Hedge Funds: October Performance Numbers - Who's Up, Who's Down

We have been anxiously awaiting the numbers from various hedge funds to see just how poorly (for the most part) many of them did in the abysmal month of October. If you'll recall, the indexes fell 10% or so in the month alone. Undoubtedly, the swift move caught a lot of people off-guard. Below, I've assembled a collection of performance numbers from various funds sourced from anonymous investors, hedge fund investor letters, and various media publications. If you missed it, you can check out our September hedge fund performance update to get a feel for how these funds were doing before the month of October struck. So, let's get right to it.

1. Maverick Capital's Maverick Fund was -6.34% for October and is now -26.47% year to date (ytd). Lee Ainslie's fund is off the beaten path this year, as it is accustomed to solid annual returns. You can see its most recent investor letter here, and its portfolio holdings here.
2. Viking Global's Global Equities III Fund was -1.10% for October and is -2.41% ytd. Its Global Equities LP is -3.92% for the year and was down 1.10% in October. All things considered, Andreas Halvorsen and company seem to be faring all right this year. You can view its month-by-month performance breakdown here.
3. Barry Rosenstein's Jana Partners had a rough month. Its Piranha fund was -19.2% for October and is now -21.7% for the year, and its Nirvana fund fell 13.2% in October and is down 21.9% ytd. As you can see, a big chunk of its losses came solely from the month of October. You can check out some recent Jana portfolio updates here and read about its recent rough patch here.
4. Steven Cohen's SAC Capital was -12% for October and now finds itself -18% ytd. Those performance numbers angered Stevie and he moved SAC to cash. Cohen is also said to be closing his CR Intrinsic fund, which is comprised of mainly his own personal money. [Dealbreaker]
5. Farallon Capital was -9% for October and -23% ytd.
6. Tontine Capital Partners was -65.7% in October and now down an astonishing 76.8% for the year. We recently detailed that it had revealed a 6.16% stake in Myr Group (MYRG). You can also find out where its pain was coming from by checking out Tontine's portfolio holdings.
7. Peter Thiel's macro fund Clarium Capital was -18% for October and now finds itself -2.8% for the year. The month of October was disappointing for it, as it gave up the solid gains it had posted earlier in the year. This was due, in part, to its shift to equities right before the carnage hit in October. We posted about Clarium's recent performance here and detailed its portfolio holdings here.
8. Passport Capital's Global Strategy Fund was -38% for October and is now -44% for the year. We had previously written about Passport's performance here.
9. Ken Griffin's Citadel continues to feel the pain as its Wellington fund was -38% for October and sits -44% for the year. We recently detailed Citadel's pain here.
10. Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates is having a decent year. Its Global Investment fund was up 2.6% for October and sits up 7.25% year-to-date. It recently boosted its stake in Ferro (FOE). The rest of Caxton's portfolio can be found here.
11. Daniel Loeb's Third Point was -10.3% for October and is -26.9% ytd. Our most recent coverage of Third Point's portfolio can be found here.
12. Paulson & Co's dominance continues. Its Advantage Plus fund is up 29.4% for the year after posting a +3.8% gain in October. Paulson & Co recently took a large stake in Cheniere Energy (LNG) and we previously saw it shorting U.K. banks.
13. Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital was -5% for October and only finds itself down 13% for the year. The fund has had a wild ride this year; after being up 42% in June and it is now -13% for the year. This can partially be attributed to the fact that its portfolio was previously littered with natural resource equities that had been obliterated such as Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) and Freeport McMoran (FCX). Check out how Harbinger profited from shorting Wachovia (WB) and view the rest of its portfolio here.
14. David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital sees itself -13% for October and now -26% for the year. We've covered Einhorn's portfolio activity here.
15. Shumway Capital Partners' Ocean Fund was up 0.85% in October but is still down 8.24% for the year. Chris Shumway, one of the many ‘Tiger Cubs’ we cover here on the blog, runs the fund. 'Tiger Cubs,' if you're not familiar, are pupils of legendary Julian Robertson's Tiger Management hedge fund. Shumway recently detailed some investment ideas at a 'Tiger Cub' hedge fund panel.

While many funds have found it difficult out there, others have gained footing. Obviously, in such a market environment, one would expect bearish funds to do well. That’s exactly the case with $7 billion short-seller Jim Chanos. His Kynikos long-short fund is up 11% through the year. His Ursus short only fund is up 53% through October. And, he's done even better than his numbers last year, in which he returned 30%. In a comment made to the New York Post, Chanos refused to name names, but revealed that, "We are short all of the satellite and most of the cable companies in the U.S."

Additionally, others have found a way to profit off the gloom and doom. Drury Capital is up 60% for the year with the help of its proprietary computer models. Conquest Capital, a $611 million macro fund ran by Marc H. Malek, is up 44% year-to-date. The scary part about his fund is that even with his stellar performance, he is still seeing redemption requests. This simply goes to show that everyone just needs cash. And, when in times of duress, sell your winners.

This has easily been the worst year for hedge funds in quite some time, thanks to yet another horrible month in October. As evidenced above, even some of the historically brightest managers in the game are stumbling. These kinds of struggles will lead to even more investor redemptions and continued deleveraging. For more information and background on some of the prominent hedge funds mentioned above, head over to my posts on hedge fund manager interviews and Alpha's hedge fund rankings.

Make sure to check back with us here at MarketFolly.com as the new 13F filings start to pour in this week and next week. We'll examine the latest SEC filings that reveal the updated portfolio holdings of the hedge funds mentioned above.

Sources:

• Anonymous investors
• Hedge Fund Investor Letters
• Hedge Fund Investor Letters, Part 2
• New York Post
• New York Times
• Bloomberg

Disclosure: None

Comments

[Pipo:]

And Tudor Jones how is he faring?

2008 Nov 12 06:47 PM