Hedge Fund - Hawk Ridge Management

Hawk Ridge Partners is a Los Angeles-based long-short equity firm and was the 28th-best performing hedge fund in our database during the second quarter of 2018. Hawk Ridge Management was founded back in 2005 by its current Portfolio Manager, David Brown, with only $4 million in assets. David Brown's career started in 1999 at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, where he worked in the investment banking division. After that, he sharpened his investment philosophy at private equity specialist Brentwood Associates. David Brown’s passion for investing developed when he was still in high school, buying American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shares that have had an estimated gain of 900% since then, shares which he has never sold. David Brown graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from Claremont McKenna College.

The investment strategy that Hawk Ridge Management employs is focused on acquiring long positions in undervalued companies with promising business features, while taking short positions in companies with overly high values and weak business features. The fund mainly invests in U.S businesses, and aside from its Los Angeles headquarters, it also maintains an office in New York City. Its investment philosophies and stock analyses have been strong based on its positive returns throughout the years. From its inception in October 2005 through February 28, 2017, the fund had an annualized return of 12.8%.

The fund’s recent performance figures have also been excellent. In 2016 Hawk Ridge Management returned 17.93%, bumping its average to 12.12% between 2014 and 2016, ending up 34th on Barron’s top 100 hedge funds list in 2017. In 2017 the fund had a return of 8.02% which gave it an average of 11.1% between 2015 and 2017, placing it 58th on Barron’s 2018 list. At the end of December 2016, the fund reported managing around $345 million of net assets on a discretionary basis. Its 13F portfolio was valued at $431.75 million at the end of June.