Billionaire Investor David Einhorn Breaks Down Why He Just Started Shorting the US Credit Market (Business Insider)
David Einhorn has earned the attention of the investment community. The billionaire president and founder of Greenlight Capital, which oversees $2.5 billion, garnered his reputation through an array of prescient market calls and double-digit returns. And over time, he’s managed to stay one step ahead of the market. Einhorn revealed his latest big market call in his second-quarter investor letter, telling clients he has opened a new short position against both investment-grade and high-yield corporate credit – an area he says has been looking frothy.
BMO’s Hewitt keeps watch on Woodford and Darwall (Citywire.co.uk)
Peter Hewitt, the investment trust picker in charge of BMO Managed Portfolio (BMPG), is keeping a close eye on fund managers Neil Woodford and Alexander Darwall as both go through very different periods of uncertainty. The more uncomfortable situation for Hewitt is Woodford, whose Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) he has held for at least three years. Shares in the early-stage investor in healthcare and technology companies have been hammered since the suspension of Woodford Equity Income Fund on 3 June, due to the trust’s large overlap with the fund whose forced sales are depressing its asset value.
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Brexit Donor Hintze Set to Cash In on U.K. Distress (Bloomberg)
Michael Hintze donated 100,000 pounds ($121,000) to the Brexit campaign in 2016. Three years later, Britain is preparing for recession — or worse — while the pound and U.K. stocks sink. Hintze, the founder of $18 billion hedge fund CQS Management, is making preparations of his own to profit from the havoc Brexit is wreaking while negotiations are mired.
Coatue to Devote $700M to VC Deals (Pitch Book)
Hedge fund Coatue has launched a $700 million venture fund that will focus on early-stage investments, according to The Information. The New York-based firm submitted a filing for the vehicle with the SEC in November. Coatue already backs a number of high-profile unicorns, including DoorDash, Instacart and Lime.
Hedge Fund Manager Bill Perkins Leads Triton Million After Day One, Hendon Mob Leader Justin Bonomo Lurking (CardsChat.com)
Bill Perkins will return for Day Two of the historic Triton Million on Friday at 1 pm local time in London with a chip lead. The hedge fund manager has his eyes set on securing tournament poker’s biggest prize ever – £19 million. Tom Dwan and Rick Salomon were among the 18 players who busted from this £1.05 million charity poker tournament. Perkins and 35 other recreational players and pros will come back for a second of three sessions on Friday. You can catch all the action live on stream at Triton-Series.com. CardsChat’s Jeff Gross is among those who will be providing the commentary.
Soros Gifts $5.1 million Check to Democrats as He Enters 2020 Funding Game (RT.com)
Billionaire financier George Soros has created a super PAC and written a $5.1 million check for Democrats ahead of next year’s election. However, the liberal mega-donor has not revealed which candidate will get his blessing. Soros spent more than $20 million during the 2016 election, donating more than $9 million to Political Action Committees (PACs) supporting Hillary Clinton, and the rest on committees working to install Democrats in Congress and to boost minority turnout at the polls. According to records filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, the 88-year-old billionaire kicked his 2020 efforts off with a deposit of $5.1 million into his own Democracy PAC, more than doubling the $2.1 million he had donated at this point in the 2016 cycle.
Humans are Beating Machines, and Pershing Square and Greenlight are Crushing It. Here’s How Hedge Funds Performed in the First Half (Business Insider)
The market-beating human stock-picker is far from dead. Quant funds now dominate hedge fund flows and assets, but the biggest winners midway through 2019 are funds run by old-school investors who take large, concentrated bets. Systematic strategies haven’t exactly flopped, and still attracted significant assets. But stock-pickers like Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, and Gabriel Plotkin turned in a blistering first half, proving the era of the star investor is not completely over.
Och-Ziff’s Flagship Fund Falls Below $10 Billion on Outflows (Bloomberg)
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group Inc. posted another quarter of outflows from its multi-strategy hedge fund, a signal that efforts to pull in capital have yet to pay off. The firm’s flagship fund suffered second-quarter withdrawals of $849 million, bringing assets below $10 billion for the first time in years. A portion of those outflows were from former executives.
Friday 8/2 Insider Buying Report: BMY, MA (Nasdaq.com)
At Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Robert J. Bertolini purchased 11,000 shares of BMY, for a cost of $44.72 each, for a total investment of $491,920. Bertolini was up about 1.5% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with BMY trading as high as $45.41 at last check today. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is trading up about 0.4% on the day Friday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Bertolini in the past year. And at Mastercard (MA), there was insider buying on Thursday, by Director Lance Darrell Gordon Uggla who bought 1,500 shares at a cost of $275.71 each, for a total investment of $413,560. Mastercard is trading off about 2.1% on the day Friday. Bargain hunters can buy MA at a price even lower than Uggla did, with shares trading as low as $268.27 at last check today which is 2.7% below Uggla’s purchase price.
The Chief Comp Off, Gen Csl, Secty of Universal Forest (NASDAQ: UFPI) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the Chief Comp Off, Gen Csl, Secty of Universal Forest (UFPI), David Tutas, sold shares of UFPI for $30.34K. Following David Tutas’ last UFPI Sell transaction on March 08, 2016, the stock climbed by 14.3%. In addition to David Tutas, 3 other UFPI executives reported Sell trades in the last month. UFPI’s market cap is $2.42B and the company has a P/E ratio of 15.08. Currently, Universal Forest has an average volume of 113.3K.
Turning Point Brands Inc (TPB) SVP, CFO Robert M. Lavan Bought $92,575 of Shares (Guru Focus)
SVP, CFO of Turning Point Brands Inc, Robert M. Lavan, bought 2,500 shares of TPB on 08/02/2019 at an average price of $37.03 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $92,575. Turning Point Brands Inc is engaged in providing tobacco products in the U.S. It sells products including moist snuff, loose leaf chewing tobacco, cigarette papers, make- your-own cigar wraps & cigar smoking tobacco, cigars & tobacco vaporizer products. Turning Point Brands Inc has a market cap of $751.140 million; its shares were traded at around $38.21 with a P/E ratio of 26.35 and P/S ratio of 2.18. The dividend yield of Turning Point Brands Inc stocks is 0.46%.
The CRM President of Progressive (NYSE: PGR) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the CRM President of Progressive (PGR), John Jo Murphy, sold shares of PGR for $973.3K. Following John Jo Murphy’s last PGR Sell transaction on April 18, 2019, the stock climbed by 5.1%. Based on Progressive’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $9.18 billion and quarterly net profit of $1.08 billion. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $8.02 billion and had a net profit of $704 million. PGR’s market cap is $46.8B and the company has a P/E ratio of 14.57. Currently, Progressive has an average volume of 899.9K.
Insiders Roundup: Bezos Sells Amazon (Guru Focus)
According to these filters, the following are trades from company insiders last week. President, CEO and 10% Owner Maurice Zauderer and director and 10% owner Albert Friedberg bought a combined 2,022,059 shares of Vaccinex Inc. (VCNX) for an average price of $4.08 per share on July 30. The biotechnology company has a market cap of $65.39 million and an enterprise value of $63.17 million. It has insider ownership of 1.79% and institutional ownership of 2.23%. Over the last 12 months, the stock has fallen 61% and as of Friday, was trading 48.17% below its three-month high and 11.68% above its three-month low. Castle Biosciences Inc. (CSTL) 10% owner MGC Venture Partners 2013 GP, together with director and 10% owner Joseph C. III Cook, bought a combined 647,254 shares for an average price of $16 per share on July 29.
