John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management Increased Its Position in $MCP

John Thaler’s Jat Capital Management, LLC recently increased its position in Molycorp, Inc. (MCP). According to its passive 13G filed on October 3rd, JAT Capital Management now had 5.07 million shares of MCP under control, giving it a 6% stake of the stock. JAT Capital Management was also MCP’s biggest hedge fund stakeholder in Q2, when the firm possessed over 1.55 million shares, or 1.83% stake. MCP experienced a large slump after September 19th, and the stock dropped more than 30% in three days. Since MCP’s trading volume was nearly 15 million at that time, JAT Capital Management could have purchased a large amount during the downturn. However, the transactions in September did not help the stock. Now the stock is trading at about $32.

Molycorp Inc (NYSE:MCP)

Thirty four hedge funds had MCP in their portfolios at the end of the second quarter. Beside John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company had 1.24 million shares, and John Murphy’s Alydar Capital had 1.13 million shares. The two hedge funds each respectively owned 1.47% and 1.34% stakes in MCP.

John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, LLC is based in New York City. John Thaler graduated from University of Chicago with a BA in economics. He worked at a private equity firm, Spectrum Equity Investors, focusing on technology, media, and telecom sectors. Following this gig in Boston, he came back to New York to join Chris Shumway’s Shumway Capital Partners. He worked five years at Shumway’s now closed shop and left in 2007 to launch JAT Capital. He invests mostly in technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. JAT Capital also reported a passive large stake in NFLX earlier this month.

Molycorp, Inc. is in Basic Material sector and is an Industrial Metals & Minerals company. It focuses on the production and sale of rare earth oxides in the western hemisphere. Its rare earth products are used in clean energy technologies, multiple high-tech uses; defense applications; and water treatment technology.