Monsanto Company (MON), RPM International Inc. (RPM): 5 Key Bets Made By This Billionaire’s Subsidiary Hedge Fund

Next up at No. 4 we have CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF). It would seem that anything related to agriculture couldn’t lose this year, but CF had its nose bloodied following recent downgrades from Dahlman Rose and Feltl & Co. Now, other fertilizer producers Potash Corp (POT) and Rentech Nitogen (RNF) have also seen analyst pressure of late, and CF’s downgrade may simply be guilt by association—it still has very strong fundamentals and has managed to control its production costs. Still, the latest selloff was so severe that CF is now trading more than 8% below the S&P 500 on the year.

Rounding out this hedge fund’s equity “fab five” at No. 5 is Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN).  Eastman Chemical manufactures many of the chemicals used in packaging, fibers and even disposable diapers. Of the major players in this market, including Dow Chemical (DOW), PPG, and Celanese Corp (CE), Eastman has continually outperformed all three as well as the S&P 500 when we stretch this time frame to at least three months in the past. After the market-wide selloff in late February, a buying opportunity for Eastman looks to have emerged, and the stock has been showing sizable, albeit uneven, gains. Catapult’s bullishness—it upped its stake in Eastman by 194% last quarter—is an important point to consider when analyzing the company’s investment prospects.

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