SALT Conference Best Ideas Panel: Chanos, Bass, Burbank, Cooperman, Karsch

At the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference in Las Vegas, the best ideas panel featured top hedge fund managers giving their top stock picks.  Here's a summary:


SALT Conference Best Ideas Panel: Chanos, Bass, Burbank, Cooperman, Karsch

Jim Chanos (Kynikos Associates):  Short oil integrators.  Specifically, short Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), doesn't like the merger with BG.  Short Chevron (CVX) as well due to their liquefied natural gas (LNG) challenges.  He also summed up Brazil's Petrobras (PBR) by saying they're "lying, cheating and stealing."  Also check out Chanos' SALT interview we posted earlier.


Kyle Bass (Hayman Capita): Long Perrigo (PRGO).  Doesn't think they get bought out by Mylan, but thinks someone else acquires them.  "We're short enough pharma."  Bass' separate new fund has been challenging pharma patents and says the industry is ridiculous as prices of drugs have spiraled out of control.  He gave the example of Mylan's (MYL) epipen drug specifically.  Says 13% of the company's revenue comes from this drug (which came off patent back in the 1950's).


John Burbank (Passport Capital): Long NCB AB, a Saudi Arabian banking play.  "The banking giant you've never heard of in the country you're too scared to invest in."  He says the vast majority of deposits don't pay interest due to Sharia Law so they'll be in a good position when rates rise.  Harps on the fact that outsiders are going to be able to invest in Saudi and by 2017 90% of investors will own some part.  "All the risks are already known in Saudi."  This isn't a new theme from him as Burbank has pitched Saudi investments in recent years.


Lee Cooperman (Omega Advisors): As he has been for a while now, he again advised reducing fixed income exposure.  He also said to go short on any rally if you're adventurous. His stock picks were the same as his Sohn Conference picks: ACT, AER, C, DOW, GM, GOOGL, PCLN.


Michael Karsch (Hunter Peak Capital): Long NOS SGPS, a Portuguese cable/wireless provider.  Biggest cable play and #3 wireless provider in the country, a hidden gem.


For more from the SALT conference, check out Dan Loeb's talk.

Dan Loeb at SALT Conference on Japan, Yum Brands, China & More

Skybridge's Alternatives Conference, otherwise known as SALT, is underway in Las Vegas.  Dan Loeb of Third Point spoke last night with Anthony Scaramucci and here's a summary of his comments.

Dan Loeb's Comments at SALT Conference

- Loeb seems constructive on Japan, says the Abe administration was very encouraging when they were involved with Sony (SNE) pushing for change.  Says Third Point probably exited that name "too soon" and probably left $1 billion on the table there as Japanese businesses are starting to focus on changing their ways.  They're more receptive to activism/suggestions and starting to focus more on shareholder return.  Thinks there will probably be more activist opportunities in the country but "they will become their own activists".

- Yum Brands (YUM) isn't really an activist play for them, it's an emerging markets opportunity.  They saw a play and as the food safety issues are taken care of, there's "enormous" upside.  There's basically 3 pillars to his investment here: turnaround potential (undervalued), franchising, and possible China spin-off.  You can read Third Point's thesis on YUM in their Q1 letter.

- Activism can help power the 'powerless' by helping other shareholders.

- On China (paraphrase): I don't know anyone who's gotten rich betting against China.

- Loeb thinks markets will more likely than not be higher over the next 1-3 years from now.  2 rules: Don't fight the Fed and don't fight the 'godfather' (David Tepper).

- On Warren Buffett: "I love reading Warren Buffett's letters.  I love contrasting his words with his actions ... I love his wisdom.  He's a very wise guy.  But I also love how he criticizes hedge funds, yet he really had the first hedge fund.  He criticizes activists, yet he was the first activist."

- Also talked about how the lack of educational opportunities here in America is a big issue.

Jim Chanos at SALT Conference: Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Petrobras, NuSkin, Tesla

At the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference in Las Vegas, short seller Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates sat down with Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle to talk about markets as well as some of his past and current short positions.  He mentioned NuSkin, Tesla, Petrobras and talked about other oil plays in general.

*Update: He's now delivering his presentation at SALT: short oil integrators.  One of his slides entitled "Brazil: risk masquerading as opportunity."  Sums up Petrobras as: "lying, cheating, and stealing."  He says he's short Royal Dutch Shell.  He's also short Chevron (CVX) due to LNG problems, among other things.

Embedded below is the video of Chanos' interview at SALT:

Lee Cooperman at the Skybridge Alternatives Conference (SALT 2013): Stockpicks & Market Thoughts

We wanted to highlight some notes from the Skybridge Alternative Conference, a.k.a. SALT 2013 taking place in Vegas this week.  Lee Cooperman of Omega Advisors gave his thoughts on the market and some of his holdings.


Market Thoughts From Cooperman

Cooperman says the market might be a little ahead of itself, the economy is limping along.  He doesn't see a reason for the market to decline a lot and says the only two ways that would happen is 1. a recession and 2. the market getting too frothy and the Fed removing quantitative easing.

The Omega Advisors man argued that the economic cycle could be longer than usual and also noted that many investors have de-risked since the financial crisis.  That said, he feels the market is ahead of the fundamentals.


Cooperman's Stock Picks

When asked where he would put new money to work today, he said he'd look to add to existing positions in his portfolio and singled out Monitise in the UK.  We highlighted Cooperman's Monitise stake before as it's a mobile wallet platform.

He also revealed he's been buying an engineering and construction firm Technip, involved in LNG platforms and after exiting Apple earlier, he's dipped back in around the low $400's in a "small size" position.

The Omega founder was asked about housing plays and noted he's missed the homebuilder trade, but has exposure via proxies like Ocwen Financial (OCN) and Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS).  This week at the Ira Sohn Conference, Steve Eisman pitched OCN as a long.

Cooperman also touched on some other of his holdings that are trading below book value that he thinks are attractive:  American International Group (AIG), MetLife (MET), and Citigroup (C).

Omega also owns Facebook (FB) and they think people are underestimating the mobility opportunity and can achieve a much higher multiple.

At the SALT Conference, Cooperman was on the best ideas panel as well and said he likes Express Scripts (ESRX), the pharmacy benefit management company and Transocean (RIG), the deepwater driller.

Embedded below is a clip of Cooperman on CNBC from the SALT conference:



Lee Cooperman was named as one of the top 10 highest paid hedge fund managers of 2012.