Hedge Fund Manager Tepper Is ‘On Guard’ Toward The Market (CNBC)
Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper, who may already have signaled in a recent filing that he is less bullish on markets, is now “on guard” in his approach to trading, according to someone familiar with the matter. Tepper, whose Appaloosa Management has roughly $19 billion in assets under management, is neither too long nor too short, this person told CNBC — and the fund manager thinks the biggest risk to trading stocks in the U.S. right now is attempting to “out-think the market.” If investors don’t like what they’re seeing as the S&P 500 and other indexes hit repeated all-time highs, they should put some money in cash rather than going too short, the source added.
Crisis of the Week: Bridgewater Associates Takes On New York Times (The Wall Street Journal)
The crisis this week involves hedge fund Bridgewater Associates LP and its response to a New York Times article detailing a company culture of sex, fear and surveillance. The company responded by publishing on LinkedIn a strongly worded rebuke of the story from Chairman Ray Dalio. In that response, Mr. Dalio called the claims inaccurate and said he engaged the media because to do otherwise would be “unfair to our hard-working employees and valued clients.” Mr. Dalio said the Times’ reporters “never made a serious attempt to understand how we operate,” and created an image of the firm that differs from the reality.
Jana Partners Adds Time, Expedia Stakes; Exits Pfizer, Allergan (Bloomberg)
Jana Partners, the sometimes-activist hedge fund founded by Barry Rosenstein, acquired new stakes in Time Inc. and Expedia Inc. and exited health-care stocks Pfizer Inc. and Allergan Plc in the second quarter. The fund disclosed new stakes in 24 companies, including Liberty Broadband Corp., and exited 18 others, including Time Warner Cable Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., a regulatory filing Monday shows. It decreased its holdings in five companies including Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Shares in Time, the publisher of People magazine, jumped as much as 7 percent after the stake was revealed.
Hedge-Funder In Hot Water: Sahm Adrangi Arrested on DUI, Cocaine Charges In Hamptons (CNBC)
A crash, some coke and now this hedge-funder’s driver’s license is on ice. Sahm Adrangi, founder and chief investment officer of Kerrisdale Capital, was reportedly arrested early Saturday on charges of drunken driving and cocaine possession after a two-car smashup in the Hamptons. The 35-year-old Yale grad reportedly was behind the wheel of a 2015 BMW convertible at 3 a.m on Montauk Highway in Amangansett, New York, when it crashed into an SUV going in the other direction. The East Hampton Star, which first reported the arrest, said Adrangi and the unidentified woman who was driving the Ford SUV told police that the other had crossed over the double-yellow line before they collided.
2 Iconic Tiger Funds Have Ditched Netflix (Yahoo Finance)
(Netflix’s stock price has dropped from a year earlier. Google Finance) Julian Robertson and Chase Coleman have both dumped Netflix. Tiger Management, the hedge fund run by legendary investor Robertson, and Tiger Global, run by Coleman, his protégé, sold the stock in the second quarter. Tiger Global sold off its entire stake in the second quarter, which as of earlier this year was worth about $1.8 billion for 18 million shares, according to the fund’s first-quarter form 13F filing. Tiger Management and Tiger Global did not list Netflix in their most recent 13F filings for the second quarter.
Billionaire Investors Turn Bearish As U.S. Stocks Hit Record Highs (Reuters)
A number of big-name hedge fund investors soured on U.S. stocks in the second quarter and moved to gold and other bearish bets, failing to anticipate the stock market rally in the current quarter. George Soros, Jeffrey Gundlach and David Tepper were among the billionaire hedge fund investors and money managers who slashed their long equity positions in the second quarter, according to regulatory filings. Gundlach, who oversees more than $100 billion at DoubleLine, told Reuters last month, “The artist Christopher Wool has a word painting, ‘Sell the house, sell the car, sell the kids.’ That’s exactly how I feel – sell everything. Nothing here looks good.”
The real-life hero from ‘The Big Short’ dumped Apple and bought Alphabet (Yahoo Finance)
The real-life hero from “The Big Short,” Dr. Michael Burry, the founder of hedge fund Scion Asset Management, just filed the stocks he’s been buying and selling. According to his fund’s 13-F for the second quarter, Burry exited his positions in Apple (AAPL), First Solar (FSLR), Tailored Brands (TLRD), and Gentherm Incorporated (THRM). During the first quarter, Burry initiated new positions in Alphabet (GOOG) and NeoPhotonics Corporation (NPTN), the filing shows. His largest holding is NexPoint Residential Trust (NXRT), which he’s held since the fourth quarter of 2015. Scion started filing 13-Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year.
