Astenbeck Capital Management is a Connecticut-based hedge fund manager specializing in energy and commodities. Astenbeck Capital was co-founded in February 2010 by the CEO of Phibro LLC, Andrew Hall and Occidental Petroleum Corporation with the goal of managing hedge funds on behalf of Phibro's investors. Today 80% of Astenbeck Capital is owned by Hall, while the remaining 20% is owned by Occidental.
According to the latest 13F submission made to the SEC, Astenbeck Capital had 40 stocks in its portfolio at the end of March. Astenbeck's 13F portfolio underperformed the S&P 500 since the end of first quarter. Brigham Exploration Co (BEXP) was the worst performer, losing 26% of its value. Unfortunately the fund increased its BEXP holding by 40% before the decline.
CompanyName | Ticker | Value | Activity | Return |
MARATHON OIL CORP | 1429 | -2% | -5.3% | |
APACHE CORP | 7594 | 6% | -9.9% | |
MURPHY OIL CORP | 13012 | 7% | -11.3% | |
TETRA TECHNOLOGIES INC | 595 | 7% | -21.0% | |
SECTOR SPDR TRUST | 19939 | 8% | -8.1% | |
CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP | 6910 | 11% | -12.8% | |
SPDR SERIES TRUST | 4414 | 12% | -12.2% | |
CANADIAN NATURAL RES | 7248 | 17% | -18.6% | |
HALLIBURTON COMPANY | 19564 | 19% | -3.5% | |
CORE LABORATORIES NV | 9348 | 20% | -1.0% | |
CONOCOPHILLIPS | 14339 | 24% | -9.7% | |
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC | RDS | 16554 | 28% | -4.5% |
DEVON ENERGY CORP NEW | 16078 | 32% | -13.3% | |
SCHLUMBERGER LTD | 20050 | 34% | -10.0% | |
CIMAREX ENERGY CO | 3128 | 34% | -24.5% | |
EXXON MOBIL CORP | 10379 | 36% | -4.6% | |
ANADARKO PETROLEUM | 7495 | 39% | -11.0% | |
BRIGHAM EXPLORATION | BEXP | 1472 | 40% | -26.0% |
SUNCOR ENERGY INC NEW | 6301 | 40% | -13.1% | |
CHEVRON CORP NEW | 24465 | 46% | -6.6% | |
NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO | 20988 | 48% | -10.6% | |
PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA | 7929 | 71% | -17.5% | |
CONTINENTAL RESOURCES | 4850 | 73% | -15.6% | |
WHITING PETROLEUM | 12769 | 237% | -21.1% | |
B P PLC | 505 | New | -1.5% | |
BARRICK GOLD CORP | 954 | New | -15.9% | |
CONSOL ENERGY INC | 1230 | New | -8.8% | |
FLUOR CORP NEW | 5362 | New | -15.7% | |
FREEPORT MCMORAN | 2268 | New | -11.5% | |
GERDAU S A | 1395 | New | -16.8% | |
HESS CORP | 18643 | New | -14.5% | |
MARKET VECTORS MINERS | 30996 | New | -11.1% | |
MOSAIC COMPANY | 2626 | New | -13.9% | |
OIL SERVICE HOLDRS TRUST | 25037 | New | -10.7% | |
PEABODY ENERGY CORP | 2644 | New | -23.0% | |
RANGE RESOURCES CORP | 398 | New | -9.7% | |
STATOIL A S A | 2709 | New | -7.8% | |
UNITED STATES STEEL | 1652 | New | -19.6% | |
VALE S A | 1429 | New | -6.2% | |
COSAN LTD | 1352 | New | -8.1% |
WLL went down 21.1% after Astenbeck tripled its position. Other hedge funds holding Whiting Petroleum are Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital, Discovery Capital Management and Impala Asset Management. Core Laboratories was among the few best performing stocks that declined by the least amount, just 1%.
The fund's largest holding is Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF, and stands at just under $31 million, making up 8.7% of its entire portfolio. Gold Miners ETF declined more than 11% despite the fact gold prices increased by more than 6% since the end of first quarter. John Griffin and David Einhorn had very large bets on gold miners.
Overall, Astenbeck Capital has underperformed the S&P 500 index in the last quarter, since the portfolio is down 11% versus just 3.8% for the S&P 500. The decline in energy stocks which lost nearly 10% since the end of first quarter explains Astenbeck’s poor performance. We like energy stocks over the long-term and believe that Astenbeck’s stock picks will outperform passive S&P 500 index.
Disclosure: I am long CHK.
