What We're Reading ~ 8/12/15

Avoiding process drift [A Wealth of Common Sense]

GOOG: Do you trust Larry Page? [Stratechery]

Giving Google room to dream big [NYTimes]

Pichai tapped to run restructured Google within Alphabet [Bloomberg]

Inside SoftBank's struggle to turn around Sprint [WSJ]

A short seller's new target: Canadian housing [Globe and Mail]

Quick pitch on Nationstar (NSM) [Oozing Alpha]

A look at Mondelez [Brooklyn Investor]

And another Mondelez analysis [Elevation Capital]

How baseball's tech team built the future of television [TheVerge]

Ad woes pummel TV firms [WSJ]

Why Disney and ESPN will be OK [Stratechery]

Alan Greenspan sees pending bond market bubble [Bloomberg]

Investors find ways to indirectly profit from start-ups [NYTimes]

IACI: Tinder and the dawn of the dating apocalypse [Vanity Fair]

Why streaming services are so secretive [Bloomberg View]

A profile of Exor's John Elkann [NYTimes]

The power of admitting your own errors [WSJ]

What We're Reading ~ 7/1/15

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics [Richard Thaler]

Investing is emotional [Reformed Broker]

On 'do something' syndrome [Farnam Street]

Four things the stock market has taught me [Morgan Housel]

An updated sum of the parts analysis on IAC Interactive [MicroFundy]

Railroads' competitive advantages are solid, but challenges lie ahead [Morningstar]

A brief look at Moody's (MCO) [Jnvestor]

How Fanuc quietly took over the world [Nikkei Asian Review]

Macau builds, but gamblers don't come [WSJ]

It's 1929 in China - here's a look at the recent mania [David Stockman]

A partnership with China to avoid world war [George Soros]

For American pundits, China isn't a country. It's a fantasyland [Washington Post]

Western firms caught off guard as Chinese shoppers flock to web [WSJ]

US short sellers betting on Canadian housing crash [National Post]

Persuasion depends mostly on audience [HBR]

Is this the office of the future? A look at WeWork [Bloomberg]

Sohn Investment Contest Presentations: IAC Interactive, WR Grace, Grupo Televisa, Constellation Software, Premier

We posted up notes from the Sohn Conference New York 2015 featuring all the big name hedge fund managers like David Tepper, David Einhorn, Bill Ackman and more.  Now Bloomberg Business has posted up the full slideshow presentations from up and comers who were finalists in the Sohn Investment Idea Contest.


Sohn Investment Idea Contest Presentations 2015

The winner of the contest was Angelo Martorell of the Wharton School, who pitched long IAC Interactive (IACI).  While the company owns various assets, his pitch centered around the company's online dating assets, and in particular its popular Tinder app. 

Embedded below is Angelo Martorell's pitch for IAC Interactive:



You can download a .pdf copy here.


There were also 4 finalists.  Here are their slideshow presentations as well:


Arthur Baer, Cavendish Fund Management: Short Premier (PINC):  This short is predicated on misleading accounting and he sees 60% downside in the name.

Embedded below is the slideshow presentation on Premier (PINC):



You can download a .pdf copy here.



Sean Murphy, Game Creek Capital: Long Grupo Televisa (TV):  This is a play on cable/satellite/content in Mexico.  There's potential to consolidate the cable industry and benefit from secular trends as the cable industry now in Mexico is similar to the late 1980's in the United States.

Embedded below is the slideshow presentation on Grupo Televisa (TV): 



You can download a .pdf copy here.



Lily Miao, The Wharton School: Long Constellation Software (CSU):  The thesis on this name is focused on outstanding management and smart capital allocation.

Embedded below is the slideshow presentation on Constellation Software (CSU):



You can download a .pdf copy here.



Venkata Amarthaluru, University of Pennsylvania: Long W.R. Grace (GRA):  This has been somewhat of a hedge-fund-favorite and Ted Weschler of Berkshire Hathaway has been a big bull on the name dating back to when he ran his own hedge fund and before.  With GRA's spinoff coming up, Venkata recommends to buy pre-spin and then sell the Construction Products division and hold the New Grace Co.

Embedded below is the slideshow presentation on W.R. Grace (GRA):



You can download a .pdf copy here.


If you missed it, be sure to also check out our full notes from the 2015 Sohn Conference.

Corsair Capital's Q1 Letter & Pitch on Orbital ATK

Jay Petschek and Steven Major's hedge fund firm Corsair Capital is out with its first quarter letter to investors.  In it, they talk about the global macro situation as well as their positions in Ryman Hospitality (RHP), Kindred Healthcare (KND), CommScope (COMM), and Republic Airways (RJET).

Sees IAC Interactive Spin-Off Coming

Additionally, they outline their thoughts on IAC Interactive (IACI).  They feel shares are worth over $100 (currently trading around ~ $72) and see revenue growth via their online dating apps (advertising implementation on Tinder and paid subs on Tinder Plus).  Corsair expects chairman Barry Diller to spin-off the online dating segment (Match Group) in order to unlock value.

Pitch on Orbital ATK

The end of their letter includes a pitch on Orbital ATK (OA).  In summary, Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems and they see various synergies here.  This, plus increased buybacks and dividends lead them to believe multiple expansion will occur, bringing the company more inline with competitors.  They think shares are worth ~$100 and currently trade around $73. See the letter below for the full pitch.

Corsair's Q1 Letter

Embedded below is Corsair Capital's Q1 2015 letter:



For more from this hedge fund, head to Corsair Capital's recent interview with Graham & Doddsville.

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 8/27/14

Profile of Alibaba's Joseph Tsai [Bloomberg]

Carol Loomis' latest on BlackRock: the $4.3 trillion force [Fortune]

Profile of 108 year old investor Irving Kahn [Telegraph]

Lessons learned in 30 years of investing [What Works on Wall Street]

Share sleuth's investment checklist [Interactive Investor]

A look at Post Holdings [View From the Blue Ridge]

A look at WL Ross Holding Corp [Brooklyn Investor]

What makes Warren Buffett a great investor? [Farnam Street]

Amazon: not an e-commerce company [Stratechery]

The inside story of how Netflix came to pay Comcast for traffic [Quartz]

Morningstar: a force to be reckoned with [FT]

Nonprofit hospitals' earnings fall as costs outrun revenue [WSJ]

Interview with Burger King's CEO [Financial Post]

The company speeding a genetic revolution [Forbes]

Google's valuation: much cheaper now than 10 years ago [WSJ]

Family Dollar bidding war suggests 'peak dollar store' is here [Yahoo]

Match.com might not light IAC's fire [WSJ]

Peculiar habits of incredibly successful people [Morgan Housel]

Interview with venture capitalist Bill Gurley [Forbes]