For years, companies have been buying land, building towers (or allowing a lessee to do so), then leasing the land to wireless carriers like AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ). These carriers served as tenants, leasing space for antennas and other equipment in order to develop their wireless networks. (more…)
Whitney Tilson founded his firm T2 Partners with Glenn Tongue in 1999. Since then, it has returned 177% cumulative since its inception compared to just over 36% for the market at large. Last year, T2 Partners lost around 25% (read more about hedge fund returns in 2011 but that trend appears to be reversing. In the 1st quarter this year, Tilson’s top picks were up almost 20% (read more about first-quarter performance here). (more…)
Is Starbucks a good investment right now? Starbucks fell off sharply Friday April 27, going from $60.66 a share at close on April 26 to just $57 a share. The catalyst was that the world-famous coffee company reported its earnings late Thursday. It did manage to beat analyst estimates – Starbucks reported earnings of 40 cents per share on estimates of 39 cents and revenues of $3.2 billion on expectations of $3.18 billion – and even excelled compared to same quarter last year, outperforming its earnings per share from the same period last year by 17.6% and surpassing its revenues by 14.7%. (more…)
PepsiCo (PEP) trumped analyst estimates on Thursday, April 26 when the company announced that during the first quarter 2012 it had earned 69 cents a share, over analyst estimates of 67 cents a share and brought in revenues of $12.43 billion, versus estimates of $12.36 billion. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised – after all, Pepsi has either toppled analyst estimates or met them with regard to both earnings and revenues for the previous 5 quarters. But, that is only part of the story. Pepsi might have beaten analyst estimates, but it did not beat its own historical numbers. Pepsi had earned 74 cents a share the same quarter last year. (more…)
Bill Ackman, Pershing Square
“Pershing Square Capital, the $11bn hedge fund run by high-profile US activist investor Bill Ackman, is planning a $4bn public flotation for a new fund in January 2013,” reports the Financial Times. ”Ackman intends to float the vehicle, which has already been set up in Guernsey and is known as Pershing Square Holdings, on a ‘major’ exchange”. PSH is designed to be a “shell company” and would “invest all of its assets in Pershing Square’s offshore hedge funds.”
Phil Falcone
John Paulson’s Paulson & Co losses last year have gotten a lot of press attention – after all, one of his top funds lost almost 53% – but his other funds loss considerably less. In fact, one fund lost just 10%, which may not be great but it is a far cry from 53%. In Paulson’s case, it was simply a matter of poorly times bets. Unfortunately, hedge fund Phil Falcone cannot say the same.
Falcone’s Harbinger Capital lost almost as much as Paulson’s worst performing fund last year, losing 47%. The fault was not owed to a series of poor bets. Falcone’s largest position, over half of his 13F portfolio in fact, is in Spectrum Brands Holdings (SPB), a stake valued at $769 million at the end of the fourth quarter 2011. Since the beginning of the year, that position alone has returned almost 25% in the first quarter this year – hardly a bad bet. The Harbinger Group (HRG), the second largest position in the Harbinger Capital portfolio (accounting for over 32% of the 13F portfolio value) is up even more, returning nearly 35% in the first quarter. The third largest stake in Harbinger Capital’s 13F portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter was Crosstex Energy (XTXI). It returned over 24% in the first quarter 2012. In other words, Falcone can pick a stock. (more…)
John Paulson
In a bid to reverse losses stemming from poorly timed bets and overcorrection last year, hedge fund manager John Paulson is shorting European sovereign bonds, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.”He is also buying credit-default swaps on European debt, or protection against the chance of default… Spanish banks are of particular concern as their holdings of the country’s debt and client withdrawals make them overly dependent on European Central Bank financing.” (more…)
Last year, Wells Fargo (WFC) had its highest mortgage fees since 2009. This combined with gains from reduced delinquencies thanks to the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program and record low interest rates made for a solid first quarter. Wells Fargo reported $21.64 billion in revenue, versus analyst estimates of $20.24B. The company’s first quarter earnings per share was 75 cents, versus estimates of 72 cents. The numbers were really good, but they weren’t great. (more…)
John Paulson
Bermuda Welcomes Significant New Reinsurer (Tax-News.com)
The Bermuda government has welcomed the news that a new reinsurance entity will set up shop in Bermuda from June 1, 2012, as part of a joint venture between Validus Group and hedge fund manager John Paulson. The joint venture between Validus and Paulson has a contributed capital of USD500m. Validus will underwrite business for the new entity, PaCRe Ltd, and receive commission in return. The entity has been approved as a new Bermuda Class 4 reinsurer, which will focus on underwriting top layer reinsurance programs with a long-term approach to asset management. The Bermuda government welcomed the commitment as a vote of confidence in Bermuda, and its offering as a very attractive jurisdiction for international business.
Is China Mobile A Good Stock To Buy? (InsiderMonkey)
The European economy has been weak after the sovereign debt crisis last year, while emerging markets such as Asia and Latin America remain strong. One of the fastest growing countries is China and an increasing number of investors are investing their money in this promising market. One way to do this is by investing in American Depository Receipts (ADRs). (more…)
Tim Armstrong, CEO, AOL
Patents are big money right now. Many companies are using patents as a means to gain a competitive edge – if not through developing technology worthy of patents, then by filing lawsuits for supposed infringement of patents – but that doesn’t mean that patents are always valued appropriately.
AOL (AOL) has been pursuing options to maintain its position in the face of slow advertising growth and rapidly reducing subscribers. The company has lost almost 30% of its revenue since spinning off from Time Warner (TWX) in 2009. CEO Tim Armstrong has been in talks with private equity firms at least as far back as September, when he approached several private equity firms about combining AOL and Yahoo (YHOO). (more…)
Chase Coleman
Investment opportunities can come from anywhere. Often the most profitable are the ones that come from seemingly nowhere. The latest global opportunities to hit the scene come from emerging markets, like China and to an extent Africa.
“Tiger Global, a hedge fund run by an early investor in Facebook and Zynga, has put $8m (£5m) into an Anglo-Nigerian company distributing Nigerian films worldwide,” reports the Telegraph. “The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, has grown at about 18pc a year and was worth almost $300m in 2010. It produced about 2,000 new films in 2010 and that number is growing at 15pc a year, according to research by management consults McKinsey & Co.”
