Cliff Asness Says Factor Investing Has Not Performed Well (Bloomberg)
Cliff Asness, the chief investment officer of AQR Capital Management LLC, says his trademark factor investing strategies have been disappointing. Asness, who spoke Thursday at Morningstar Inc.’s investment conference in Chicago, is coming off a tough year in 2018 when most of its funds declined. His firm also recently reduced its headcount and has been bleeding assets. “Quant stock selection has been terrible,” said Asness, whose strategies use factors like value and momentum when selecting equities. Investors pulled more than $1 billion from AQR funds in the first three months of 2019, following withdrawals of $8.1 billion in 2018, according to estimates by Morningstar.
Hedge Fund Billionaire Ray Dalio to Younger Self: ‘Why Are You So Stupidly Arrogant!?!’ (CNBC)
Today, at 69 years old, Ray Dalio is widely admired and famous for being the founder of the largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates, which manages $160 billion. But things could have turned out very differently because of a mistake Dalio made when he was a young entrepreneur. During a Reddit “ask me anything” on Tuesday, Dalio, who is now worth more than $18 billion, was asked what he might tell his younger self. “The big message I would want to have given myself is ‘Why are you so stupidly arrogant!?!'” Dalio wrote on Reddit. That’s because in 1982 when Dalio was 33, he almost ran Bridgewater into the ground.
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U.S. Recession Would Spur ‘Massive’ Corporate Bond Losses, Eisman Says (Bloomberg)
The U.S. corporate debt market will suffer “massive losses” if the world’s biggest economy falls into recession, said Steve Eisman, the Neuberger Berman Group money manager who famously predicted the collapse of subprime mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis. While the U.S. financial system is strong, “that doesn’t mean we won’t have a recession,” Eisman said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong on Thursday. “And in a recession I think there will be massive losses in the bond markets because there’s a lack of liquidity.”
Viking, Coatue Post Gains as Rising Stocks Boost Hedge Funds (Bloomberg)
Equity hedge funds including Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Investors are making money in 2019, boosted by a strong stock market. Coatue’s flagship hedge fund returned 3.7% last month and 12% this year through April. Laffont’s firm, which focuses on investing in technology, media and telecommunications stocks, managed about $16 billion as of Dec. 31.
Hedge-Fund Investors are Getting Excited about the Possibilities of Machine Learning. There’s a Good Chance They Don’t Understand It (Business Insider)
One of the hedge fund industry’s machine-learning pioneers remembers the days – just “three years ago” – when explaining his fund had to be done in the simplest of terms. Now, with more than half of hedge funds using some form of machine learning or artificial intelligence in their investment processes, according to a BarclayHedge report, the “pendulum has almost swung the other way,” says Michael Kharitonov, co-founder of $4 billion Voleon Capital.
Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index up 1.13% in April (5.22% YTD) (Opalesque.com)
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 1.13%in April, supported by the global equities which advanced on encouraging economic data and accommodative central bank policies. According to Eurekahedge, positive earnings surprises helped renew investors’ optimism in the global equity market, which rallied 3.38% during the month as represented by the MSCI ACWI (Local). Returns were positive across geographic mandates, with hedge fund managers focusing on North America leading the pack as they gained 1.37% in April. Asian hedge funds trailed behind their peers focusing on other regions, but still managed to generate positive returns. Looking at strategic mandates, equity long-biased hedge fund managers were best positioned to benefit from the equity market performance during the month, and ended the month up 2.78%.
Hedge Funds Target European Loans as Downturn Looms (Reuters)
LONDON, May 9 (LPC) – A number of companies financed in Europe’s leveraged debt markets have attracted the attention of global hedge funds, which are lining up money in preparation to profit when the impending downturn hits. Syndicated loans in struggling companies have lost up to a quarter of their value within a six week period since the end of the first quarter and as much as half their loan value since the end of the third quarter in 2018, according to LPC data. This has attracted the attention of hedge funds that are buying small portions of the debt in order to gain access to information on the private companies.
Hedge Funds See Fourth Consecutive Month of Positive Returns in April (HedgeWeek.com)
Hedge funds gained an average of 1.26 per cent in April, the fourth consecutive month of positive returns, following a five-month string of aggregate declines closing out 2018, according to the latest eVestment April 2019 hedge fund performance data. Year to date (YTD) 2019 industry average gains of 6.52 per cent lag a global balanced benchmark but represent the industry’s best first four months since 2006, when aggregate gains were 7.62 per cent.
Thursday 5/9 Insider Buying Report: RLGY, APTX (Nasdaq.com)
On Wednesday, Realogy Holdings Corp (RLGY)’s CEO and President, Ryan M. Schneider, made a $999,734 buy of RLGY, purchasing 119,300 shares at a cost of $8.38 a piece. So far Schneider is in the green, up about 3.8% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $8.70. Realogy Holdings Corp is trading up about 3.7% on the day Thursday. And at Aptinyx (APTX), there was insider buying on Wednesday, by Director Henry O. Gosebruch who bought 100,000 shares for a cost of $3.86 each, for a total investment of $385,624. This purchase marks the first one filed by Gosebruch in the past twelve months. Aptinyx is trading up about 1.3% on the day Thursday.
The EVP, Public Affairs of S&P Global Inc (NYSE: SPGI) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the EVP, Public Affairs of S&P Global Inc (SPGI), Courtney Geduldig, sold shares of SPGI for $893.1K. Following Courtney Geduldig’s last SPGI Sell transaction on November 09, 2017, the stock climbed by 59.3%. In addition to Courtney Geduldig, one other SPGI executive reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on S&P Global Inc’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending March 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.57 billion and quarterly net profit of $410 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $1.57 billion and had a net profit of $491 million. The Company has a Price to Book ratio of 161.6711. SPGI’s market cap is $52.87B and the company has a P/E ratio of 28.82.
Moody’s Corporation (MCO) President and CEO Raymond W Mcdaniel Sold $10.7 million of Shares (GuruFocus.com)
President and CEO of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Raymond W Mcdaniel sold 55,421 shares of MCO on 05/07/2019 at an average price of $193.11 a share. The total sale was $10.7 million. Moody’s Corporation publishes credit ratings, and research reports on fixed-income securities, issuers of securities, and other credit obligations. The company primarily provides opinions and reports to investors and institutions. Moody’s Corporation has a market cap of $36.41 billion; its shares were traded at around $192.02 with a P/E ratio of 28.45 and P/S ratio of 8.35. The dividend yield of Moody’s Corporation stocks is 0.95%. Moody’s Corporation had annual average EBITDA growth of 12.40% over the past ten years. GuruFocus rated Moody’s Corporation the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.
The SVP & CFO of Teledyne Technologies Inc (NYSE: TDY) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings.com)
Yesterday, the SVP & CFO of Teledyne Technologies Inc (TDY), Sue Main, sold shares of TDY for $2.61M. Following Sue Main’s last TDY Sell transaction on August 06, 2018, the stock climbed by 23.5%. In addition to Sue Main, one other TDY executive reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Teledyne Technologies Inc’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending March 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $745 million and quarterly net profit of $75.3 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $696 million and had a net profit of $66.5 million. TDY’s market cap is $9.05B and the company has a P/E ratio of 27.09. Currently, Teledyne Technologies Inc has an average volume of 255.5K.
The #1 Insider Signal Every Trader Should Know (Zacks)
We love it when a famous CEO buys a large chunk of his company’s stock. In 2013, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, bought over a million shares of Tesla stock for $100 million even though he already had plenty of shares. In June and October 2018, he was at it again with another two purchases totaling $35 million in shares. All of these purchases made headlines. When Elon Musk bought in 2013 and 2018, he was the only insider at Tesla buying at that time. But what about when non-famous insiders buy their company’s stock and when a bunch of them buy en masse?
