Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET), American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG), Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES), Monitise Plc (LON:MONI)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman listed some of his favorite stocks on Thursday and said the biggest winner of all might be mobile banking company Monitise Plc (LON:MONI). “That’s a five bagger,” Cooperman, who runs Omega Advisors, said about Monitise Plc (LON:MONI) at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference on Thursday. “That’s the one I would pick to win a contest with,” he said on a panel that discussed fund manager’s best ideas. Cooperman also said he likes Express Scripts Holding Company (NASDAQ:ESRX), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET) and American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG). American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) recently replaced Apple as the hedge fund industry’s favorite stock, according to a report from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS).
Hedge fund conference (BostonGlobe)
The SALT hedge-fund conference, held over four days at the Bellagio resort, is a lot of things: It’s an ideas conference, a Wall Street bacchanal, a power-networking event. It is also, with its vaunted lineup of speakers, a place to absorb the musings of senior Wall Street money managers and Washington politicos. On Wednesday and Thursday, panelists weighed in on everything from the risks of the situation in Syria to investment opportunities in the shipping industry. A keynote speaker was John Paulson, the billionaire manager who has recently absorbed steep losses across a number of his strategies. Paulson urged investors to have a long-term horizon and stick with hedge funds, even through rough patches. ‘‘Don’t focus on weekly or monthly returns,’’ he said.
Barney Frank, Scott Brown hobnob at Vegas junket (BostonHerald)
A hedge fund junket might be the last place you’d expect to find a self-styled crusader against the abuses of Wall Street. But three years after he was a leading co-sponsor of the Dodd–Frank Act, a sweeping reform of the U.S. financial industry, there former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank was yesterday, yukking it up with his one-time political foe, former Bay State U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, at the SALT conference at the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas. The two joined Republican Party operative Karl Rove and former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) for a panel discussion dubbed “Real Issues, Real America: Putting Citizenship over Partisanship.”
Hedge-Fund Booster Anthony Scaramucci’s Tips for Successful Schmoozing (NYMag)
Last night, by the pool at the Bellagio, Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci threw a party that would have put Jay Gatsby to shame. At SALT, the annual Las Vegas hedge-fund conference he runs, Scaramucci took the stage and welcomed hundreds of his fellow hedgies to a Cinco de Mayo–themed shindig that included feather-clad dancing showgirls, a tarot-card reader and cigar-rolling station, Kobe beef mini-tacos, an open bar, and shrimp and mango ceviche shooters — all courtesy of his fund-of-funds firm, SkyBridge Capital, and SALT’s many other sponsors. “Ladies and gentlemen … er, more gentlemen than ladies!” Scaramucci said. “Welcome to SALT 2013!”
Hedge Fund Billionaire John Paulson Is Selling His Breathtaking Aspen Mansion For $29.9 Million (BusinessInsider)
Closely-followed billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson has put his gorgeous Aspen ranch on the market for $29.9 million, Aspen Business Journal reported citing a listing. [via Curbed] Paulson, who famously bet against the subprime housing market in 2007, purchased “Aspen Lakes Ranch” for $24.5 million back in 2010. Last summer, he snapped up Hala Ranch in Aspen from Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan for $49 million. It was listed for $135 million.
Goldman cuts investment fund pledges in half since Dodd-Frank-filings (BNN)
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has slashed its capital pledges to investment funds by nearly half since the Volcker rule was signed into law in 2010, as it prepares its principal investment business for restrictions on investing its own money, according to regulatory filings. The Wall Street bank has reduced future commitments to hedge funds and funds that invest in private equity, credit and real estate, by $5.8 billion US since June 2010, the last period before the Volcker rule was included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. That represents a reduction of 48 percent, according to data in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Why are hedge fund titans so upset about the stock market boom? (WashingtonPost)
We can argue all day long about whether quantitative easing policies from the world’s central banks are doing much to help the economy. But this much is for darn sure: It is boosting a wide range of financial markets. The stock market is the one most often cited, including the ascent of the Dow Jones industrial average over 15,000 for the first time this week. But it’s equally true for plenty of other assets: corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, government bonds, real estate investment trusts. This is exactly what you would expect to happen in a world in which the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan have all bought vast sums of bonds using newly created money. Indeed, pushing up asset prices is an explicit goal of those policies. So, why are some of the people who you would think would be the biggest beneficiaries of this strategy so angry about it?
