Tremblant Capital Reduces Rightmove Position

This is the second major hedge fund to reduce a position in UK-traded Rightmove (LON: RMV) in the past month. Brett Barakett's Tremblant Capital Group have reduced its previous 3.97% ownership stake in RMV below the 3% disclosure threshold.

Tremblant actually owned as much as 14.22% of the company back in September 2008 but has steadily reduced its position size since that peak. Before founding Tremblant, Barakett was a portfolio manager for Louis Bacon's global macro hedge fund Moore Capital. Also, Brett's brother, Timothy, used to run fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital.

Just last month, we highlighted that Lee Ainslie's hedge fund Maverick Capital had reduced its position in Rightmove below the 3% ownership stake as well.

Both hedge funds could either retain a small position in the name (<3% of shares each) or they could have sold out of the name completely; it's impossible to discern. We won't know anything further regarding these positions unless they breach the 3% threshold again.

Per Google Finance, Rightmove is "a United Kingdom-based company that operates in a residential property industry, connecting people to properties. The Company is principally engaged in the operation of the Rightmove Website, rightmove.co.uk, which is the residential property portal. Its customers include estate agents, rental agents and home developers, who pay fees for the right to display properties on the Rightmove Website, which provide home hunters with property details to search."

Scroll through all our coverage of hedge fund activity in UK companies here.

Brett Barakett's Tremblant Capital Boosts Liz Claiborne (LIZ) Stake

Due to activity on April 9th, 2010 Brett Barakett's hedge fund Tremblant Capital Group has updated their stake in Liz Claiborne (LIZ). They now show a 5.98% ownership stake in LIZ with 5,668,598 shares. This is an increase over their prior holdings as they previously owned only 1,200,417 shares when we looked at Tremblant's portfolio from December 31st. They've boosted their position by 372%, adding 4,468,181 shares over the past four months. Before founding his own firm, Brett previously was a portfolio manager for Louis Bacon's global macro hedge fund Moore Capital.

Taken from Google Finance, Liz Claiborne is "designs and markets a global portfolio of retail-based brands, including JUICY COUTURE, KATE SPADE, LUCKY BRAND and MEXX. The Company also has a group of department store-based brands with consumer franchises, including the LIZ CLAIBORNE and MONET families of brands, MAC & JAC, KENSIE and DANA BUCHMAN and the licensed DKNY JEANS, DKNY ACTIVE and DKNY MENS brands."

To see what other names Tremblant has gravitated towards, check out the rest of Barakett's investments.

Brett Barakett's Tremblant Capital Bets Big On Research In Motion (RIMM): 13F Filing

(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.)

Next up is Brett Barakett's hedge fund Tremblant Capital Group. Before founding his own firm, Brett previously was a portfolio manager for Louis Bacon's global macro hedge fund Moore Capital. Taken from their site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process." The name Barakett might ring a bell because his brother Timothy used to run fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital (who previously announced they'd be shutting down). So while Timothy may have stepped away from the hedge fund game, Brett is still going at it. And, in his spare time he enjoys ice hockey.

The positions listed below were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of December 31st, 2009 as filed with the SEC. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Brand New Positions
Mastercard (MA) Calls
Macys (M) Calls
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)
Macys (M)
Liberty Media Starz (LSTZA)
CVS Caremark (CVS)
Citigroup (C)
The rest of their new stakes were less than 0.5% of reported assets each: Apollo Group (APOL) Calls, Lowe Companies (LOW), AGA Medical (AGAM), DirecTV (DTV), Symmetry Medical (SMA), Union Pacific (UNP) Calls, Greatbatch (GB), Liberty Media (LINTA) Calls, America Movil (AMX), Apollo Group (APOL) Puts, Cypress Semiconductor (CY), Gannett (GCI) Calls, & Liz Claiborne (LIZ)


Increased Positions
Research in Motion (RIMM) Calls: Increased by 312%
Procter & Gamble (PG) Calls: Increased by 107%
Charles Schwab (SCHW): Increased by 37.9%
Hologic (HOLX): Increased by 20.5%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR): Increased by 13.6%
Integra Lifesciences (IART): Increased by 13%


Reduced Positions
Walmart (WMT): Reduced by 33%
Visa (V): Reduced by 32%
Apple (AAPL): Reduced by 26%
Mastercard (MA): Reduced by 25%
Procter & Gamble (PF): Reduced by 20%
Redhat (RHT): Reduced by 11.3%


Removed Positions (Sold out completely):
Qualcomm (QCOM) Calls
Chipotle (CMG-B)
DirecTV (DTV) Calls
Redhat (RHT) Calls
Liberty Media (LMDIA)
CBS (CBS) Puts
Viacom (VIA-B) Puts
Palm (PALM) Puts
The rest of their sold positions were less than 0.5% of assets reported on previous filings each: iShares HongKong (EWH) Puts, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Calls, iShares FTSE (FXI) Puts, Werner (WERN) Calls, Baidu (BIDU) Puts, Lamar Advertising (LAMR) Calls, Corporate Executive Board (EXBD) Calls, Burlington Northern (BNI), Peet Coffee (PEET), & China Biotics (CHBT)


Top 15 Holdings by percentage of assets reported on 13F filing

1. Research in Motion (RIMM) Calls: 28%
   
2. Procter & Gamble (PG) Calls: 8.37%
   
3. Procter & Gamble (PG): 3.34%
   
4. Visa (V): 2.15%
   
5. Mastercard (MA): 2.13%
   
6. Mastercard (MA) Puts: 2.09%
   
7. Research in Motion (RIMM): 1.98%
   
8. Mastercard (MA) Calls: 1.97%
   
9. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR): 1.91%
   
10. Hologic (HOLX): 1.91%
    
11. Macys (M) Calls: 1.86%
    
12. Baidu (BIDU): 1.67%
    
13. Walmart (WMT): 1.65%
    
14. Apple (AAPL): 1.64%
    
15. Charles Schwab (SCHW): 1.63%
    

Tremblant Capital uses options to express a lot of their positions so keep in mind that this can get tricky when trying to assess their net exposure to a specific stock. For instance, they own Mastercard (MA) common stock, but also own both calls and puts on the name. Since we don't know the strike prices or expiration dates, it's nearly impossible for us to know what their overall bet is on the name. At the same time though, we know they are bullish on Research in Motion (RIMM) because they own both the common stock and and calls. Not to mention, they added massively to their call position over the past quarter.

In terms of other additions, they doubled their stake in Procter & Gamble (PG) calls and started new call positions in both Macys and Mastercard. Of the positions they completely sold out of, Qualcomm was notable because it had previously been a sizable stake for Barakett's hedge fund. Overall though, their portfolio looks pretty similar to last quarter and they've certainly retained (and even expanded) their large exposure to Research in Motion.

There are also a few transactions we need to clarify. In regards to their Chipotle positions, you'll notice they "sold out" of Chipotle's B shares and added a 'new' stake in Chipotle's A shares. In actuality, Chipotle converted into a single shareclass of common stock in the fourth quarter. As such, Tremblant owns the regular CMG shares. In addition, Barakett's hedge fund 'sold out' of LMDIA and started 'new' stakes in DTV and LSTZA. In reality, this was just a result of a merger transaction.

Assets reported on the 13F filing were $3.8 billion this quarter compared to $3.0 billion last quarter, an increase of 28% in exposure to equities and options. Remember that these filings are not representative of the hedge fund's entire base of AUM.

We'll be tracking 40+ prominent funds in our fourth quarter 2009 hedge fund portfolio tracking series. We've already covered Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, Mohnish Pabrai's Investment Fund, Carl Icahn's hedge fund Icahn Partners, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, David Tepper's Appaloosa Management, Warren Buffett's portfolio, John Paulson's hedge fund Paulson & Co, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, Dan Loeb's Third Point, Eddie Lampert's RBS Partners, David Ott's Viking Global, and Chris Shumway's hedge fund Shumway Capital Partners, Chase Coleman's Tiger Global, Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, Roberto Mignone's Bridger Management, Thomas Steyer's Farallon Capital, and John Burbank's Passport Capital. Check back daily for our new updates.

Brett Barakett's Tremblant Capital: Large Research in Motion (RIMM) Exposure

This is the third quarter 2009 edition of our hedge fund portfolio tracking series. If you're unfamiliar with tracking hedge fund movements or SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.

Next up in our series is Brett Barakett's hedge fund Tremblant Capital. The name Barakett might ring a bell because his brother Timothy used to run fellow hedge fund Atticus Capital (who recently announced they'd be shutting down). So while Timothy may have stepped away from the hedge fund game, Brett is still going at it. Before founding his own firm, Brett was previously a portfolio manager for Louis Bacon's hedge fund Moore Capital and in his spare time he enjoys ice hockey. Taken from their site, Tremblant Capital Group's objective is "to achieve superior risk adjust returns for our investors through our focused and disciplined investment process." The only major notable portfolio activity out of Tremblant has been their 13G filing on IMAX.

Keep in mind that the positions listed below were Tremblant's long equity, note, and options holdings as of September 30th, 2009 as filed with the SEC. We don't cover every single portfolio maneuver, as we instead focus on all the big moves. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Some New Positions
Brand new positions that they initiated last quarter:
Qualcomm (QCOM) Calls
Procter and Gamble (PG) Calls
Wynn Resorts (WYNN) Puts
Union Pacific (UNP) Puts
Monsanto (MON)
DirecTV (DTV) Calls
Apollo Group (APOL)
Viacom (VIA-B) Puts


Some Increased Positions
Positions they already owned but added shares to:
Imax Corp (IMAX): Increased position by 187.7% (we previously detailed this)
Mastercard (MA) Puts: Increased by 115.2%
Melco Crown (MPEL) Calls: Increased by 45.9%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR): Increased by 42%
Walmart (WMT): Increased by 38.5%
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE): Increased by 36%
Intel (INTC) Puts: Increased by 34%
Liberty Media (LINTA): Increased by 27.3%
Charles Schwab (SCHW): Increased by 24.6%


Some Reduced Positions
Stakes they sold shares in but still own:
Red Hat (RHT) Calls: Reduced by 70.2%
Apple (AAPL) Puts: Reduced by 63.7%
RedHat (RHT): Reduced by 45.7%
Google (GOOG): Reduced by 43.5%
Melco Crown (MPEL): Reduced by 35.7%
Icon (ICLR): Reduced by 35.7%
Eclipsys (ECLP): Reduced by 31.7%
Hologic (HOLX): Reduced by 29.8%
Baidu (BIDU): Reduced by 26.8%
Costco (COST): Reduced by 24.8%
Apple (AAPL): Reduced by 24.4%
Qualcomm (QCOM): Reduced by 22.2%


Removed Positions
Positions they sold out of completely:
Apple (AAPL) Calls
Amazon (AMZN) Puts
Qualcomm (QCOM) Puts
Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ)
AU Optronics (AUO) Puts
Hologic (HOLX) Puts
Catalyst Health (CHSI)
Research in Motion (RIMM) Puts
Symantec (SYMC)
Bankrate (RATE)
Weingarten Realty (WRI)
MGM Mirage (MGM) Calls
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Calls
MEMC Electronics (WFR)
Wynn Resorts (WYNN) Calls
Gannett (GCI) Calls
Harley Davidson (HOG) Calls
Commscope (CTV)
Sequenom (SQNM)


Top 15 Holdings by percentage of assets reported on 13F filing

1. Research in Motion (RIMM) Calls: 8.7%
2. Qualcomm (QCOM) Calls: 5.43%
3. Procter and Gamble (PG): 5.08%
4. Procter and Gamble (PG) Calls: 4.94%
5. Visa (V): 3.21%
6. Walmart (WMT): 2.9%
7. Mastercard (MA): 2.87%
8. Research in Motion (RIMM): 2.7%
9. Apple (AAPL): 2.5%
10. Hologic (HOLX): 2.29%
11. Baidu (BIDU): 2.19%
12. Mastercard (MA) Puts: 2.12%
13. Melco Crown (MPEL): 2.08%
14. Visa (V) Calls: 1.97%
15. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR): 1.95%
    

Tremblant was out reducing technology exposure across the board as it was previously almost 49% of their long US equity holdings. While they were moving out of that sector, they were moving into consumer goods as around 18% of their longs are in that sector now. The tough thing to decipher about their portfolio is their net position in a given name. As you can see above, they hold a bevy of puts and calls in addition to the underlying common in many stocks. As such, we do not have access to the strike prices or expirations of those options so it's hard to tell if they are net bullish or net bearish on some of their positions.

By far and away their largest position though is calls in Research in Motion (RIMM) and this carries over from the second quarter where it was their largest stake then as well. Their second largest holding is a brand new position in Qualcomm (QCOM) calls which is notable. So while they were reducing tech exposure, don't get us wrong... they definitely still have tech positions.

Below are some graphical illustrations of the changes made to Tremblant Capital's portfolio courtesy of Drew Robertson at Financial Research Station:

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Assets from the collective holdings reported to the SEC via 13F filing were $3 billion this quarter compared to $2.7 billion last quarter. Please keep in mind that when we state "percentage of portfolio," we are referring to the percentage of assets reported on the 13F filing. Since these filings only report longs (and not shorts or cash positions), the percentages are skewed. Also, please again note that these positions were as of September 30th so two months have elapsed and they've undoubtedly shifted around their portfolio since then.

This is just one of the 40+ prominent funds that we'll be covering in our Q3 2009 hedge fund portfolio series. We've already covered Seth Klarman's Baupost Group Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, John Paulson's firm Paulson & Co, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, and Chase Coleman's Tiger Global. Check back daily as we'll be covering new hedge fund portfolios.