Hedge Fund News: Warren Buffett, Marc Lasry, Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT), Oil States International, Inc. (NYSE:OIS)

Berkshire size, Buffett age cloud annual gathering (Reuters)
Warren Buffett may be on safari for major acquisitions, which he likes to call elephants, but shareholders may wonder if his Berkshire Hathaway Inc has become the biggest elephant in the room. Berkshire has grown to look more and more like corporate America, as Buffett expands outside its core insurance business into such areas as energy, industrial products, newspapers, and in February ketchup, when he teamed up with Brazil’s 3G Capital investment firm to buy H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) for $23.2 billion. Few of the 35,000 or more people who will this weekend make a pilgrimage to Berkshire’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska for the company’s annual shareholder weekend, which Buffett calls “Woodstock for Capitalists,” are likely to criticize that strategy.

Herbalife Raises Annual Forecast Amid Ackman-Icahn Spat (Bloomberg)
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), the nutrition company at the center of a battle between hedge-fund managers Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn, raised its 2013 earnings forecast as first-quarter profit topped analysts’ estimates. Profit this year will rise to as much as $4.80 a share, up from a previous forecast of $4.65, the Cayman Islands-based company said in a statement yesterday. Excluding some items, first-quarter profit was $1.27 a share, topping analysts’ projections of $1.06, the average of seven estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Herbalife has fought accusations from Ackman, founder of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP, that it is a pyramid scheme. The company has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying it derives its profits from the sale of unique products. Shareholders have added two directors associated with Icahn, who has come to Herbalife’s defense.

Tesla is the next Apple or Google, hedge fund argues (MarketWatch)
If the Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) bulls weren’t happy enough with the electric car maker’s surging stock price of late, a hedge fund in Scottsdale, Ariz., is circulating its thesis on why Tesla will squeeze the shorts. Longboard Asset Management argues Tesla is the next Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) or Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Wall Street analysts are underestimating Tesla’s brand power. “It is our view that Tesla common stock will trade at $100 per share within 18 months and $200 within the next five years,” Longboard wrote in its presentation. The fund owns Tesla stock.

TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT) & More: Hedge Funds Are Buying (Insider Monkey)
Following SEC filings is important, especially this is the case for 13Ds and 13Gs as they reveal the latest acquisitions or sales in the hedge fund arena. We’d like to focus on Luxor Capital Group, Starboard Value, and Jana Partners. These funds just took some action in the Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN), TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT), Oil States International, Inc. (NYSE:OIS), and HF2 Financial Management Inc (NASDAQ:HTWO). Starboard Value Lp, managed by Jeffrey Smith, an Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP) activist, revealed owning a 7.8% stake in TriQuint Semiconductor. According to a filing made with the SEC, the stake of Starboard Value Lp in TriQuint Semiconductor represents 12,585,000 shares. This is a new position in the Starboard Value equity portfolio, which includes 29 holdings aside from TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT). With this acquisition, Jeffrey Smith will join Ken Fisher and Chuck Royce in TriQuint.

Quad Capital Trader Was Customer in Apple Trade, FT Says (Bloomberg)
A trader at a New York hedge fund was the customer in an unauthorized $1 billion purchase of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock that led to the failure of a Connecticut brokerage, the Financial Times reported. Quad Capital trader Harlan Sender was suspended from the firm after a probe of his Oct. 25 order was begun, the newspaper said. The transaction led to the guilty plea of former Rochdale Securities LLC trader David Miller. Miller earlier this month pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with the trade. He also entered into a partial civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency said. Miller, scheduled to be sentenced on July 8, faces as long as 25 years in prison.

Image: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Bridgewater’s McCormick Warns Against Veering to Protectionism (Bloomberg)
David McCormick, co-president of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates LP, said recent moves by regulators in global financial centers are “yellow flags” for the threat of protectionism. “We’ve had 35 years of globalization,” said McCormick, a former Treasury under-secretary for international affairs, at Bloomberg’s Washington Summit today. He said that it’s “by and large a bad thing” to see individual countries now seek…

…their own regulatory solutions as global efforts bog down. He pointed to an “isolated, U.S.-centric” bill from senators to mandate a 15 percent capital cushion for the biggest banks.

Oil States Rises After Jana Discloses 9.1% Stake: Houston Mover (Bloomberg)
Oil States International, Inc. (NYSE:OIS), a provider of housing at oilfields, rose to the highest in its history after activist investor Jana Partners LLC disclosed a stake and said it’s talked with management about strategic changes. The company, based in Houston, increased 16 percent to $88.54 at 10:46 a.m. in New York. The shares earlier climbing as much as 18 percent to $90.38, the highest intraday since the company began trading in 2001. Jana acquired a 9.1 percent stake in Oil States and spoke with management about separating the company’s well-site services unit and creating a real estate investment trust for the oilfield housing business, the investment fund led by Barry Rosenstein said yesterday in a federal filing.

Poker Link May Have Sunk Lasry’s Ambassadorial Ambitions (FINalternatives)
Avenue Capital Group’s Marc Lasry said he dropped from the running to serve as U.S. ambassador to France due to difficulties separating him from his hedge fund. But Lasry’s ties to an illegal poker ring may have been the real reason. Lasry unexpected withdrew—after having been tipped for the post by former President Bill Clinton, and having restructured Avenue to accommodate his exit—last week, just a week after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided an art gallery at the Carlyle Hotel in New York, which was allegedly used to launder money from an illegal poker ring run by the Russian mob. According to the New York Post, Lasry is friends with one of the 31 people arrested, 27-year-old Illya Trincher, who is accused of running the New York ring. And the Avenue co-founder is known as a fan of poker.

Asian hedge fund rides African rollercoaster (Financial Times)
When China’s newly installed president Xi Jinping visited the Republic of Congo in March, nobody analysed the official statements from the trip more carefully than Nick Taylor, founder of one of the largest hedge funds in Asia. He was particularly heartened by a statement pledging joint co-operation between the two countries. Mr Taylor was looking for evidence of a cordial relationship because Senrigan, his hedge fund, had invested heavily in mining company Sundance Resources, betting that it would be taken over by Sichuan Hanlong, a private Chinese mining company. Sundance, which is listed in Australia, has just one asset – a valuable iron ore project called Mbalam that straddles the border between the Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

Ex-hedge fund boss seeks leniency at NY sentencing (Boston Herald)
A former hedge fund manager convicted of insider trading charges for making as much as $50 million on a tip about Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) earnings asked for leniency Tuesday from the judge who will sentence him in two weeks. Lawyers for Anthony Chiasson said he made less than a half-million dollars after expenses from illegal trades, although the government has said he earned tens of millions of dollars on a tip received about Dell Inc. stock in 2008. The government will submit a response to the defense filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan before the May 13 sentencing. Chiasson, of Manhattan, is the founder of Greenwich, Conn.-based Level Global Investors.

CalPERS asks Milken crowd for hedge fund resumes (Pensions & Investments)
CalPERS continues to build out its hedge fund capability and seeks four additional investment professionals to join its six-person team, said Edigio “Ed” Robertiello, senior portfolio manager, absolute-return strategies, for the $258.3 billion fund. In fact, Mr. Robertiello during his presentation on Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., asked audience members to send him their resumes.

36 South Offers ERISA-Compliant Volatility Hedge Funds (FINalternatives)
Hedge fund 36 South Capital Advisors has launched U.S. pension-friendly versions of its flagship volatility strategy. The London-based firm rolled out versions of the Kohinoor Core Fund and Kohinoor Series III fund that comply with the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Hedge Funds Review reports, opening the strategy to pension funds and other tax-exempt U.S. investors. Prior to the launch of the Cayman Islands-domiciled vehicles, the strategy was available only onshore, domiciled in Ireland.