Kyle Bass Eyes 200-to-1 Leverage for New Bet on Hong Kong Crash (Bloomberg)
Kyle Bass is going for broke on a currency trade that has burned bearish speculators for more than three decades. The Dallas-based founder of Hayman Capital Management is starting a new fund that will make all-or-nothing wagers on a collapse in Hong Kong’s currency peg, people with knowledge of the matter said. Bass, best known for his prescient bet against subprime mortgages before the 2008 financial crisis, will use option contracts to leverage the new fund’s assets by 200 times, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. While the strategy is designed to generate outsized gains if Hong Kong’s currency tumbles against the dollar, investors stand to lose all their money if the peg is still intact after 18 months.
3 Lessons From Bill Ackman That Every Investor Needs in the Coronavirus Era (The Motley Fool)
Fearing a material decline in the markets as concern mounted about the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, activist investor Bill Ackman considered liquidating the entire portfolio of Pershing Square Holdings (LSE:PSH). But instead of selling all the hedge fund’s holdings for the first time in its history, Ackman made a big bet on a hedging strategy in late February that turned $27 million in premiums and commissions into $2.6 billion. Instincts like this, and a history of controversial bets, have helped Ackman amass a fortune worth more than $1.6 billion. He’s clearly an investor worth listening to, and some of his wise words in a recent letter to Pershing investors provide important guidance for those putting their money into the markets amid the turbulence of the coronavirus era. Here are three things Ackman told shareholders that every investor should think about.
After Dumping Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, Ackman Says His Hedge Fund is Up Big (Fox Business)
William Ackman’s hedge fund is boasting double-digit gains at a time many portfolios have sunk along with the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, after the billionaire investor plowed cash into a number of companies he already owned and dumped Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway among other stocks. The public and private funds at Pershing Square Capital Management have gained between 22 percent and 27 percent this year, handily beating both the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the average hedge fund which are each off percent since January, Ackman said.
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‘Washed Up’ Warren Buffett has Supposedly Lost a Step. The investor has Scored an $11 Billion Gain on Apple this Year. (Business Insider)
Warren Buffett has been a popular punching bag in recent weeks, even though the famed investor’s biggest holding – accounting for more than 40% of his portfolio – has gained $11 billion in value this year. President Donald Trump said Buffett made a mistake when he sold his airline stocks in April. Billionaire investor Ken Fisher suggested the 89-year-old’s age might explain why he didn’t go on a buying spree during the coronavirus sell-off.
Healthcare is Good to Have (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After a rough start to 2020, Rhenman Healthcare Equity L/S gained about 30 percent so far in the second quarter and broke into positive territory for the first time this year. The healthcare-focused, long-biased long/short equity fund managed by Henrik Rhenman and Susanna Urdmark is up 2.6 percent year-to-date through the end of May after gaining 10.9 percent last month and 17 percent in April. May was another fantastic month followed by a great April,” Urdmark says in a monthly interview with Henrik Mitelman. The main share class of Rhenman Healthcare Equity L/S was up 2.6 percent in the first five months of 2020, “which we are quite happy about” considering that world equity indices were down about nine percent during the same period. “Surprisingly, it has been biotech and growth stocks that have been driving this development in performance,” explains Urdmark. “If we look at how the different sub-sectors have contributed to performance, biotech is the biggest contributor to this development.”
Balbec Capital Raises USD1.2bn for Fourth Global Credit Fund (Hedge Week)
Alternative asset Manager Balbec Capital (Balbec) has held the final close of InSolve Global Credit Fund IV, with total commitments of approximately USD1.2 billion, exceeding the Fund’s USD1 billion target and making it Balbec’s largest fund to date. The fund received significant backing from current Balbec clients and welcomed a number of new global institutional investors. Consistent with the successful approach of Balbec’s predecessor vehicles, the Fund will seek to identify and capitalise on investment opportunities with a focus on a subset of non-performing loans where the borrower or assets are subject to an insolvency proceeding, restructuring, liquidation, or other form of distress. Balbec will leverage its extensive experience and global footprint to selectively invest across geographies and asset types to source the most desirable opportunities while mitigating macro risks. To date, the Fund has called 45 per cent of commitments.
Tuesday 6/9 Insider Buying Report: VERI, HCHC (Nasdaq.com)
At Veritone, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, President Ryan Steelberg purchased 16,701 shares of VERI, at a cost of $11.95 each, for a total investment of $199,640. So far Steelberg is in the green, up about 14.9% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $13.73. Veritone is trading up about 8.8% on the day Tuesday. Before this latest buy, Steelberg bought VERI at 2 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $349,685 at an average of $7.75 per share. And on Thursday, Director Kenneth S. Courtis purchased $137,379 worth of HC2 Holdings, purchasing 46,014 shares at a cost of $2.99 a piece. This buy marks the first one filed by Courtis in the past twelve months. HC2 Holdings is trading up about 1.7% on the day Tuesday. Courtis was up about 24.3% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with HCHC trading as high as $3.71 in trading on Tuesday.
Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC) EVP & COO Michael Joseph Wheeler Sold $1.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP & COO of Norfolk Southern Corp., Michael Joseph Wheeler, sold 8,918 shares of NSC on 06/05/2020 at an average price of $195.02 a share. The total sale was $1.7 million. Norfolk Southern Corp conducts rail transportation business. It transports raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods in the United States. Norfolk Southern Corp has a market cap of $48.07 billion; its shares were traded at around $187.64 with a P/E ratio of 20.40 and P/S ratio of 4.45.
Insider Trading: June 8, 202 (BIV.com)
Insider John Stalker, Director. Company: K92 Mining Inc. (TSX-V:KNT). Shares owned: 710,850. Trade date: May 28. Trade total: $486,000. Trade: Sale of 120,000 shares at a price of $4.05 per share. Insider Thomas O’Neill, Director. Company: Summa Silver Corp. (CNSX:SSVR). Shares owned: 150,000. Trade date: May 28. Trade total: $104,500. Trade: Acquisition of 550,000 shares at prices ranging from $0.03 to $0.25 per share.
A Director at Transact Technologies (NASDAQ: TACT) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, a Director at Transact Technologies (TACT), John Dillon, bought shares of TACT for $53.9K. Following this transaction John Dillon’s holding in the company was increased by 29.83% to a total of $236.8K. In addition to John Dillon, 2 other TACT executives reported Buy trades in the last month. The company has a one-year high of $13.59 and a one-year low of $2.87. Currently, Transact Technologies has an average volume of 40.81K.
