Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks » Bruce Kovner

Global Macro Trading

David Taggart — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:32:57 +0000

After being the largest hedge fund strategy in 1990 representing 71% of the overall hedge fund assets global macro has shrunk and now only represents about 15% of total assets. While most people assume that this dropoff in assets was due to poor performance the numbers actually show a totally different story. In fact according [...]

Caxton Associates | Bruce Kovner | Hedge Fund Notes

Richard C. Wilson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:48:01 +0000

Caxton Associates

Caxton Associates | Bruce Kovner | Notes

The following piece on Farallon Capital Managment Partners, LP is being published as part of our daily effort to track hedge funds in the industry. To review other hedge fund research notes please see our Hedge Fund Tracker Tool.

Resource #1: In a recent 13G filing made with the SEC, Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates revealed their 5.2% ownership stake in Ferro (FOE). As of the date of the filing, they owned 2,276,526 shares. Previously, in their most recent 13F filing, they only owned 245,944 shares. So, as you can see, Caxton has significantly upped their stake in the company.

Caxton Associates is ran by Bruce Kovner. Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." (Wikipedia)

Taken from Google Finance, Ferro (FOE) is "a producer of specialty materials and chemicals that are sold to a range of manufacturers who, in turn, make products for end-use markets. In approximately 50 manufacturing sites around the world, the Company produces products, such as Inorganic specialty products, which include glazes, frits, enamels, pigments, dinnerware decorations and other performance materials."

by Market Folly

Resource #2: Caxton Associates Hedge Fund | 13F Holdings Analysis

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Caxton Associates | Bruce Kovner | Hedge Fund Notes

Richard C. Wilson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:48:01 +0000

Caxton Associates

Caxton Associates | Bruce Kovner | Notes

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Caxton Associates | Bruce Kovner | Hedge Fund Notes

Richard C. Wilson — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:48:01 +0000

Caxton Associates

Caxton Associates | Bruce Kovner | Notes

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Caxton Associates Hedge Fund | Exclusive 13F Holdings Analysis

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:33:43 +0000

Caxton Associatese

Caxton Associates Hedge Fund Holdings

This post is being written as part of HedgeFundBlogger.com's Investment Securities Tool which analyzes the holdings of hedge fund managers.

Up next in the macro hedge fund tracking series we have Caxton Associates, ran by Bruce Kovner. Taken from Wikipedia, Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of hedge fund risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." Year-to-date, Caxton Associates was up 5% as of a few weeks ago.

So, now that we've got a background on Kovner and Caxton Associates, let's take a quick look at his portfolio highlights. Keep in mind that this is merely a brief summary of Caxton's top holdings. Due to the time sensitive nature of the 13F material, I wanted to get this information posted before the next set of filings come out in November.

Top 20 Holdings by % of portfolio
1. Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) - Increased position by 72934%, from 25,000 shares to 18,233,668 shares
2. Electronic Data Systems (EDS) - New Position
3. Activision (ATVI) - New Position
4. Monsanto (MON) - Increased position by 41 %
5. Rockwood Holdings (ROC) - Increased position by 68.8%
6. W-H Energy Services (WHQ) - Increased stake by 195%
7. Occidental (OXY) - Increased stake by 65%
8. ChoicePoint (CPS) - Decreased position by
9. DirecTV (DTV) - Decreased stake by 25%
10. W.R. Grace (GRA) - Boosted stake by 8%
11. Qualcomm (QCOM) - Boosted stake by 44.6%
12. Coca Cola (KO) - Decreased position by 12.5%
13. Rural Cellular (RCCC) - Increased stake by 12.4%
14. Research in Motion (RIMM) - Boosted stake by 8.7%
15. Service Corporation (SCI) - Increased position by 32%
16. Nucor (NUE) - Boosted position by 37%
17. (ANST) - New position
18. XTO (XTO) - Boosted stake by 150%
19. Stewart Enterprises (STEI) - Increased position by 12%
20. Gilead (GILD) - Decreased position by 26.7%

Kovner's Caxton Associates definitely disassociate themselves from the rest of the macro pack when it comes to the equity side of their portfolio. While their portfolio does hold typical energy and technology names often seen in other hedge fund portfolios, they also hold seemingly obscure names that I have yet to see pop up in any other funds I track. So, Kovner and his team may have discovered some diamonds in the rough here. In particular, I want to focus on his top holding: Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU). In the quarter prior to the filing, he held just 25,000 shares of this name. Then, over this past quarter, he ratcheted up his holdings in the name big time. He increased his position by 72,934%, bringing it all the way up to his firm's top holding, with a market value of over $642 million at the time of the filing. Needless to say, they bought this name with conviction. And, although I've seen numerous other funds buying up shares of Latin & South American beverage companies, this is the first fund I've seen pick up this name. So, definitely keep an eye on it.

Additionally, I want to point out his holdings in Rocwood Holdings (ROC), W-H Energy Services (WHQ), and Service Corporation (SCI). These are three other names I am seeing for the first time amongst the hedge funds I track. And, he was adding across the board to all three names. Caxton added to WHQ the most, increasing their position by 195%.

Now, turning to the 'hedge fund favorite' names that tend to pop up in numerous hedge fund portfolios that I track, we see Caxton holds positions in Qualcomm (QCOM), Research in Motion (RIMM), XTO Energy (XTO), Occidental (OXY), and Gilead (GILD). Caxton was out adding pretty moderately to all these names. OXY and XTO are easily two of the favorite equity energy plays amongst various hedge funds. And, you have to wonder how they affected their portfolio, given the volatile ride energy stocks have seen as of late. Turning to tech, we see that Caxton, like so many other funds, enjoy large positions in both QCOM and RIMM. As I've noted before, QCOM is easily a top five most common equity holding among the hedge funds I track. And, just like energy, technology stocks have been whipsawed around a lot recently. So, although Caxton was out adding this past quarter, we'll have to see if they were still adding to these names come the next 13F filing.

We already knew hedge funds (and macro funds in particular) had a rough July. And, it's easy to see why, with the heavy commodity exposure many of them had. What we don't yet know is how they've rebounded (if at all). Lastly, I just want to re-emphasize that since Caxton is a macro fund, they obviously have the majority of their positions in the commodity, currency, futures, or other markets. But, at the same time, they still have a sizable chunk of money in the equity markets.

Caxton Associates' full 13F filing listing every position can be found at the SEC.

Guest post by Market Folly

Please check here next week for some further analysis on specific holdings of leading hedge funds.

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Hedge Fund Year To Date Returns | Top Managers D.E. Shaw SAC Paulson

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:01:28 +0000

Hedge Fund Returns

Hedge Fund Year to Date Returns

While these "year to date returns" are now slightly out of date here's a nice guest post by Market Folly on the performance of some of the more well known funds in the hedge fund industry:

Well, we recently got an update as to just how poorly hedge funds are performing year to date. Don't get me wrong, there are of course some standout performers. But, for the most part, they are taking it on the chin. Even some of the best and brightest in the game are right there with you. Hell, you're probably even outperforming some of these funds. Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, we get a look at many notable hedge fund's performance year to date.

The Standout Performers

$35 billion Paulson & Co: +18% ytd
$26.3 billion Brevan Howard: +16% ytd
$37.1 billion D.E. Shaw: +8% ytd
$30.9 billion Bridgewater Associates: +6% ytd
$33.3 billion Och-Ziff Capital: +0.5% ytd
$16 billion Winston Capital: +10% ytd
$10 billion Caxton Associates: +5% ytd
$17 billion Tudor Investment Corp: +3% ytd
$16 billion SAC Capital: +1.5% ytd

The Not-so Standout Performers

$49.3 billion Highbridge Capital /JP Morgan (Multistrat fund): -2% ytd
$33 billion Farallon Capital: -6% ytd
$23.7 billion GLG Partners: -14% ytd
$13 billion Eton Park Capital: -1% ytd
$19 billion Citadel Investment Group LLC: -6% ytd
$18 billion Lone Pine Capital: -8.5% ytd
$12.5 billion TPG-Axon: -11% ytd
$8 billion Cantillon Capital: -12% ytd
$15 billion Atticus Capital: -25% ytd

The Slightly Mixed Bag

$29.5 billion Renaissance Technologies: One of their funds is -1% ytd, while their signature Medallion fund is +40% ytd
$26.9 billion Goldman Sachs: One of their funds is -2% ytd, while their Global Alpha fund is +17% ytd

And, according to Hedge Fund Research, Inc., hedge funds are having their worst year since 1990 (when they started tracking). They show that the average hedge fund is -3.43% ytd compared to -12.65% in the S&P500 and +1.05% in the Lehman Bros Bond Index.

So, results all across the board. Interesting to note though, that Atticus Capital is down 25% year to date. Tim Barakett, the founder of Atticus, came out and denied those rumors. The reason for such a large decline is pretty easy to pinpoint. As I've written about before, their portfolio had very heavy exposure to the likes of Freeport McMoran (FCX), Mastercard (MA), and NYSE Euronext (NYX); all of which have really been beaten down badly as of late. So, the rumors of liquidation weren't completely illogical, seeing as how the fund is down big this year. But, I want to reiterate again that they have denied the rumors that they were liquidating.

On another note, the algorithm master Jim Simons and his Renaissance Technologies Medallion fund are up big this year; very big. That's all I can really say about that, seeing as his entire operation is one giant quant enigma. D.E. Shaw & Co, fellow quant masters, are doing decently, up 8% year to date in this horrid tape.

Lone Pine Capital, managed by Stephen Mandel, (whom I frequently cover here on the blog), isn't having the best of years, but isn't getting slaughtered like Atticus is. Lone Pine is down a little over 8% year to date.

The "Commodities Corp Offspring," Paul Tudor Jones and Bruce Kovner have been playing the commodities markets smartly with their macro funds it seems. Jones' Tudor Investment Corp is up 3% ytd, while Kovner's Caxton Associates is up 8% year to date. With the wild swings in the commodities markets claiming the life of the Ospraie fund, I'm sure Tudor Jones and Kovner are happy to turn a profit. This year has been one wild ride, to say the least.

And, lastly, John Paulson is still kicking ass and taking names; up 18% year to date. You'll remember that Paulson correctly pegged the subprime crisis last year and profited handsomely from it.

So, there you have it. See how you stack up against some of the most revered names in the game. Some are dominating, while others are getting dominated. Welcome to the bear market.

Source: WSJ

Guest Post by Market Folly

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Caxton Associate’s (Bruce Kovner) Key Q2 Buys and Sells

CEO Blogger — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:53:47 +0000

Caxton Associates, run by well known and one of the industry’s best money manager’s, Bruce Kovner, is a $6.5 billion hedge fund. The fund holds 1200+ stocks in its portfolio and the KEY trades (or most material trades) in the quarter are tracked at: http://trackthepros.com/ The trades are broken down by New, Sold, added to and reduced: New Ansoft Clear [...]

Hedge Funds in India

Richard C. Wilson — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:32:29 +0000

Hedge Funds in India

Hedge Funds Based in India

More hedge funds which seem to mostly manage over $300M each are establishing a presence in India. Here is an excerpt from a recent article from VC Circle:

A bear market rally on the Indian bourses is attracting a renewed interest from the hedge fund managers. It is now, Stephen Mandel, one of the highest paid hedge fund managers in the world, eyeing the Indian stock markets. Lone Pine Capital LLC, run by Stephen Mandel, and Traxis Partners LLC, are among 56 overseas funds who have registered with market regulator SEBI in July alone to invest in Indian markets, reports Bloomberg.

Interestiongly, this period saw the maximum number of hedge funds registering in India. Samir Arora’s Helios Capital Management Pte is another leading hedge fund that have registered with SEBI. Stonewater Capital LLC was another one. Caxton Associates LLC, an $11 billion fund started by Bruce Kovner, and Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC are also among 293 funds approved in India this year. Dubai-based Baer Capital Partners had recently launched Beacon India Alpha Equity Fund, a long/short equity fund.

Why sudden surge of interest? The funds were asked to register in India to invest in indian shares, or given 18 months to sell their holdings. SEBI board will meet today to evaluate the impact of those rules, Bloomberg reported quoting the finance ministry."

Read the full article by clicking here

- Richard

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