market folly

Dan Loeb's Third Point Offshore Fund finished 2012 up 21.2%, managing just over $5 billion.  In the hedge fund's most recent December report, we see their exposure levels and latest top holdings:



Exposure Levels

The main takeaway from Third Point's latest exposure report is their sizable increase in net long equity exposure.  They went from being 27.7% net long at the end of November to 43.1% net long at the end of December.

They are slightly net short healthcare and their largest net long exposure comes in the TMT (tech, media & telecom) and industrial sectors.

In credit, Loeb's firm is net long 29.5% and their largest allocation there continues to be asset backed securities.


Third Point's Top Positions

1. Yahoo! (YHOO)
2. American International Group (AIG)
3. Gold
4. Ally Financial (multiple securities held)
5. Murphy Oil (MUR)

Compared to the month prior, there are two notable changes.  First, their position in Greek Government Bonds (GGB's) falls out of their top holdings.  We posted an article about them trimming this position in our weekly linkfest. The second change is that Ally Financial has climbed up the position sheet.

Top winners for Third Point in December included GGB's, AIG, Delphi (DLPH), and Nexen (NXY).  The government exited its stake in AIG, one of the many catalysts Third Point outlined in their thesis on AIG.

NXY has been a big arbitrage play among hedge funds as their merger deal was approved by Canadian authorities.  This stock was flagged as a consensus buy among hedge funds in our November Hedge Fund Wisdom issue.