Lone Pine Capital Increases Wynn Resorts Stake

Steve Mandel's hedge fund firm Lone Pine Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its position in Wynn Resorts (WYNN).  Per the filing, Lone Pine now owns 5.4% of the company with over 5.95 million shares.

This is up from the 3.79 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter of this year. The filing was made due to portfolio activity on September 10th.

Wynn Resorts owns, operates, and develops casino resorts, primarily in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Macau.

What We're Reading ~ 9/23/15

More Than You Know: Finding financial wisdom in unconventional places [Mauboussin]

Fundamentals are only half the story [Reformed Broker]

Masters in business interview with Jason Zweig [The Big Picture]

Full transcript: interview with Chinese President Xi Jinping [WSJ]

Ukraine & Europe: what should be done? [George Soros]

How cable can capture the mobile internet [WSJ]

Steve Wynn plays the China card [Barrons]

Highlighting large price increases on certain drugs [NYTimes]

Notes from Mohnish Pabrai's annual meeting [Frenzel Herzing]

The rent crisis is about to get a lot worse [Bloomberg]

The pace in Mexico's fight against corruption is slowing [FT]

A potential disruptor in the lab testing industry [Inc]

A look at how the Berkshire/Precision Castparts deal came together [Biz Journals]

Apple's iPhone upgrade plan is a gamechanger [Recode]

On the brink of a revolution in smart digital assistants [Wired]

What We're Reading ~ Analytical Links 12/3/14

The best advice in business: 40 execs reveal their secrets to success [Fortune]

How the markets tempt us into making mistakes [A Wealth of Common Sense]

When should you sell a good stock? [Clear Eyes Investing]

The value of cash [CFO]

The art of variant perception from Michael Steinhardt [FirstAdopter]

Citizens Financial Group: another interesting forced IPO? [Value and Opportunity]

Henry Schein: your dentist's biggest supplier [Fortune]

Mohnish Pabrai's advice for a 12-year old investor [Forbes]

The bull case for European equities [FT]

China's corruption crackdown pummels Macau casinos [NPR]

No longer business as usual in China [NYTimes]

Looking at possible future winners in internet TV [GlennChan]

A plumbing problem for the internet (and the stock market) [NYTimes]

The man who taught Warren Buffett to manage a company [Quartz]

The return of the US Dollar [Mauldin]

The wall of worry, illustrated [Bason]

Behavioral explanations make sense of oil's plunge [Reuters]

Why America's housing disaster is back [Salon]

A house is not a credit card [NYTimes]

Fall of the bond king: How Gross lost empire as PIMCO cracked [Bloomberg]

Regrets, I've had a few [Epicurean Dealmaker]

Passport Capital's Top 10 Holdings & Saudi Equity Theses: Q1 Letter

Today we're highlighting commentary from Passport Capital's Q1 letter to investors.  We've already highlighted how Passport is net short and so now we want to shift focus to John Burbank's top longs.

Passport's Top 10 Holdings (at end of Q1)

1. Vivus (VVUS US): 5% of NAV
2. Cytec Industries (CYT US): 4%
3. Marathon Petroleum (MPC US): 4%
4. Yanbu National Petroleum (YANSAB AB): 4%
5. Etihad Etisalat (EEC AB): 4%
6. Google (GOOG US): 3%
7. Liberty Interactive (LINTA US): 3%
8. Apple (AAPL US): 3%
9. Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC AB): 2%
10. Wynn Resorts (WYNN US): 2%

Comparing the above longs to their list at the end of 2011, there are a few noticeable changes.  Their stake in Vivus has climbed from 7th largest holding to their top position.  We had previously detailed how Passport was bullish on Saudi equities and you see that reflected now in their latest portfolio. 

US tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) weren't included in their 2011 year-end top 10 but both make the list now.  As of March 31st, their top 10 equity holdings accounted for 34% of the fund's net asset value.


Passport's Investment Theses on Saudi Equity Plays

Given that many of their top holdings are now plays in Saudi equities, we thought it prudent to highlight some of their rationale for owning them.

Yanbu National Petrochemical:  John Burbank writes, "Our rationale for investing in YANSAB is predicated on the company’s strong cash-generating capability.  The company has a highly advantaged feedstock position in Saudi Arabia, allowing it to generate  EBITDA  margins  in  excess  of  45%  and  FCF  yield  of  over  10%.    YANSAB  is  a  single  petrochemical  plant commissioned in 2010 with no plans for further expansion and we believe is likely to pay out all its  cash once its debt covenants are fulfilled.  Over FY2011, the company decreased its long-term debt by  over 30% with Net Debt/EBITDA now at 2.7x.  We think YANSAB’s 51% shareholder SABIC could  start paying out dividends in the 2H of 2012, which should significantly re-rate the stock."


Etihad Etisalat: Passport's founder notes that, "Etihad Etisalat operates under the brand name Mobily, is the second largest mobile operator in Saudi,  and is a key beneficiary of the deregulation of the Saudi telecom sector.  Earnings have grown at around  48.7% CAGR in the last five years.  Mobily is capturing the growing data market (currently 22% of  revenue) due to what we believe are superior data services infrastructure compared to the competition.   In addition, Mobily is currently the leader in mobile broadband.  This segment is growing at an  exponential rate due to increased use of mobile tablets and 3G-enabled phones by the affluent Saudi  population (~60% of whom are below the age of 30).  Due to very high mobile penetration rates in the  Kingdom, Mobily is transforming from a high-growth company to a dividend opportunity given its SAR  4.25 FCF/share."


Saudi Basic Industries Corp:  The hedge fund's thesis on this name is that, "SABIC is the largest petrochemical company in the world by market cap and among the top five in terms  of production capacity.  SABIC has the key structural advantage of  very low-cost feedstock for its  petrochemical complexes in Saudi Arabia that helps the company maintain a healthy EBITDA margin of  approximately 32%.  The company increased its revenues by 25% and net income by 36% YoY. SABIC  represents approximately 11% of the market cap  of the Tadawul index, and while the stock has  underperformed the general market, we believe it will be a key beneficiary of foreign flows once the Saudi  market opens up to foreign investors."


Don't miss our other post from the hedge fund's Q1 letter on why Passport is net short.

Jim Chanos: "Long Corruption and Short Property in China"

Hedge fund manager and renowned short seller Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates was interviewed on CNBC today from the Delivering Alpha conference. Chanos is known for his short of Enron before it collapsed.

Recent Portfolio Activity

Chanos says that "we're long corruption and short property in China." As such, he's long the Macau casinos. He didn't name names but obviously Wynn (WYNN) has a large presence there via Wynn Macau (1128.HK), as does MGM (MGM) and SJM Holdings (0880.HK), controlled by the family of Stanley Ho.

Conversely, we originally detailed how he was also shorting the property developers in the country.

In the past month, Chanos has pressed his shorts in the renewables sector (green energy) and in particular, solar. We covered Chanos' presentation at the Ira Sohn Conference where he said he was short First Solar (FSLR) as well as wind power play Vestas (CPH: VWS).

Chanos also noted that his fund is not short US banks.

Email readers come to the site to watch Chanos' interview embedded below:



Chanos will be presenting his newest investment ideas at the Value Investing Congress in New York on October 17th & 18th and Market Folly readers can register here.