It’s T. Boone Pickens’ Birthday – Here Are 22 ‘Boone-isms’ On How To Win In Life And Business (BusinessInsider)
It’s billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens birthday today. The 86-year-old certainly has a way with words and a knack for telling it like it is. He’s known for engaging with hip-hop stars like Drake and Dr. Dre on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) about becoming billionaires. The author of “The First Billion Is The Hardest” has a ton of catchy/easy to remember phrases about life and business. They’re affectionately referred to by his family and staff members as “Boone-isms.”
Hedge Funds Get Fat on Lehman’s Remains (BusinessWeek)
Almost six years after Lehman Brothers Holdings filed for the largest bankruptcy in history and triggered a global market meltdown, hedge funds are still feeding on its remains. A few firms that waded into the morass following the financial crisis and have spent years analyzing the bankruptcy—including Paulson & Co., King Street Capital Management, Värde Partners, Halcyon Asset Management, and Solus Alternative Asset Management—have made billions of dollars trading in Lehman’s debt. And as they collect on claims or sell them, investors are buying ones that come on the market.
SEC Charges Sarasota-Based Private Fund Manager With Fraud (HedgeCo)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Sarasota, Fla.-based private fund manager with defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme that ensued after he squandered their money on bad investments and personal expenses. The SEC alleges that Gaeton “Guy” S. Della Penna raised $3.8 million from investors in three private investment funds that he operated. Investors were told their funds would be used to trade securities or invest in small companies. Despite depicting himself as a distinguished trader and profit-maker, Della Penna lost nearly all of their money by making unsuccessful investments and diverting more than a million dollars to himself for mortgage payments and money for his girlfriend…
Texas Employees returns 1.3% in Q1, up 11.2% for year (PIOnline)
Texas Employees Retirement System’s returns topped the $25.4 billion fund’s benchmark in three of five measurement periods ended March 31. The Austin-based pension fund returned 1.3% in the three months ended March 31, trailing its benchmark by 10 basis points; one year, 11.2%, 70 basis points above the benchmark; three years, 8.1%, up 10 basis points over the benchmark; five years, 13.8%, trailing the benchmark by 30 basis points; and 10 years, 6.6%, 30 basis points above the benchmark. In the quarter ended March 31, global credit, real assets, rates and hedge funds contributed “positive relative value.
Goldman Sachs: Here Are 50 Stocks Most Loved by Hedge Funds (WSJ)
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) +0.31% quarterly analysis of hedge-fund holdings shows the industry continues to struggle keeping pace with the broad market. Hedge funds are flat for the year while the S&P 500 is up 2%, according to Goldman Sachs, which analyzed performance from 777 hedge funds with $1.9 trillion under management. A drop in correlation, the tendency of stocks to move in the same direction, and tight dispersion–a measure of how much stock returns differ within individual sectors–have weighed on hedge-fund performance. “Performance headwinds from stock-picking were compounded by poor market timing,” Goldman wrote to clients, as many hedge funds cut their exposure to media and Internet stocks in early April, just as many of those beaten-down stocks were starting to rebound.
See What This $7 Billion Hedge Fund Company Is Buying (Fool)
The latest 13F season is here, when many money managers issue required reports on their holdings. It can be worthwhile to pay attention, as you might get an investment idea or two by seeing what some major investors have been buying and selling. For example, consider highly regarded value investor David Einhorn and Greenlight Capital, which he founded. Einhorn’s investing success and advocacy of financial transparency and accountability have attracted many fans. Although he isn’t afraid to short stocks, he prefers going long, looking for situations where he feels a stock is mispriced. He started Greenlight with less than a million dollars, and it now boasts a stock portfolio worth $6.7 billion.
Hedge funds underperform S&P 500 YTD (CNBC)
Hedge Funds Clash With Wall Street on Warrants: Argentina Credit (BusinessWeek)
The surge in Argentina’s securities tied to economic growth is rekindling a decade-old disagreement between investors and Wall Street. The warrants, which provide payouts when growth exceeds targets, have jumped 29 percent from a nine-month low in March on speculation a data revision that boosted the size of the economy will lead to bigger payments in the future. While investors are piling into the securities, banks from Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) to Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) say the advance is excessive as the terms of the warrants have enough wiggle room for Argentina to avoid making the larger disbursements.
Here Are The 49 Stocks That Big Hedge Funds Love Most (BusinessInsider)
FactSet is out with its quarterly report on what stocks the 50 largest hedge funds are holding. FactSet notes that these hedge funds increased their equity exposure by 1.9% in the first quarter, and increased their exposure to the most widely held names by 7.5%. Apple, while still being the second-most widely held stock among large hedge funds, was the largest sale for four of the fifty funds, and is the biggest equity position for three funds at the end of the first quarter, down from six in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Arden Wins Mass. Hedge-Fund Consulting Role (Finalternatives)
Massachusetts’ main public pension fund is sticking with Arden Asset Management. The firm is expected to be tapped as the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board’s hedge fund adviser, it said yesterday. The mandate is expected to be finalized by the $58 billion pension’s board next month. Arden has managed MassPRIM’s transition from fund of hedge funds to direct hedge fund investments for the past two years. The firm was previously a fund of funds manager for the pension.
Brazil World Cup Win Risks Stock Losses in Boon to Rousseff (Businessweek)
Hedge-fund manager Luiz Carvalho can’t quite bring himself to root against his home country of Brazil in next month’s World Cup. Still, it’s awfully tempting. A defeat for the five-time winners of soccer’s championship would be a blow to President Dilma Rousseff’s re-election bid, Carvalho said, bolstering the chances for a new government that would be friendlier to investors after the worst economic performance of any administration since 1992. As polls started showing Rousseff losing popularity before October’s vote, Brazilian stocks have posted the best returns in dollar terms among the world’s major equity indexes since mid-March, rebounding from a bear-market bottom.
Oil States ‘man-camp’ spinoff faces uncertain growth outlook (Reuters)
As Oil States International Inc prepares to spin off its oilfield housing unit next week, the new company’s uncertain growth prospects cast doubt on whether the energy industry’s trend toward such corporate breakups is a true “one-size-fits-all” solution. The spin-off, which follows pressure from hedge fund Jana Partners LLC in an attempt to unlock value, is expected to be quickly followed by a conversion to a real estate investment trust (REIT). That step would bring tax benefits but limit cash available for growth projects. Oil States became one of the largest players in the so-called “man camp” accommodations business, amassing more than 20,000 dormitory-style rooms across remote parts of Canada, Australia and the United States for roughneck workers at Imperial Oil Ltd, Vale and others.
Carl Icahn Reduced His Netflix Stake by 15%. So What? (Fool)
Every quarter, large money-managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold via “13F” filings. While Fools don’t always (or even usually) follow what the big money does, we can often glean an idea or two by tracing their footsteps. Carl Icahn has made a boatload on his investment in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), and he has cashed in some of his chips again, selling around 421,000 shares in the first quarter, according to the most recent 13F filing. If Icahn sold Netflix at the quarterly peak of $485, that’s a cool $193 million, versus $138 million at the lowest price of the quarter, $328.71:..
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