Billionaire Investor Loeb Cuts Bearish Bets to Avoid Short Squeezes – Letter (Reuters)
Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb has reduced the size of short bets on single named companies to limit the vulnerability of his hedge fund, Third Point, to short squeezes, he said in a letter on Tuesday. “The short-selling environment is much more challenging than it has been historically,” said Loeb in the letter. Analysing a company’s economic prospects has taken a backseat to watching Reddit message boards and options expiries, the letter said.
Coatue Raises $331 Million for Early-Stage Fund, 34% Below Target (TheInformation.com)
Coatue Management has raised $331 million for its third fund focused on early-stage startups, according to a financial filing, a third less than its target and lower than its previous early-stage fund. The smaller than anticipated total shows how the firms that raised huge funds during the pandemic investing boom are falling short of their fundraising goals, taking longer to reach them or choosing to raise smaller funds as valuations for private tech companies sink. The New York hedge fund and venture capital firm, which previously placed successful early-stage bets on design company Figma and corporate card startup Ramp, planned to raise $500 million for its third early-stage fund by the end of 2022 and to focus part of it on artificial intelligence startups, The Information reported in October.
Hedge Fund Manager Says ‘I Remain Short, and Wrong’ (The Street)
Contrarian Doug Kass predicted this year’s rally. With nearly 50 years of experience, he offers up his latest thoughts on stocks and an S&P 500 forecast. Doug Kass is no stranger to controversy. The self-described contrarian with a calculator views the stock market objectively and unemotionally, preferring to let valuation and facts guide his bullishness or bearishness. Kass’ dispassionate approach often puts him at loggerheads with momentum investors who, in his words, “know the price of everything but the value of nothing.”
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Hedge-Fund Giant Man Group’s Stock Heads for Worst Session in a Year (The Wall Street Journal)
A sharp decline in revenue and profit at Man Group sent shares of the hedge-fund giant falling Tuesday, even as it reported a surge in client assets. London-listed Man said funds under management swelled to a record $151.7 billion as of June. Yet that wasn’t enough to offset shareholder concerns about declines in key financial measures. Man’s stock fell 7.7% Tuesday morning, on pace for its biggest decline in a year.
Hedge Fund Managers Scored Big. Investors? Not So Much. (Bloomberg)
The fate of the firm once known as Och-Ziff shows why you should think twice before a hedge fund comes knocking. Cynics often say about hedge funds that they are a compensation scheme masquerading as an asset class. If the critics are looking for ammunition to make their case, they need look no further than Sculptor Capital Management Inc., the firm formerly known as Och-Ziff Capital Management. As a publicly listed company, Sculptor offers an unusual level of transparency. While most firms guard their privacy, Sculptor files proxy statements and earnings reports, and it hosts regular analyst briefings. Last week, 15 years in the public eye, Sculptor decided to bow out, agreeing to sell itself to Rithm Capital, an asset manager focused on real estate and financial services.
Hedge Fund Boss Criticised for Facetious Use of Pronouns (eFinancialCareers.com)
A partner at Balyasny Asset Management does not appear to be a fan of specifying pronouns to clarify your gender. Jeffrey Runnfeldt, the San Francisco-based head of global equities at the fund, describes himself as “He/Haw” on LinkedIn. While the cowboy reference is in keeping with Runnfeldt’s vernacular elsewhere on the site (he is known to say “dang”), it could also be perceived as offensive by some people in the LGBTQ community. “This is both absurd and insensitive,” said one source in the hedge fund industry.
Greenlight Slows Down (Institutional Investor)
The hedge fund headed by David Einhorn slipped further behind the major stock benchmarks. Greenlight posted a modest gain in July, in what was otherwise a very strong month for stocks in general. The value-driven hedge fund headed by David Einhorn added 20 basis points last month and is now up 12.9 percent for the year. This compares with the S&P 500’s 3 percent gain last month and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite’s 4 percent increase.
Dallas Hedge Fund Manager Claims North Texas Judge Turned Him into a Book Villain (The Dallas Morning News)
A Dallas hedge fund executive says a federal bankruptcy judge has written him into more than just legal briefs and opinions. NexPoint founder and principal James Dondero claims that Stacey Jernigan, chief bankruptcy judge for the Northern District of Texas, wrote a villainous caricature of him in the judge’s latest novel Hedging Death, a book about fictional Dallas judge Avery Lassiter and her pursuit of a wealthy Texas hedge fund manager, Cade Graham.
Tuesday 8/1 Insider Buying Report: EOSE, AGNC (Nasdaq.com)
On Friday, EOS Energy Enterprises’ Chief Executive Officer, Joe Mastrangelo, made a $69,574 purchase of EOSE, buying 31,199 shares at a cost of $2.23 each. Mastrangelo was up about 9.2% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with EOSE trading as high as $2.44 in trading on Tuesday. EOS Energy Enterprises is trading down about 4.5% on the day Tuesday. Before this latest buy, Mastrangelo made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $74,744 shares for a cost of $1.15 a piece. And on Thursday, Director Morris A. Davis bought $49,991 worth of AGNC Investment, buying 4,772 shares at a cost of $10.48 a piece. This buy marks the first one filed by Davis in the past twelve months. AGNC Investment is trading down about 0.2% on the day Tuesday. Bargain hunters are able to snag AGNC even cheaper than Davis did, with shares trading as low as $10.12 at last check today which is 3.4% below Davis’s purchase price.
$1.8M Bet On This Tech Stock? Check Out These 3 Penny Stocks Insiders Are Aggressively Buying (Benzinga)
Mobivity Holdings: The Trade: Mobivity Holdings Corp. (MFON) Director Thomas B Akin acquired a total of 1,485,648 shares an average price of $1.21. To acquire these shares, it cost around $1.79 million. iCoreConnect: The Trade: iCoreConnect Inc. (ICCT) CEO and President Robert P McDermott acquired a total of 5,156,944 shares at an average price of $0.10. To acquire these shares, it cost around $81,545.
