Barry Rosenstein and Jana Partners: Returns and Stock Holdings

Barry Rosenstein’s $1.9 Billion value oriented and event driven hedge fund Jana Partners returned 8.4% in 2010 . Recently one of the partners of the hedge fund, Kevin Lynch, departed the firm.

Barry Rosenstein JANA PARTNERS

Jana Partners’ performance since 2007 isn’t spectacular at all. In 2007, they returned 7.9%, followed by a -23.4% loss in 2008. Jana Partners returned 23.9% in 2009 and they just recovered their 2008 losses in December 2010. Here are some of the largest stock positions Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners had in their portfolio at the end of September 2010:

1. Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE): Coca Cola Enterprises was Jana Partners’ largest position at the end of September. The stock returned more than 20% since then. This is also one of the 7 high conviction stock purchases made by Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital. Barry Rosenstein and Lee Ainslie were right on target with this stock pick.

2. Charles River Lab Intl. (CRL): Charles River returned 13% since the end of September, slightly less than the S&P 500 index. A director of the company, Stephen D. Chubb, recently sold 1,000 shares under a 10b5-1 plan.

3. Convergys Corp (CVG): Barry Rosenstein serves on the board of directors of Convergys. The stock returned more than 30% since September. Yet Barry Rosenstein isn’t done investing. He acquired more than 1.5 million phantom shares at $13.25 in December.Three other CVG insiders sold smaller amounts at the end of August and early September at around $10 per share. Clearly these were ill-timed sales.

4. Motorola Inc (MOT): Like Carl Icahn, Barry Rosenstein was invested in Motorola, which split into two companies.

5. Apple Inc (AAPL): One of hedge funds’ favorite stock is also owned by Barry Rosenstein. Craig Effron and Curtis Schenker’s Scoggin, David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global, Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick are also among those hedge funds. Apple returned nearly 23% since the end of September, beating the S&P 500 index by 9 percentage points.

6. Immucor Inc (BLUD): Immucor increased by 5% since the end of September.

7. Comcast Corp (CMCSA): Comcast increased by 27% since the end of September. Comcast insiders have been selling since the beginning of November.

8. Radioshack Corp (RSH): Radioshacklost more than 18% since September, underperforming the market by a huge margin. James F Gooch, Executive VP and CFO of Radioshack, sold his stocks as the share price kept going down.

9. Weatherford International (WFT): T. Boone Pickens also has WFT in his portfolio. Weatherford returned 40% since the end of September, outperforming the SPY by a huge margin.

10. Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ): Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management has Hertz shares in the portfolio but has been reducing the position. Hertz gained nearly 32% since the end of September.

Barry Rosenstein also had Microsoft (MSFT), UAL Corp (UAL), Western Union (WU), Alcon Inc (ACL), Madison Square Garden (MSG), Transatlantic Petroleum (TAT), Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT), Xerox Corp (XRX), Omnicare Inc (OCR), Popular Inc (BPOP), Ashland Inc (ASH), and Transatlantic Holdings (TRH). Glenview’s Larry Robbins also likes Xerox Corp (XRX).

Barry Rosenstein’s new positions that are smaller in value (he might be adding to these positions during the fourth quarter) are Viacom Cl B (VIA-B), Carefusion Corp (CFN), Sprint Nextel (S), and Smurfit-Stone Container (SSCC).