Hedge Fund News: Philip Falcone, Ray Dalio, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)

Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Hedge Fund Manager and S.E.C. Reach Deal (New York Times)
By Thursday, the agency appeared to be softening its tone. Nearly a year after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Philip A. Falcone of manipulating the market, using hedge fund assets to pay his own taxes and “secretly” favoring select customers at the expense of others, Mr. Falcone disclosed in a public filing that he had “reached an agreement in principle” to settle the two cases with the agency. The S.E.C. also struck a deal with Harbinger Capital Partners, Mr. Falcone’s flagship hedge fund. The settlement, which came after a federal judge in New York questioned aspects of the cases, would be a moral victory of sorts for Mr. Falcone, who has stubbornly resisted a deal for more than a year.

Carson Block Says He’s Shorting Standard Chartered Debt (Bloomberg)
Carson Block, the short seller who runs Muddy Waters LLC, said he’s betting against the debt of Standard Chartered Bank Plc (STAN), the U.K. bank that earns most of its profit in Asia, because of the “deteriorating” quality of the loans it has made. Block said the bank’s $1 billion loan to Samin Tan, chairman of Bumi Plc (BUMI), the coal company at the center of a dispute between co-founders Nathaniel Rothschild and Indonesia’s Bakrie family, and loans to Far East Energy Corp. (FEEC) were “red flags.”

How Do You Find Depressed Stocks? Ask This Hedge Fund (Seeking Alpha)
In the latest round of first-quarter 13F filings, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management has recently shared its equity portfolio, shedding light on how the hedge fund has been positioning itself over the past few months. Iridian typically focuses its efforts on finding value in depressed stocks going through significant managerial or structural changes. Retail investors can benefit from watching hedge fund sentiment, as quantitative analyses have revealed that the best picks of the best money managers can beat the market by as much as 18 percentage points a year.

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)’s 7 Most Committed Hedge Funds (Insider Monkey)
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors had the biggest position in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), worth close to $33.4 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On SAC Capital Advisors’s heels is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $24.8 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, and Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management.

Image: NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Protecting Your Portfolio From a Downturn (Wall Street Journal)
What makes a good fund manager? To many, the answer is easy: Just look at the returns. But recent research points to a different way of sorting out the heroes from the duds: Look at who does well when markets do poorly. Or, to borrow a metaphor from Warren Buffett, “You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out.” Though there’s no silver bullet, homing in on the managers who capture the least downside when markets turn south will at least help you avoid disaster, experts say. “Limiting losses is critical to keeping with your investment plan,” says Matt Schreiber, president of WBI Investments in Little Silver, N.J., which manages $2 billion.

Hennessee: Hedge Funds Add 0.28% In April (FINalternatives)
Hedge funds extended their winning streak to four-for-four in April, but not by much. Hedge funds rose an average of 0.28% in the most-mixed month of the year so far for the industry, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index shows. Indeed, long/short equity funds lost ground on the month even as the broader index rose, shedding 0.17% in a month that saw the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jump 1.81%. The average hedge fund is now up 5.09% on the year, and the average long/short equity hedge fund 5.71%, while the S&P500 is up 12.02%.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Among Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Long-Term Stock Picks (Insider Monkey)
Ray Dalio and his team reported a position of 1.6 million shares in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), making the software company their largest single-stock holding. Following a steep rally in late April, Microsoft Corporation is up 18% year to date and currently trades at 11 times forward earnings estimates. We would note that EPS for the fiscal year ending in June 2014 will likely include a temporary boost to earnings from new versions of Windows and Office. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had just missed our list of the five most popular stocks among hedge funds.

Helvetic criticises EU approach to hedge fund regulatory changes (Investment Europe)
Gibraltar based Helvetic Fund Administration has criticised the EU’s approach to hedge funds, stating that the European Commission has picked the wrong time to focus on introducing liquidity buffers and leverage caps. Nicola Smith, CEO, said that managers are struggling enough as it is with implementing AIFMD, and need to focus on AIFM passports with the support from European institutions and clear guidance from national regulators. “The lack of detailed information, combined with the delays from ESMA, has already lead to uncertainty and turbulence amongst EU based funds over the implementation of AIFMD,” she said.

Pioneer Joins Mirae Favoring Baht to Peso on Yield (Bloomberg)
Pioneer Investments in London said it added to Thai holdings as scope for monetary easing gives the nation stronger growth potential than its Southeast Asian neighbor. Mirae Asset Global Investment Co. and Neuberger Berman Group LLC also prefer Thai debt. Thailand’s 10-year yield is 92 basis points higher than inflation, compared with 18 points in the Philippines. Philippine local-currency notes handed investors more than six times the gain in Thailand this year after the central bank reduced interest rates on its special-deposit accounts to deter peso purchases by foreign funds. The Bank of Thailand will eventually bow to government pressure to lower borrowing costs in 2013 to stem inflows that drove the baht to a 16-year high in April, according to Mirae.

APB Financial Group and Hedge Fund Solutions to Host Webcast to Discuss First Manhattan Co’s Activist Investment in VIVUS, Inc. (Virtual-Strategy Magazine)
APB Financial Group today announced that Damien Park, Managing Partner at Hedge Fund Solutions, will interview two of First Manhattan’s nominees for election to VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) Board of Directors as part of APB’s ongoing series of interviews on shareholder activism. The director nominees to be interviewed include Dr. Sam Colin, Partner and Senior Managing Director of First Manhattan Co., and Michael Astrue, the former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and former CEO of Transkaryotic Therapies, a biotech company whose stock price rose under his two-year tenure from $3.80 to $37.00 before it was sold to Shire plc.