to wait [Of Dollars and Data]

CenturyLink / Level 3 merger: 1+1 = 1/2 ? [Peridot Capitalist]

America's 'retail apocalypse' is really just beginning [Bloomberg]

Withdrawal symptoms: cash is still king in India [SCMP]

How India is moving toward a digital-first economy [HBR]

Byron Wien measures China's tech success [Barrons]

In-depth interview with Shake Shack's Danny Meyer [CBS]

America's coffee market is getting too crowded [WSJ]

Who is investing in e-sports startups? [VentureBeat]

A look at Entercom: CBS Radio Reverse Morris Trust [Clark Street Value]