Whale Rock Picked Some of the Biggest Winners of the Year Like Tesla — Here are Fund’s Top Holdings (CNBC)
After taking large positions on work-from-home stocks early this year, Alex Sacerdote’s Whale Rock Capital Management made a new bet on a payments company and dumped some blue-chip stocks in the second quarter, according to a securities filing. Sacerdote, who founded Whale Rock in 2006, has been one of the rising stars of the hedge fund world in recent years. The fund has grown to be one of the 20 biggest hedge funds by equity value with stock holdings of more than $14 billion, according to FactSet.
Hedge Fund Marble Ridge to Shut Down (The Wall Street Journal)
Marble Ridge Capital LP, a hedge fund known for its role investing in distressed companies, is shutting down after a bankruptcy watchdog revealed founder Dan Kamensky attempted to influence an auction for a piece of bankrupt retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. A spokesman for Marble Ridge said Friday that the fund is “winding down.”
Harley’s Activist Investor Backs Business Reboot Strategy (Reuters)
CHICAGO (Reuters) – An activist investor who shook up Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) earlier this year said he is impressed with the changes initiated by new Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz to turn around the 117-year-old motorcycle company. Impala Asset Management, the $2.4 billion hedge fund, pushed for the ouster of Zeitz’s predecessor Matt Levatich in January. Months later, it tried to install two directors on Harley’s board, asking for operational fixes to recover its market share in the United States, Europe and Japan.
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Not Carved in Stone (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Carve Capital, in which Brummer & Partners has maintained a minority stake of close to 50 percent, had decided to liquidate its Carve funds due to “disappointing returns in recent years, a declining asset base and uncertain future opportunities.” Brummer Multi-Strategy, the core of Brummer & Partners, has never invested in the Carve funds and is not affected by the decision. “Although a difficult decision to make, the logic behind liquidating Carve is clear,” comments Per Josefsson, Chairman of Carve Capital. “With a declining asset base, a continued unfavorable and difficult-to-assess relationship between equities and corporate bonds, the management company believes that the conditions no longer exist to deliver the investment goals both in the short and long term in the firm’s current format,” he adds.
Hedge Funds Rack Up Big Gains on Gold, Silver and Bitcoin Bets (Financial News)
Hedge fund managers have made a killing from booming prices of precious metals and cryptocurrencies. That’s according to the August 2020 Eurekahedge Report, which found that funds investing in precious metals such as gold or silver were up 54.47% in four months ending in July, taking their year-to-date performance to 39.96%. Fund managers loading up on cryptocurrencies are up 49.89% in the first seven months of the year, compared with gains of 16% in 2019.
Precious Metals Specialist Hedge Fund Delbrook Gains More Than 20 per cent in July (Hedge Week)
Delbrook Capital, a Vancouver-based specialist metals-focused long/short equity hedge fund, has continued to capitalise on this summer’s soaring precious metal prices. The firm’s long/short equity-focused strategy, the Delbrook Resource Opportunities Master Fund, was up 21.6 per cent in July, bringing its year-to-date gain to more than 102 per cent, according to its latest investor bulletin. Delbrook’s strategy combines relative value, event driven and opportunistic investment approaches focusing on a range of precious metals – including gold, silver, platinum and palladium – as well as base metals like copper and zinc, industrial metals such as iron ore and coal, and energy metals including lithium and uranium.
Australian Hedge Fund Bets Big on Asymmetric Themes (Opalesque.com)
The Arnott Opportunities Fund (Cayman) is up 16% YTD (to August, Month-to-Date). It has annualised more than 22% since May 2013, compared to 6.9% for the MSCI, according to documents seen by Opalesque. That good fortune comes from a strong focus on asymmetric investment opportunities. The fund went through the first months of 2020 by focusing on macro drivers for risk and opportunities. “We watched the risks of COVID unfold in January and reduced our small-cap exposure aggressively,” says an Arnott presentation overviewed by Opalesque. “Then we positioned very short in our hedge book and financials into March and respected the power of liquidity the Fed provided in April. We lifted our index hedge and covered short financial positions no longer at risk.”
Now Hedge Funds are Hiring Technologists in Poland Too (eFinancialCareers.com)
It’s not just Goldman Sachs, UBS, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan that have big back office and technology centres in Poland. Last month, hedge fund Point72 announced plans to open a Warsaw office with 150 people working across finance, technology and operations in 2021. Now the firm is looking for someone to make those hires. Point72 is advertising for a recruitment lead in Warsaw with experience of sourcing technology talent for financial services firms. It says it plans to run a local graduate recruitment program focused on campus hiring and entry level employees in Warsaw, and that it wants its new recruiter to create a strategy that will, “attract and retain the best local talent.”
Realpage Inc (RP) Chairman & CEO Stephen T Winn Sold $12.1 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman & CEO of Realpage Inc, Stephen T Winn, sold 200,000 shares of RP on 08/20/2020 at an average price of $60.59 a share. The total sale was $12.1 million. RealPage Inc is a provider of demand software and software-enabled services for the rental housing and vacation rental industries. Its solutions include marketing, pricing, leasing, accounting, purchasing, and other property operation capabilities.
Friday 8/21 Insider Buying Report: TACO, CRMD (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Del Taco Restaurants’s Director, Lawrence F. Levy, made a $425,704 purchase of TACO, buying 50,800 shares at a cost of $8.38 each. Levy was up about 3.1% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with TACO trading as high as $8.64 at last check today. Del Taco Restaurants is trading up about 1.8% on the day Friday. Before this latest buy, Levy bought TACO at 2 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $498,419 at an average of $2.90 per share. And on Wednesday, Mehmood Khan bought $221,350 worth of CorMedix, buying 45,750 shares at a cost of $4.84 a piece. Before this latest buy, Khan made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $111,925 shares for a cost of $6.58 each. CorMedix is trading up about 3.7% on the day Friday.
What Did This CEO Just Do with Personal Shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG)? (Analyst Ratings)
On August 19, the COB, Pres & CEO of Procter & Gamble (PG), David S. Taylor, sold shares of PG for $17.97M. In addition to David S. Taylor, 22 other PG executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Over the last month, David S. Taylor has reported another 3 Sell trades on PG for a total of $11.55M.
Novavax Inc (NVAX) EVP, Chief Legal Officer John A Herrmann Iii Sold $6.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP, Chief Legal Officer of Novavax Inc, John A Herrmann Iii, sold 46,242 shares of NVAX on 08/18/2020 at an average price of $144.33 a share. The total sale was $6.7 million. Novavax Inc is a clinical-stage vaccine company. It is engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of recombinant nanoparticle vaccines and adjuvants.
