Tiger Management’s Robertson Bullish on Microsoft, Air Canada – CNBC (Reuters)
Julian Robertson, founder of hedge fund Tiger Management, told CNBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that he was bullish on the shares of Microsoft Corp and Air Canada. Robertson praised Microsoft’s management and cloud business, calling it a “great company.” Tiger Management owned 403,000 Microsoft shares at the end of the second quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He called Air Canada well run and “very cheap,” noting that it was trading at just three and a half times earnings.
Investing’s Crowded Conscience (BloombergGadfly)
One of the world’s most famous hedge fund managers is the latest to throw his hat into the ring of socially responsible investing. Paul Tudor Jones, the founder of Tudor Investment Corp., is backing a nonprofit organization called JUST Capital. He said the group has created what it calls America’s Most Just Index of 32 companies based on how they treat their employees, consumers, communities, shareholders and the environment. The icing on the sustainably sourced cake, according to Jones, is that the group of companies has significantly outperformed the stock market this century.
No Excuses For Poor Hedge Fund Performance – Lansdowne’s Roden (Reuters)
Hedge funds should stop making excuses for poor performance, the chairman of Lansdowne Partners said on Wednesday against a backdrop of weak average returns that have prompted some to pull their money out. “When we as managers … have a bad year, we need to be honest and tell clients we are making mistakes,” Stuart Roden, who heads up one of London’s oldest hedge fund firms, said at the Sohn Investment Conference in Tel Aviv. The average hedge fund had returned slightly more than 4 percent in the year to end-September, industry tracker Hedge Fund Research (HFR) said, less than half that of the FTSE 100 over the same time period.
GE Abandons Deal for 3-D Printer as Billionaire Singer Balks (Bloomberg)
General Electric Co. abandoned its planned acquisition of a German 3-D printing company after failing to receive support from shareholders including billionaire Paul Singer. A tender offer of 38 euros a share for SLM Solutions Group AG lapsed after the “minimum acceptance condition” wasn’t met by the Oct. 24 deadline, GE said Wednesday in a statement. It doesn’t plan to negotiate new terms, spokesman Rick Kennedy said in a telephone interview. The deal’s collapse is a setback for GE’s efforts to expand use of so-called additive manufacturing as it focuses on building industrial equipment with digital capabilities. The Boston-based company, which already uses the machines to print fuel nozzles for jet engines, has said acquisitions can help it build a $1 billion 3-D printing business by 2020.
Norfolk Southern Didn’t Need Bill Ackman (BloombergGadfly)
Norfolk Southern was right: It didn’t need Bill Ackman‘s help.It’s been about a year since the $27 billion railroad found itself on the receiving end of Canadian Pacific’s takeover advances, with the then-Ackman-backed carrier arguing that its CEO Hunter Harrison would do a better job turning around the business than his counterpart at Norfolk Southern, Jim Squires. The pursuit ultimately failed amid opposition from the Justice Department and major customers like FedEx, and Ackman later sold his Canadian Pacific stake and resigned from the board. But Norfolk Southern has still been on the hook with investors to show that it can deliver on its own the kind of cost cuts and higher valuation that Ackman and Canadian Pacific were promising. So far, it’s doing a decent job.
David Tepper Tells Us The Most Dangerous Place To Put Your Money (Business Insider)
David Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management, needs little introduction. After leaving Goldman Sachs to start his $19 billion hedge fund in 1993, he’s had one of the best track records on Wall Street. Some have called him the greatest trader of his generation, but you readers can fight about that in the comments. Linette Lopez: The yield curve is still flat, many think that European banks are still under capitalized, and you said on a recent CNBC interview that you don’t think the stock market can go much higher (which generally means there’s only one way it can go). In this market, where do you think is the most dangerous place to keep your money? David Tepper: I think German and UK bonds are most susceptible to a significant decline. On UK bonds, with weakness in currency, future inflation indicators have picked up to the 3% area with close to 1% 10 year.
Fund Manager Notches First Win In Drug Patent Challenge Campaign (Reuters)
A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal has invalidated most of Shire PLC’s patent on its Gattex short bowel syndrome drug, handing hedge fund manager Kyle Bass his first victory in an ongoing campaign of challenging drug patents. A panel of three administrative patent judges of the PTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled in a pair of decisions Friday that 61 of the 75 claims in Shire’s patent were void on obviousness grounds. The patent was set to expire in 2022.
