The rich just get richer. It's the same group of hf managers. 1) Ed Lampert 2) Jim Simon 3) Bruce Kovner of Caxton 4) Steve Cohen 5) David Tepper I guess if you get to a certain size the momentum keeps going. But I wonder how they did this year with some many long-term trend followers getting creamed. Perhaps Caxton will get hurt a little. First time Soros is not on the top 5...
That Kmart deal was something else. They basically dumped all the stockholders in bankruptcy, issued themselves some new stock after that and started buying their way to the bigtime in Retail.
It tells your the "fundamentals" guy like Ed Lampert and Warren Buffett beat out all of the quants on Wall St. The best quant ever came second - Jim Simmons. But the average quant on wall st don't make anything even remotely close to that. So, there is something to this fundamentals. Not just all number crunching and reading charts. hehe.
I would agree that fundamentals are important. However, if you read interviews with Kovner and Cohen both also look at charts in conjunction with fundamentals. Both are best IMHO. Brandon
I have to give Jim Cramer credit on Lambert. He has been pushing KMRT/SHLD for a year, based on his assessment that Lambert may be the next Buffett. So far it's worked brilliantly.
Brandon, do you know of a source where I can get an indepth read on the trading styles of these managers, especially the fundamental side.
The fundamentals vs. quant analysis doesn't apply in this case, because the quants can look at 100% empirical data, whereas the fundamentals game at the level we're talking about here is only played by the elite few. In other words, the large hedge funds have access to people and data in their fundamental analysis that you never could, even if you were investing $5-10M. Not only do they have access to insiders, they have the capability to influence and create financial transactions that directly affect the outcome of the stock. The only thing a quant can do is "buy" or "sell". He doesn't do an M&A, for example.
At this level (Kovner,Soros etc) Fundamental = inside information (central banks etc etc) I have a lot respect for Mr Kovner. But my greater Icons are Lou Raineri and Mr Milken