This is the 1st Quarter 2009 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings series preface.

Next up, we have Eminence Capital. Eminence is a New York hedge fund ran by Ricky Sandler. As of this last quarter's filing, Eminence held $4 billion in long U.S. equity exposure. Sandler attended the University of Wisconsin and holds a CFA designation. Prior to Eminence, Sandler started his career as a research analyst for Mark Asset Management and then went on to start Fusion Partners at the age of 25 with Wayne Cooperman. As their investment styles started to differ, Sandler went on to start Eminence.

It's one thing to have viral marketing when it comes to consumer products, media, etc. But lab equipment? Bnet reports on a small viral-video war between laboratory supply companies. Yes that's right, lab supply.

It started (as far as I can tell, but correct me if I’m wrong) early last year, when Bio-Rad (BIO) Laboratories put out a “We Are the World” tribute extolling the virtues of PCR. According to the song, the DNA amplification technique is particularly useful not just for detecting mutations, but “when you need to find out who the daddy is.”

F2Q09 Earnings Call

May 14, 2009 4:45 pm ET

Bullish Calls:

Scientific Games (SGMS): "It does has a hammerlock on lotteries. I think lotteries are a terrific, terrific business. It's come down dramatically, and I want to buy the stock... buy, buy, buy!"

At ChinaBio Today, we kicked off last week with an in-depth look at 2008’s venture capital investments in China’s life science industry (see story). The full-year numbers show a relatively small 16% falloff from 2007's record investment pace, despite the worldwide economic collapse. However, full-year 2008’s numbers are distorted by a very strong Q1, followed by three quarters in which 2008’s activity was substantially below the year earlier. The venture capital review is part of our series “The State of China Biotech.” Earlier we presented research on life science patents since 2000, and we have a review of deals, both partnering and merger, still to come.

Providing an example of one trend we identified in our venture capital review, Zhangjiang Hi-tech Zone announced a 1 billion RMB ($147 million) fund to support young life science companies (see story). Called the Zhangjiang Biopharmaceutical Industry Fund, it will assist companies with biopharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic reagent and traditional Chinese medicine products. To qualify, the projects must be approved for clinical trials or production/marketing, or be about to enter the clinical investigation stage. We noted that local governments are starting funds as venture capital becomes harder to secure.

In a collaboration, Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), together with a team from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and Tongi University, discovered new insight into how adult cells can be coaxed into a pluripotent state where they act like embryonic stem cells ((ESC)). Pluripotent stem cells have the ability to grow into all types of tissue.

The researchers observed a developmental signaling network of 16 signaling pathways, including nine that had not previously been assigned roles in maintaining or inducing pluripotency. The findings of the collaboration’s research were published as "Yamanaka factors critically regulate the developmental signaling network in mouse embryonic stem cells" in the journal Cell Research.

This is the 4th Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings preface.

This week, turning the focus to global macro funds, we'll be checking in on Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp. Do note that global macro funds are typically not equity focused funds. While they do indeed have equity exposure, the majority of their holdings are in other markets. So, we mainly track them to check in on their sector exposure to see what types of global macro themes they may be investing in. This is a switch from some of the more value oriented funds we've been covering, like the 'Tiger Cub' funds including Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, and Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global. Global macro funds seek to find investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. But, they are only required to disclose equity holdings.

Sentiment

Stocks are trading mixed in a day of relatively quiet market action Wednesday. After falling almost 300 points Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has traded in a narrow 138-point range and sits near unchanged heading into the final hour. While an oversold bounce helped lift the industrial average at the open, trading remained cautious following another round of bleak economic data.

A report released early in the day showed housing starts falling to an annualized rate of only 466,000 in January, down from 560,000 the month before and well below economists forecasts for a decline to 529,000. A separate report released a little later showed industrial production falling 1.8 percent last month, also below consensus forecasts of -1.5 percent.

• Stimulus bill becomes law. Obama signed the $787B economic stimulus package into law yesterday, less than a month after taking office. The signing was accompanied by a relatively upbeat speech in which Obama focused on a positive future and said "we have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time." Obama also said the stimulus doesn't "constitute all of what we must do to turn our economy around," and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs added that Obama has not ruled out the possibility of a second stimulus package. (Read Obama's remarks at the signing)
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Agilent Technologies, Inc. (A)

F1Q09 Earnings Call

Agilent Technologies

Guidance

The consensus estimate is 28c for EPS and $1.26B for revenue, according to First Call. In response to deteriorating economic conditions, particularly in electronic measurement market, Agilent lowered its Q1 EPS guidance on December 9 to a range of 28c-32c per share vs. previous guidance of 34c-38c per share. The company also lowered its Q109 revenue guidance to a range of $1.25B-$1.3B, down 7%-10% from a year earlier. Prior guidance was for a revenue range of $1.34B-$1.39B.

This is the Third Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series we're doing on Hedge Fund 13F's here.

• Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital
• Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners
• Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital
• Bill Ackman's Pershing Square
• Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital
• John Paulson's Paulson & Co
• David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital
• Dan Loeb's Third Point
• Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp
• Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management
• Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates
• George Soros Soros Fund Management
• Chase Coleman's Tiger Global
• Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital
• Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital
• John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital
• Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global
• Chris Shumway's Shumway Capital Partners
• Paul Touradji Touradji Capital
• Eric Mindich's Eton Park Capital
• Barry Rosenstein's Jana Partners
• Seth Klarman's Baupost Group
• Art Samberg's Pequot Capital Management

Next up, we have Eminence Capital. Eminence is a New York hedge fund ran by Ricky Sandler. As of this last quarter's filing, it held $4 billion in long U.S. equity exposure. Sandler attended the University of Wisconsin and holds a CFA designation. Prior to Eminence, Sandler started his career as a research analyst for Mark Asset Management and then went on to start Fusion Partners at the age of 25 with Wayne Cooperman. As their investment styles started to differ, Sandler went on to start Eminence. Sandler employs a 'quality value' approach to running his portfolio, spending equal time on both the long and short sides of his portfolio. In the past, he has said it employs gross leverage and typically is around 120% long and 70% short.

Scientific gizmo-maker Agilent Technologies reported better than expected earnings for its fiscal Q4. On its FQ408 conference call, the test and measurement equipment manufacturer weighs in on the Wimax vs. LTE debate, the semi-conductor market and on China’s manufacturing sector.

I have been negative on Tech as a sector relative to the market as a whole, but I am no longer so. I shared my reasons over a year ago (too early), arguing that the strong balance sheets and high exposure to international sales were masking high valuation and significant but under-appreciated exposure to the consumer.  I noted that recessions had never been kind to tech stocks and this one wouldn't likely be different. 

2008 hasn't been kind at all to Tech, as it is actually the third worst sector year-to-date (after Financials and Materials), down almost 46% and trailing the S&P 500 by over 5%.  Most of the poor relative performance has actually taken place recently.  At the end of May, when the S&P 500 was down about 5% year-to-date, the Tech sector was down the same. 

F4Q08 Earnings Call

November 14, 2008 8:30 am ET

Investors should consider shares of Agilent Technologies (A) following its earnings today. The stock has fallen with the rest of the techs, dropping nearly 35% since the end of September alone. The company’s earnings release will tell the story after-hours which is likely to begin and end with the realization that this baby has been thrown out with the bath water.

This bio-analytical and electronic measurement solutions company provides to the life-sciences and broader health care sector which hasn’t seen as rapid a deterioration relative to the rest of the non-healthcare tech economy.

Agilent Technologies

Guidance

The consensus estimate is 59c for EPS and $1.54B for revenue, according to First Call. Guidance for Q4 provided on the last earnings call is for 58c to 62c in EPS and $1.52B to $1.58B in revenues.

Sometimes a big juicy IPO is just what the market needs to shake loose from its doldrums. It's hard to tell whether private equity-owned Avago Technologies Ltd.'s upcoming offering will be such a seminal event, but it sure is the biggest deal to consider plying the turbulent public markets in some time.

The former Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) chip unit, which was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Silver Lake Partners for $2.66 billion in 2005, in one of the biggest tech LBOs, filed on Thursday to go public.

• JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley take back $7B in ARS. JPMorgan (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS) settled with regulators Thursday, agreeing to buy back at part more than $7B in illiquid auction-rate securities that were marketed as near-cash equivalents. They will also will pay damages to retail clients who sold their holdings for a loss. "The industry is taking responsibility for correcting a problem they helped create and that's a good thing," NY AG Andrew Cuomo said. "The fundamental goal has been to return money into the hands of investors and that's what these deals do." JPM rose 3%; MS +1%.
• Economists expect GSE bailout. A WSJ survey of economists finds chances are better than 50/50 (59%) that the Treasury will ultimately prop up Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) with taxpayer money, despite Secretary Hank Paulson's insistence to the contrary. "Blank checks almost always get filled in and cashed," one says wryly. One-third think the GSEs should be nationalized now. FNM +7%; FRE +8%.
After you finish reading Wall Street BreakfastSeeking Alpha's Market Currentswill keep you current all day long.
• Bank funds still draw. Funds that invest in banks are attracting more money, even as they post their biggest losses in almost five decades. Financial ETFs raised $8.6B since January - while banks in the S&P 500 lost 54% from their 2007 records. Robert Leiphart of Birinyi Associates explains "When people say, 'It's the worst it's ever been,' it's usually the bottom and the time to start to buy." Not everyone is so bullish: some are investing in bank funds to hedge short positions on financial stocks.
• Oil speculators: Slippery target. New data show oil market speculators are playing a more prominent role than previously understood. A recent reclassification of large market players bumped speculators' share of trade to 49% from 38%, a development that will bolster calls to increase regulation - and will force authorities to gain a better understanding of who's in the market and why they're there.
• Pickens still an oil bull. Despite oil's recent pullback, T. Boone Pickens says crude will not drop below $100 due to America's heavy dependence on foreign oil. Yesterday the NY Post reported Pickens' hedge fund, BP Capital, which manages about $7B in assets, plunged 35% in July.
• BP suffers Russia blow. A Moscow labor court banned TNK-BP (BP) CEO Robert Dudley from holding executive office in Russia for two years. BP's Russian JV partners "are getting away with nothing short of murder... they can terrorize BP, making any excuse to wrestle control of their joint venture," Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit said. "You cannot run a company long distance like that." If TNK-BP is forced to take on a new CEO, Russian stakeholders will be in the driver's seat to make the choice.
• Google-powered smartphone by Christmas. A Google-powered (GOOG) phone is finally here, almost. T-Mobile (DT) will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone powered by Google's Android software, and the phone is expected to go on sale in the U.S. before Christmas - possibly as early as October. The high-end phone is expected to compete with Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and other smartphones from Palm (PALM), RIM (RIMM), Microsoft (MSFT), and Nokia (NOK). The phone will have a touch screen, like the iPhone, and will also have a full five-row keyboard that slides out.
• Soros Fund buys big stake in Petrobras. Soros Fund Management bought an $811M stake in Petroleo Brasileiro [Petrobras](PBR) in Q2, making the Brazilian oil company its largest holding at 22% of the fund. Soros has been increasing his mining and commodities holdings, and in November Petrobras announced the discovery of a new oil field, the largest such find in the Americas in over thirty years. Share of Petrobras, however, have fallen 28% since June 30, marking a $235M loss in value for the fund.
• More newspaper downsizing. Gannett (GGI) said it is cutting jobs 1,000 jobs at its Community Publishing division. McClatchy (MNI) said it will freeze wages for all employees for one year. GGI +10.6%. MNI +2.6%.
• GM rises 10.6% on downsizing, Volt plans. GM (GM), struggling to turn profitable as demand falls for its cars and trucks, said Thursday it will cut capacity by 500,000 vehicles between now and 2010, moving production away from trucks, with minimal capital investments. It also said it will finalize the design of the all-electric Chevy Volt by mid-September, and hopes to have 50 prototypes by the end of 2008.
• Global picture gets gloomier. Four of the world's five top economies (U.S., euro-zone, Japan, U.K. Not: China) are now flirting with recession, a trend that will pressure multinational corporations and stock market investors who until recently thought the global marketplace had decoupled from the U.S. "The global economy is sputtering amidst a widening in the slowdown from the United States to Western Europe and Japan," JPMorgan economist David Hensley says, noting emerging economies are also beginning to feel the squeeze. Most recent data points: 0.2% GDP contraction in the euro-zone; 5.6% inflation in the U.S.
• CPI jumped to 5.6% Y/Y, way higher than the 5.1% consensus. Core CPI also exceeded expectations; +0.3% vs. +0.2%. Prices increased 0.8% from June, double economist consensus of 0.4%. Economist Keith Hembre says we've probably seen the peak of the inflation readings, at least in the near-term. Some anomalous readings are likely to reverse out in coming months.
• Weekly jobless claims were 450,000, down 10K from last week (revised to 460K from 455K), but 15K above consensus. The four-week moving average jumped by 19,500 to 440,500.
• Existing Home Sales fell 16% to 4.91M in Q2, the NAR says. Prices fell by 7.6% to $206,500 as surging foreclosures drove bargains. Foreclosures and short sales (homes sold for less than the unpaid mortgage balance) accounted for 1/3 of all Q2 sales.
• China's factory and property spending growth accelerates, with urban fixed-asset investment jumping 26.8% in H1 (vs. an expected 26.6%). The latest of several indicators underscoring the strength of the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Earnings: Before Friday's Open

• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Q2 EPS of $0.88 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $846M (+5.1%) vs. $851M. Sees 2009 EPS of $4.95-5.00 vs. $5.36. [PR]
• New York & Company (NWY): Q2 EPS of $0.14 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $296M (+3.8%) vs. $284M. [PR]

Earnings: After Thursday's Close

• Agilent Technologies (A): FQ3 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $1.44B (+5.1%) in-line. Sees FQ4 EPS of $0.58-0.62 vs. $0.64. Shares +0.4%. [PR]
• Autodesk (ADSK): Q2 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $619.5M (+17.8%) vs. $606M. Shares +8.9%. [PR]
• Kohl's (KSS): Q2 EPS of $0.77 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $3.73B (+3.8%) in-line. Sees Q3 EPS of $0.51-0.56 vs. $0.57. Shares +4%. [PR]
• Nordstrom (JWN): Q2 EPS of $0.65 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $2.29B (-4.3%) vs. $2.31B. Sees Q3 EPS of $0.49-0.54 vs. $0.56. Shares -2.1%. [PR]

Today's Markets

• Asia Friday: Nikkei +0.48% to 13,019. Hang Seng -1.09% to 21,161. Shanghai +0.56% to 2,451. BSE Sensex -2.44% to 14,724.
• Europe markets are higher at midday. London +0.1%. Paris +0.6%. Frankfurt +0.3%.
• U.S. futures: Dow +0.32%. S&P +0.31%. Nasdaq +0.29%. Crude -1.57% to $113.21. Gold -3.23% to $788.20. Silver -9.9% to $12.82.

Friday's Economic Calendar

• 8:30 Empire State Mfg Survey
  9:00 Treasury International Capital
  9:15 Industrial Production
  10:00 UofM Consumer Confidence
• Notable earnings before Friday's open: ANF, JCP

Seeking Alpha editor Rachael Granby contributed to this post.