Selz Capital LLC is a hedge fund headquartered in New York and managed by Bernard T. Selz since 2003. The fund offers investment advisory services regarding security portfolios of individuals, as well as small businesses. As of the end of the first quarter of 2015, Selz Capital has a diversified portfolio with 23% invested in the consumer discretionary sector, 21% in transports, 18% in energy and 13% in healthcare. The fund has a total of 61 positions valued at $596 million according to its latest 13F filing and its largest holdings are represented by Macquarie Infrastructure Company LLC (NYSE:MIC), Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), and Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL).
Even though most smaller investors believe that tracking 13F filings is a waste of time because they are filed with a delay of 45 days after the end of a calendar quarter, the results of our study prove the opposite. To be on the safe side, we used a delay of 60 days in our backtests that involved 13F filings between 1999 and 2012 and still managed to gain an annual alpha in the double digits. Moreover, since the official launch of our strategy in August 2012, we obtained returns of more than 137%, beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by some 80 percentage points (see more details on how to beat the market by following 13Fs).
Selz Capital LLC boosted its stake in Macquarie Infrastructure Company LLC (NYSE:MIC) by 69% during the quarter to 999,703 shares, with a value of $82.30 million. A couple of months ago, RBC Capital and Oppenheimer raised their price targets on Macquarie Infrastructure Company LLC (NYSE:MIC) to $94.00 and $85.00 respectively. Aside from Selz Capital, Brenner West Capital Partners and Tiger Legatus Capital are two other shareholders of Macquarie Infrastructure Company LLC (NYSE:MIC) among the funds from our database.
Bernard Selz’s fund has added 25,000 shares to its stake in Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), raising it to 134,000 shares valued at $39.88 million. Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT) is the most popular healthcare stock among the funds we track, the bullish sentiment being caused by the company’s substantial growth through a line of acquisitions that has transformed it into one of the largest pharmaceutical companies. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global and Dan Loeb’s Third Point are also prominent investors with large positions in Actavis plc (NYSE:ACT), according to their latest 13F filings.
Selz Capital LLC acquired 416,900 shares of Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) during the first quarter, giving it a total of 944,900 shares valued at $35.66 million. Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) is a small-cap company engaged in the purchasing and leasing of aircrafts to airlines, whose stock advanced by 13% since the beginning of the year. Last week, the company delivered one Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft to Belarus-based Belavia on a long-term lease. Other shareholders of Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) are John Osterweis’ Osterweis Capital Management and Dinakar Singh’s TPG-Axon Management.
Selz Capital also raised its exposure to biotech and raised its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 50% to 300,000 shares valued at $29.44 million. Even though Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)’s stock inched up only by 4% during the first quarter, being outrun by the majority of its smaller peers from the biotech industry, investors are bullish on the stock for its long-term prospects, considering it a safer bet amid a biotech bubble. Julian Robertson also holds a substantial position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) which contains 533,900 shares as of the end of 2014, the stake being the second-largest in Tiger Management’s equity portfolio.
Bernard Selz made an interesting move by taking a new position in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) with 550,000 shares valued at $24.4 million, which represents 4.21% of his portfolio. The move comes as Yahoo’s stock lost 12% during the first three months of 2015. Though the stock is up by more than 180% over the last three years , the company’s core business is in trouble, with revenue declining in the last several years. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) plans to spin-off its small business unit by the end of the year, together with its 15% stake in Alibaba, a move which was highly appreciated by investors who have been waiting for such a decision since the IPO of the Chinese e-commerce giant. Meanwhile, James Dinan’s York Capital Management, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group and Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management initiated large positions in Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) during the fourth quarter of 2014.
Disclosure: None
