but if they are actively trading in and out of hundreds and thousands of names on a daily basis then is not that snapshot of their holdings on a certain date meaningless ?
Could be. Personally, I don't understand how they generate billions trading stocks like Altria and General Electric. Similar thing with SAC Capital's Quarterly reports. They dont add up to 65% annual returns, and I went back through them to 1999 and found nothing exciting about their holdings. Either the exciting stuff is in the short positions and not listed, or the Quarterly Report is just window dressing for clients and the public at large.
I don't think they are actively trading in and out of the names in the 13F. The holdings are too large and are often consistent from quarter to quarter. For example they held $79 milllion in Aetna in the Dec 13F and $83 million in the Mar 13F. These look like longer term holdings to me. If you look at their full filing history you see that they also file 13G's when their holdings go above 5%. If they were trading in and out even on a monthly basis wouldn't they be filing multiple 13G's over time on the same companies? Full filing history is here: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1037389/ Much of what Simons says is misdirection, it's intended to confuse. I have been watching the Renaissance phenomenon for years and each Simons interview seems to contradict the previous one. Every article raises more questions than it answers. Take this quote from the article: Wait a minute, you can't smoke in offices in New York City! The fines start at $1000. That's per cigarette! And the fine doubles at the third cigarette. Plus, if you smoke in an office you are setting yourself up for a lawsuit for exposing your employees to second-hand smoke or creating a hostile work environment. I know if I or my partners tried to smoke in our office we would be evicted from the building. I'm not sure that Simons actually smoked during the interview or if Nocera just made it up. Surely, as a WSJ reporter, Nocera knew how strict the law is in that regard. And how about this quote: The article is dated mid-November. It's cold in New York in November, no one goes without socks. If he wasn't wearing socks he took them off in the other room before the interview started -- for effect, maybe to make it look like he was channeling Victor Neiderhoffer. Simons has a PhD in perception management, half of what he does he does to throw people off the scent. .
That's because the filings are for all the SAC funds together. You don't see Sigma broken out. That is the one with the mind-blowing returns. And that is the one where Stevie's own money is concentrated.
Kevin, is this Sigma broken down here? http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001167507&owner=include&count=40 It still seems like suspect returns given the holdings Eric