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 Tremblant Capital Group. Tremblant is a $3 billion hedge fund based in New York and is run by Bret Barakett, who is a former portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management (the hedge fund run by the great Louis Bacon, whom we also track). If the last name of 'Barakett' sounds familiar, its because his brother, Timothy Barakett, manages fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital, whose portfolio we recently covered. Taken from its site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process."

Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital is a $3 billion hedge fund based in New York and is run by Bret Barakett, who is a former portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management (the hedge fund run by the great Louis Bacon, whom we also track). If the last name of 'Barakett' sounds familiar, its because his brother, Timothy Barakett, manages fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital, whose portfolio we recently covered.

Taken from their site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process." Barakett has worked with some of the best in the macro game and obviously is quite knowledgeable himself. But, as we noted back in September, Tremblant had a rough year. Over the course of last year, they disclosed a 5.2% stake in Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) and a stake in PharmaNet. (PDGI). But, more recently, they've made a 13G filing on Chipotle, where they have been adding to their large position. We'll check out what else they've been up to below.

Tiffany & Co. (TIF) – Shares in luxury retailer, Tiffany & Co. declined in early trade while there seemed to be a bearish flavor in terms of option market activity. Implied options volatility added 9% to 87% today as one-in-ten of its existing options open positions was put into play. With January’s expiration on Friday, we were surprised to see a 10,000 lot put order go through at the 20.0 strike, which if bought would need a further share price decline of at least 10% from Tiffany’s current price of $22.05 before breaking even. On the call side, an investor used a bull spread to play any potential upside in the shares ahead of Friday. Using the 22.5 and 25.0 strike calls the investor paid a net 65 cent premium on trade volume of 3,000 lots. The sale of the upper strike reduces the cost of the trade but in so doing limits the potential upside from the trade to 1.85. The investor would start to break even should Tiffany trade above $23.15 by Friday.

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.

Next up, we have Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital. If his last name sounds familiar, its because his brother, Timothy Barakett, manages fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital, whom we also track. Taken from its site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process." Tremblant is a $4.1 billion hedge fund based in New York and is run by Bret Barakett, who is a former portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management (the hedge fund run by the great Louis Bacon, whom we also track).

Q3 2008 Earnings Call

October 31, 2008 10:00 am ET

In a 13G filing made with the SEC on October 17, Tremblant Capital has disclosed a 5.2% Ownership Stake in Advanced Medical Optics (EYE). Tremblant is a $4.1 billion hedge fund that is run by Bret Barakett. This adjustment to the position was made on October 7 and they have disclosed that they now own 3,152,157 shares of EYE. In their most recent 13F filing disclosing positions as of June 30, they had previously held 2,703,709 shares of EYE as well as 329,400 shares worth of calls on EYE. In that time, they have increased their common share position in EYE by 448,448 shares.

You can view all of Tremblant's portfolio holdings here. Additionally, Tremblant recently disclosed an ownership stake in PharmaNet Development (PDGI), which you can read about here. You can find Tremblant's year-to-date performance (along with numerous other hedge fund numbers) here.

Four times a year, hedge funds & asset managers with > $100 million AUM (assets under management) are required to report to the SEC their holdings from the previous quarter. I check these 13F filings quarterly just to get a sense as to where these funds are putting their money sector wise. If you just sit down and do some simple number crunching between last quarter's 13F and this quarter's 13F, you can see exactly where these funds have been moving their money. 

Please note, these 13F's should be treated as a lagging indicator simply because the 13F's that were just released August 10-15th 2008 show the funds' holdings as of June 30th 2008. So, in the past month and a half, they could have completely changed their portfolio. But, at the same time, its easy to see which sectors they are flocking to. See more of my introduction to the current series here.

Q2 2008 Earnings Call

August 4, 2008 10:00 am ET

Many e-mails from my blog commented that the list of stocks appreciating with oil at $150.00 contained some surprises and made for a useful beginning for research. With that in mind, here is what the team at Credit Suisse First Boston came up with for stocks that will be hard hit at that oil strike price:

• Sunoco (SUN)
• Alcoa (AA)
• Dow Chemical (DOW)
• USAirways (LCC)
• Overseas Shipping Group (OSG)
• BE Aerospace (BEAV)
• Clorox (CLX)
• American Axle (AXL)
• General Motors (GM)
• Ford (F)
• Sears Holdings (SHLD)
• Cabela's (CAB)
• Royal Caribbean (RCL)
• Annaly Mortgage (NLY)
• Citi (C)
• AmeriCredit (ACF)
• TDAmeritrade (AMTD)
• Tyco Electronics (TEL)
• Global Payments (GPN)
• Advanced Medical Optics (EYE)
• Becton Dickinson (BDX)

I do not agree with the Dow Chemical selection, as DOW is producing lots of product in countries that have the oil at subsidized prices. I like DOW.

Q1 2008 Earnings Call

May 1, 2008 10:00 am ET

Q4 2007 Earnings Call

February 14, 2008 10:00 am ET

Various news sources are reporting that $1 billion hedge fund Copper Arch has notified investors that it will liquidate its holdings and return funds to investors on December 31st. While the fund is reportedly not under any financial stress, news of hedge fund liquidations cause some investors to shoot first and ask questions later. Often some investors will try to find out what a particular fund owns and then short those holdings knowing there is going to be a forced seller.

The list below highlights Copper Arch's positions as of 9/30/07, sorted by the percentage of each company the fund owns. If you follow any of these stocks, and notice any unusual volatility, reports of the fund winding down operations may be the cause.

Long-term shareholders of Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) must be wondering what hit them as the stock languishes near its 52-week low around 28. After all, the aging of the huge baby boomer cohort, with the accompanying need for increased eye care, is now presenting huge opportunities for companies that serve ophthalmologists and optometrists.

The event that triggered EYE's fall from grace was the announcement in May of the worldwide recall of the company's widely used Complete MoisturePlus contact lens solution after the solution was linked to at least 21 cases of a serious corneal infection. The company contended that the infections were the result of improper use of the product, but the damage was done and class action suits have been filed against the company in recent weeks.

Extending the universe out to the S&P 1500 (S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and the S&P SmallCap 600), a similar story exists. Positive surprises are outnumbering negative surprises by a margin of 2.65:1 (versus 2.3:1 in the first quarter). Median company growth is running at 9.4% (versus 8.8% in the first quarter). The slower growth rates for the smaller capitalization companies may partially be explained by the simple fact that larger companies have more exposure overseas, which provide the double benefit of faster economic growth and favorable currency translations. (A euro dollar of profits is worth about $1.35 in American dollars.)

From ValueAct's Letter:

Advanced Medical Optics has made a $4.3 billion counteroffer for Bausch & Lomb to rival the $3.7 billion deal Bausch signed with Warburg Pincus on May 16. Bausch shares gained 4.9% to close at $72.00 on the news. Advanced Medical has bid $45 in cash and $30 in stock per share, 16% more than Warburg's $65 all-cash bid. "It's hard to find a way to argue that $75 isn't superior to $65," said Robert Baird analyst Jeff Johnson. Before accepting the higher bid, however, Bausch's board will have to consider antitrust issues that may be implicit in the combination. In addition, the transaction could be subject to the approval of Advanced Medical's shareholders. According to the WSJ, the deal might be advanced by the re-entrance into Advanced Medical's buying group of either Goldman Sachs's private equity unit or KKR. If that occurs, it would mark a diversion from the traditional "gentlemen's agreement" among private equity firms not to sabotage one another's signed deals. Advanced Medical wants Bausch for its contact lens and eyeglasses lines, which would complement its own product line of eye solutions and laser vision correction tools.

The real key to success in this business is avoiding the influence of others (especially the market.) If you are easily swayed by others opinions, you can easily head down the wrong direction. If consensus is what you crave, value investing of the contrarian variety will drive you up a tree!