Lansdowne Partners is a London-based hedge fund co-established by Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz in 1998. The investment firm is one of the oldest and longest-running hedge funds in Europe and is also considered to be one of the most successful hedge funds in London. Paul Ruddock, one of the founders of Lansdowne Partners and a former head of international business at Schroders, retired in 2013 but still remains a significant shareholder. Meanwhile, Steve Heinz, a former Harvard Management Company equity arbitrage specialist, left the hedge fund in 2014 but still remains involved in the fund’s management. Currently, Lansdowne Partners’ management control has been taken over by Peter Davies and Stuart Roden since the co-founder, Heinz, stepped away in 2014. In the meantime, Alex Snow, a hedge fund manager well-known for betting against British banks during the financial crisis, serves as the chief executive of the hedge fund.
According to its most recent letter to investors, Lansdowne Partners has become more bullish on U.K. stocks as the surprise victory for the U.K.’s Conservative Party is likely to be followed by a period of strong economic activity and limited volatility. At the same time, the fund is very cautious on the future outlook of China. It’s also worth noting that the fund’s 48 long positions as of March 31 in stocks with at least a $1 billion market capitalization returned 5.8% in the second quarter of the year, while its picks have returned 7.6% year-to-date using the same criteria. It should be noted that these are not estimates of the fund’s returns, as options, bonds, and other factors are not incorporated into the data. In the following article we will be covering some of Lansdowne Partners’ best performing holdings in the second quarter, which included JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
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Lansdowne Partners increased its equity holding in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by nearly 1.74 million shares, ending the first quarter with a stake of 20.68 million shares valued at $1.25 billion. The shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. have grown by over 10% year-to-date and by nearly 12% in the second quarter, and it seems that the multinational banking and financial services company is on the right track, as it delivered better-than-expected financial results for the second quarter of 2015. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.54, beating estimates of $1.44 per share. The net income generated by JPMorgan Chase & Co. amounted to $6.3 billion, which marked an increase of 5% year-over-year, whereas the adjusted revenues came in at $24.53 billion, lower by 6% year-over-year. Within our database, Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management represents the second-largest shareholder of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), with 13.58 million shares, right behind Lansdowne Partners.
The London-based hedge fund currently overseen by Davies and Roden increased its stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 723,016 shares during the first quarter, which amounted to an increase of almost 13% in its total stake in the company. This move enlarged the fund’s overall position to 6.31 million shares, which were valued at $1.19 billion on March 31. The stock has increased by nearly 7% year-to-date, and like JPMorgan, had a stronger second quarter than the entirety of its year thus far, returning over 11%. There are hopes that the stock will go higher yet, as the company reported record results in its Investment Banking and Investment Management segments for the first half of the current year. In addition to that, the firm ranked first in worldwide announced and completed mergers and acquisitions since the beginning of the current year, which clearly indicates that Goldman Sachs is moving in right direction. From our database of over 700 hedge funds, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is by far the largest investor in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), owning 12.63 million shares.
Last but not least, Lansdowne Partners sold roughly 38% of its stake in Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), ending the first quarter with 1.70 million shares valued at $632.36 million. The shares of Amazon have skyrocketed by over 70% since the beginning of the current year thanks to the significant spike in its share price on Friday, however they also had a strong second quarter, gaining over 14%. The online retailer reached a new record high of $580.57 during intra-day trading on Friday, after delivering better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter of 2015. Amazon highlighted the enhanced growth of its cloud business, which surely assisted the company in beating the analysts’ estimates. Amazon reported a net profit of $0.19 per share and revenue of $23.19 billion, while analysts anticipated a loss of $0.14 per share and revenue of $22.39 billion. Within our database, Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management is among the largest shareholders in Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), holding 2.23 million shares.
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