Gundlach Says ‘LQD’ Corporate Bond Fund Looks Like the Most Overvalued Bond Asset Because of Fed (CNBC)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach said Monday a popular exchange-traded fund is incredibly overvalued given some of the Federal Reserve’s actions to support the economy during coronavirus pandemic. “The LQD looks to be about the most overvalued asset in the bond market to me,” Gundlach, CEO of Doubleline Capital, told CNBC’s Scott Wapner on “Halftime Report,” referring to the iShares IBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD). “These things are up way off their lows.”
The Chief Data Officer at $6 Billion Hedge Fund Balyasny Explains How to Merge Quantitative and Fundamental Trading Strategies – and the Importance of ‘Translators’ to Bridge the Gap (Business Insider)
Wall Street firms are increasingly looking to merge quantitative and fundamental trading strategies in hopes of getting the best out of humans and machines. Carson Boneck, chief data officer at Chicago-based Balyasny Asset Management, spoke on a webinar Thursday about the best steps to merge the two teams. One feature Boneck said was key to the process is “translators,” or people who could help bridge the gap between the two sides.
Exclusive: Investors to Challenge Neiman Marcus Bankruptcy Loan, Push for Sale – Sources (Reuters)
(Reuters) – An investor group that comprises investment firm Mudrick Capital Management LP and Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point LLC plans to challenge a $600 million financing package that Neiman Marcus Group has lined up for its looming bankruptcy, and will push the U.S. department store operator to sell itself, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Neiman Marcus is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in a Dallas federal court as soon as Monday, the sources said. The debt-laden company’s sales all but evaporated after the coronavirus outbreak forced it to temporarily shut all 43 of its Neiman Marcus locations, roughly two dozen Last Call stores and its two Bergdorf Goodman stores in New York.
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Barry Rosenstein Sells Off One Of His Hamptons Homes For $37 Million (TipsClear.com)
Barry Rosenstein, hedge fund manager, one manor house in the Hamptons, Wall Street newspaper reports. Rosenstein sold the smaller of his two Hamptons homes to an undisclosed buyer for $ 37 million. It’s a little less than what Rosenstein originally wanted for the house when it first went on sale in 2017, when it had an asking price of $ 70 million. But it’s still enough to make it the biggest real estate sale among the most important of the year in the Hamptons region. As for the house itself, it sits on 1.5 acre of land and covers 14,000 square feet of interior space. It has nine bedrooms and 11 full bathrooms, plus two more half baths for good measure. As for amenities, the house is equipped with an air-conditioned garage, several fireplaces and perhaps the most impressive of all, spectacular views of the ocean (very) nearby.
Nordic Industry Loses Another FoHFs (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After 24 Nordic funds of hedge funds closed their doors over the past five years, London-based International Asset Management (IAM) has announced the decision to liquidate its Nordic-focused fund of hedge funds. IAM Nordic Multi Strategy Fund, which invests in hedge funds tied to the Nordic countries, will be closed down after accumulating an inception-to-date loss of about 14 percent since launching in May of 2017. “During the first quarter of this year, we decided that our fund should be closed,” writes a letter to investors. During the almost three years since the fund’s inception, “we have not delivered the expected returns that we or our investors had expected.” Just like many other investors, funds and hedge funds, IAM Nordic Multi Strategy Fund was particularly hit during the turbulent month of March. The fund was down 7.5 percent last month. “It feels particularly sad that during the last months of the fund we were affected by the events in March and we were unable to deliver a better result,” writes the letter.
A Hedge Fund Manager’s Dream Just Crashed Into the Real World (Bloomberg)
Nicolai Tangen, the future chief executive of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, says he wishes he’d been a bit less extravagant. In early 2018, the London-based hedge fund manager was planning what he hoped would be the event of a lifetime. Tangen compiled a list of attendees: the best and the brightest from the worlds of finance, politics and academia. He would call it, “Back to University.”
Hong Kong Hedge Fund Nets £135m on Record Short in Premier Oil (FNLondon.com)
A Hong Kong hedge fund with one of Europe’s biggest short positions on record reaped massive returns on the bet as the rocky ride in oil prices dragged down shares of UK stock Premier Oil. Asia Research and Capital Management, or ARCM, held a position representing about 17% of Premier Oil shares. The historic plummet in oil prices last week battered the shares of oil companies, as well as pulling down almost every other sector with it. Premier Oil is down around 73% this year.
Warren Buffett May Have Ditched Airline Stocks and Spent $20 Billion on Stock Buybacks, Investor Chris Bloomstran Says (Business Insider)
Warren Buffett may have sold his airline stakes and spent more than $20 billion on stock buybacks last quarter, Chris Bloomstran, head of Semper Augustus Investments, told Business Insider. The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway boss probably hasn’t bought many other stocks, and might struggle to strike bailout deals in the face of government aid and fierce competition, Bloomstran said. Berkshire wouldn’t hesitate to splurge $100 billion on Buffett’s long-awaited “elephant-sized acquisition.” “They would absolutely do it if the right elephant came along,” Bloomstran said.
Monday 4/27 Insider Buying Report: EVR, BMTC (Nasdaq.com)
At Evercore, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Thursday, Principal Financial Officer Robert B. Walsh bought 2,000 shares of EVR, at a cost of $50.14 each, for a total investment of $100,280. Evercore is trading up about 7.2% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Walsh bought EVR at 2 other times during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $663,980 at an average of $60.36 per share. And at Bryn Mawr Bank, there was insider buying on Thursday, by President of BMTC F. Kevin Tylus who purchased 3,000 shares at a cost of $26.34 each, for a trade totaling $79,032. This purchase marks the first one filed by Tylus in the past twelve months. Bryn Mawr Bank Corp is trading up about 9.6% on the day Monday. So far Tylus is in the green, up about 12.3% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $29.59.
A Director at SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, a Director at SYNNEX (SNX), Matthew Miau, bought shares of SNX for $714.7K. In addition to Matthew Miau, 3 other SNX executives reported Buy trades in the last month. Following Matthew Miau’s last SNX Buy transaction on April 02, 2020, the stock climbed by 0.5%. Based on SYNNEX’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending February 29, the company posted quarterly revenue of $5.26 billion and quarterly net profit of $123 million.
Notable Insider Buys Of The Past Week: AT&T, Halliburton And More (Benzinga)
Halliburton: Ahead of an announcement that Halliburton Company (HAL) would suspend operations in Venezuela, a director added 350,000 shares to his stake. At a share price of $8.68, that cost the director almost $3.04 million and raised their stake to nearly 575,000 shares. The stock ended last week’s trading at $8.86 per share, so that director’s purchase seems well-timed. Halliburton stock is up more than 44% since its year-to-date low in March. Darden Restaurants: Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) CEO Eugene Lee and a number of executives and directors took advantage of a share offering at $58.50 apiece. Lee bought more than 25,600 shares for about $1.50 million. Altogether, around 77,800 shares were purchased by insiders last week. The shares popped more than 8% in the past week and closed most recently at $68.82 each. Darden Restaurants stock is more than 64% higher than the year-to-date low seen in March.
Daily Insider Ratings Round Up 4/24/20 (Seeking Alpha)
On Today’s Tables: Insider trades were rated Significant at: Rubius Therapeutics (RUBY); Royce Global Value Trust (RGT); Pioneer Floating Rate Trust (PHD); PGIM Global High Yield Fund (GHY); Evercore (EVR); Western Asset Global High Income Fund (EHI); BlackRock New York Municipal Bond Trust (BQH), and; Accelerate Diagnostics (AXDX). Insider trades were rated Nearly Significant at: Synnex (SNX), and; SunPower (SPWR). Insider trades were considered Insignificant at: Turning Point Therapeutics (TPTX); Boston Beer (SAM); Palomar (PLMR); Progyny (PGNY); PennyMac Financial (PFSI); Exelixis (EXEL); EverQuote (EVER); Emergent BioSolutions (EBS); Ciena (CIEN), and; AssetMark Financial (AMK).
