Top 10 Hedge Funds By Net Gains Since Inception

Bloomberg is out with an interesting piece examining the top 10 hedge funds by net gains since inception. The list contains the who's who among the hedge fund elite and is pretty much who you'd expect to be on it.

The data was compiled by LCH Investments NV (part of the Edmond de Rothschild Group) and is based on audited reports from each investment firm, discussions with the funds, as well as confidential sources.


Top 10 Hedge Funds By Net Gains Since Inception

1. Ray Dalio's Bridgewater PureAlpha: $35.8 billion net gain since 1975
2. George Soros' Quantum Endowment: $31.2 bn net gain since 1973
3. John Paulson's Paulson & Co: $22.6 bn net gain since 1994
4. Seth Klarman's Baupost Group: $16 bn net gain since 1983
5. Brevan Howard: $15.7 bn net gain since 2003
6. David Tepper's Appaloosa Management: $13.7 bn net gain since 1993
7. Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates: $13.1 bn net gain since 1983
8. Louis Bacon's Moore Capital: $12.7 bn net gain since 1990
9. Thomas Steyer's Farallon Capital: $12.2 bn net gain since 1987
10. Steve Cohen's SAC Capital: $12.2 bn net gain since 1992


One interesting tidbit here is that Louis Bacon's Moore Capital makes the top ten, but his mentor Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp) does not. Tudor was largely responsible for seeding Bacon's fund by sending him investors that Tudor had to turn away back when he was first getting started.

Compare the above to the top 10 biggest hedge funds in 2010 and it's no surprise that there's considerable overlap as some of the most successful hedge funds have become some of the largest. Also, the two funds that have been around the longest on the list (Bridgewater and Soros) are the two that occupy the top positions.

Five of the managers above are featured in our Hedge Fund Wisdom newsletter and you can see their latest investments in our brand new issue.

Bruce Kovner's Hedge Fund Starts New Veeco Instruments (VECO) Stake

Bruce Kovner's global macro hedge fund Caxton Associates recently filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Veeco Instruments (VECO). Due to portfolio activity on September 28th, 2010, Caxton Associates has disclosed a 5.3% ownership stake in VECO with 2,168,800 shares. This is a brand new position for the hedge fund as they did not own it as of June 3oth. Kovner of course has graced the pages of Forbes' billionaire list due to his success as a hedge fund manager.

Taken from Google Finance, Veeco Instruments is "designs, manufactures, markets and services enabling solutions for customers in the high brightness light emitting diode (HB LED), solar, data storage, scientific research, semiconductor and industrial markets."

To see what hedge funds have been buying & selling, scroll through our latest coverage of SEC filings.

Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates 13F Filing: Q4 2008

This is the 4th Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the Hedge Fund 13F filings preface.

This week, turning the focus to global macro funds, we'll be checking in on Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates. Do note that global macro funds are typically not equity focused funds. While they do indeed have equity exposure, the majority of their holdings are in other markets. So, we mainly check in on their sector exposure to see what types of global macro themes they may be investing in. This $9 billion firm is one of many global macro oriented funds which we cover. This is a switch from some of the more value oriented funds we've been covering, like the 'Tiger Cub' funds including Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, and Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global. Global macro funds seek to find investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. But, they are only required to disclose equity holdings.

Kovner comes from the group of "offspring" of the legendary Commodities Corp. Kovner emerged as a successful offspring along with fellow great macro traders Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp), and Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management). If you want to hear some insightful thoughts from Bruce Kovner himself, head over to our post on Hedge Fund manager interviews. Taken from Wikipedia, Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." Kovner is also featured in Jack Schwager's book, Market Wizards. Caxton's Global Investments fund saw Caxton's net returns of 13% (after performance fees), as noted in our year-end performance numbers post. Kovner last year told Alpha magazine that, "One of the most important skills you need is to consistently reinvent where you put resources. You must seek out undiscovered information." His hedge fund is named after the first printer of books in English from the fifteenth century.

The following were their long equity, note, and options holdings as of December 31st, 2008 as filed with the SEC. We have not detailed the changes to every single position in this update, but we have covered all the major moves. All holdings are common stock unless otherwise denoted.


Some New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
WR Berkley (WRB)
Ecolab (ECL)
Western Union (WU)
McDonalds (MCD)
Kraft (KFT)
Northern Trust (NTRS)
Urban Outfitters (URBN)
Oil Service ETF (OIH)
Liberty Media (LMDIA)
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY)
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)
Devon Energy (DVN)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Potash (POT)
American Express (AXP)
Ambev (ABV)
KBW Bank ETF (KBE)
Teva Pharma (TEVA)
United States Steel (X)
Morgan Stanley (MS)
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR)
Noble (NE)
Ishares Brazil ETF (EWZ)
CF Industries (CF)
Unibanco (UBB)
Ishares Mexico ETF (EWW)
Weyerhaeuser (WY)
Fluor (FLR)
Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ)


Some Increased Positions (A few positions they already owned but added shares to)
Amgen (AMGN): Increased position by 285%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY): Increased position by 71%
General Mills (GIS): Increased position by 17.8%


Some Reduced Positions (Some positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Reduced position by 92%
Crown Holdings (CCK): Reduced position by 69%
Gilead (GILD): Reduced position by 67%
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A): Reduced position by 67%
DirecTV (DTV): Reduced position by 65%
Lorillard (LO): Reduced position by 63%
Total (TOT): Reduced position by 56%
Wells Fargo (WFC): Reduced position by 53.7%
Ferro (FOE): Reduced position by 51%
Raytheon (RTN): Reduced position by 50.5%
Medco Health (MHS): Reduced position by 49%
Apollo Group (APOL): Reduced position by 47%
Google (GOOG): Reduced position by 47%
Netease (NTES): Reduced position by 47%
Waste Management (WMI): Reduced position by 46.4%
XTO Energy (XTO): Reduced position by 42%
Colgate Palmolive (CL): Reduced position by 38.9%
Walmart (WMT): Reduced position by 37%
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): Reduced position by 36%
Priceline (PCLN): Reduced position by 34.5%
Lazard (LAX): Reduced position by 30%
WR Grace (GRA): Reduced position by 27.6%
Qualcomm (QCOM): Reduced position by 26%
Visa (V): Reduced position by 22.8%
Philip Morris Intl (PM): Reduced position by 12%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Great Atlantic (GAP)
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR-A)
RTI (RTI)
Barr Pharma (BRL)
Home Depot (HD)
Trinity Industries (TRN)
Reinsurance Group (RGA-B)
Precision Castparts (PCP)
Greenfield Online (inactive)
Kohls (KSS)
Mohawk Industries (MHK)
Rockwood (ROC)
Goldman Sachs (GS)
Lennar (LEN)
Fastenal (FAST)
Bucyrus (BUCY)
NDS (NNDS)
Titanium Metals (TIE)
Schlumberger (SLB)
Tercica (TRCA)
Ariba (ARBA)
Symantec (SYMC)
Estee Lauder (EL)
Scripps Networks (SNI)
Altria (MO)
Campbell Soup (CPB)
Ikon Office (IKN)
Grey Wolf (GW)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. Service Corp (SCI): 4.37% of portfolio
2. General Mills (GIS): 4.14% of portfolio
3. Philip Morris (PM): 3.66% of portfolio
4. Walmart (WMT): 3% of portfolio
5. Occidental Petroleum (OXY): 2.6% of portfolio
6. Raytheon (RTN): 2.25% of portfolio
7. XTO Energy (XTO): 2.1% of portfolio
8. WR Berkley (WRB): 1.9% of portfolio
9. Priceline (PCLN): 1.85% of portfolio
10. Hewlett Packard (HPQ): 1.84% of portfolio
11. Wells Fargo (WFC): 1.84% of portfolio
12. Vivus (VVUS): 1.78% of portfolio
13. Colgate Palmolive (CL): 1.73% of portfolio
14. Medco Health (MHS): 1.64% of portfolio
15. Ecolab (ECL): 1.63% of portfolio
16. Waste Management (WMI): 1.57% of portfolio
17. Apollo Group (APOL): 1.53% of portfolio
18. Western Union (WU): 1.49% of portfolio
19. McDonalds (MCD): 1.49% of portfolio
20. Amgen (AMGN): 1.46% of portfolio

Caxton was moving out of equities in a big way this past quarter. Assets from the collective long US equity, options, and note holdings were $2.2 billion last quarter and were $770 million this quarter. That's really the only major move worth noting... the fact that they were selling out of so many things. Overall, they have a pretty blue-chip littered portfolio. They're playing it 'safe' considering their holdings and the fact that they have so little equity exposure now. This is just one of many funds in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. We've already covered Paulson & Co (John Paulson), Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, George Soros, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, Seth Klarman's Baupost Group, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, David Stemerman's Conatus Capital, James Pallotta's Raptor Capital Management, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, and John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital. Look for our updates as we will be covering a new fund each day.

Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates: Hedge Fund Tracking Q3 2008 - 13F Filing

This is the 3rd Quarter 2008 edition of our ongoing hedge fund tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series we're doing on Hedge Fund 13F's here. We've already covered:

• Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital
• Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners
• Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital
• Bill Ackman's Pershing Square
• Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital
• John Paulson's Paulson & Co
• David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital
• Dan Loeb's Third Point
• Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp
• Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management
  

Next up is Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates. The $10 billion firm is one of many global macro oriented funds which we cover. This is a switch from some of the more value oriented funds we've been covering, like the 'Tiger Cub' funds including Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, and Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global. Global macro funds seek to find investments in whatever market they can gain an edge, whether it be equities, bonds, currencies, debt, commodities, and more. So, keep in mind that these equity positions only represent a portion of the fund's overall holdings. They are not required to disclose holdings outside of equities, notes, and stock options.

Kovner comes from the group of "offspring" of the legendary Commodities Corp. Kovner emerged as a successful offspring along with fellow great macro traders Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp), and Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management). If you want to hear some insightful thoughts from Bruce Kovner himself, head over to our post on Hedge Fund manager interviews. Taken from Wikipedia, Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." As of the end of October, Caxton's Global Investment Fund was up 7.25%.

Before beginning, you might be interested in checking out Caxton's portfolio holdings from Q2 2008. Also, we noted that Caxton had recently boosted their stake in Ferro (FOE) to 5.2%. The following were Caxton's long equity, note, and options holdings as of September 30th, 2008 as filed with the SEC.


New Positions (Brand new positions that they initiated in the last quarter):
Grey Wolf (GW)
Ikon Office (IKN)
Campbell Soup (CPB)
Scripps Networks (SNI)
JP Morgan Chase (JPM-PA)
PPG Industries (PPG)
Hewlett Packard (HPQ)
Lorillard (LO)
Waste Management (WMI)
Vivus (VVUS)
Lazard (LAZ)
NDS Group (NNDS)
Greenfield Online (SRVY)
Reinsurance Group of America Class B (RGA-B)
IAC Interactive (IACI)
HSBC Holdings (HBC)
Secure Computing (SCUR)
Genentech (DNA)
Winnebago (WGO)
Amgen (AMGN)
Penn National Gaming (PENN)
HILB Rogal & Hobbs (HRH) - no longer active on NYSE
Georgia Gulf (GGC)
Ishares Natural Resources (IGE)
Delta Airlines (DAL)
Financials ETF (XLF)
Scholastic (SCHL)
Northwest Airlines (NWA)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Devon Energy (DVN)


Added to (Positions they already owned but added shares to)
JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Increased stake by 2991%
Freeport McMoran (FCX): Increased stake by 870%
Ferro (FOE): Increased stake by 824%
Charles Schwab (SCHW): Increased stake by 257%
Walmart (WMT): Increased stake by 242%
Metlife (MET): Increased stake by 145%
Symantec (SYMC): Increased stake by 145%
Medco Health (MHS): Increased stake by 92%
Altria (MO): Increased stake by 60%
Republic Services (RSG): Increased stake by 44%
Ariba (ARBA): Increased stake by 28%
Raytheon (RTN): Increased stake by 15%
XTO Energy (XTO): Increased stake by 5%


Some Reduced Positions (Positions they sold some shares of - note not all sales listed)
DirecTV (DTV): Reduced position by 51%
Coca Cola (KO): Reduced position by 42%
Estee Lauder (EL): Reduced position by 36%
Gilead Sciences (GILD): Reduced position by 32%
Schlumberger (SLB): Reduced position by 32%
General Mills (GIS): Reduced position by 26%
Union Pacific (UNP): Reduced position by 24%
Total (TOT): Reduced position by 20%
Omnicom (OMC): Reduced position by 16%
W.R. Grace (GRA): Reduced position by 7.5%
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A): Reduced position by 6%


Removed Positions (Positions they sold out of completely)
Oil Services ETF (OIH)
Kraft (KFT)
Alcoa (AA)
Gardner Denver (GDI)
Apple (AAPL)
Baldor Electric (BEZ)
Tesoro (TSO)
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM)
Innophos Holdings (IPHS)
Deere (DE)
Brookfield Asset Management (BAM)
Liberty Media (LMDIA)
Clear Channel (CCU)
Electronic Data Systems (EDS-PI)
Navteq
Activision (old shares before merger with Blizzard)
Lowes (L)
WH Energy (WHQA) - inactive
Choicepoint (CPS)
Monsanto (MON)
Rural Cellular (RCCCO)
Research in Motion (RIMM)
Nucor (NUE)
Ansoft
NRG Energy (NRG)
US Steel (X)
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD)
Mastercard (MA)
Exelon (EXC)
MGM Mirage (MGM)


Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio)

1. JPMorgan Chase (JPM): 8.05% of portfolio
2. Grey Wolf (GW): 4.5% of portfolio
3. Metlife (MET): 3.9% of portfolio
4. Ikon Office (IKN): 3.1% of portfolio
5. Service Corp (SCI): 2.7% of portfolio
6. Campbell Soup (CPB): 2.4% of portfolio
7. Ferro (FOE): 2.0% of portfolio
8. Autozone (AZO): 1.9% of portfolio
9. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A): 1.8% of portfolio
10. Altria Group (MO): 1.8% of portfolio
11. Walmart (WMT): 1.8% of portfolio
12. W.R. Grace (GRA): 1.7% of portfolio
13. Wells Fargo (WFC): 1.7% of portfolio
14. Scripps Networks (SNI): 1.7% of portfolio
15. XTO Energy (XTO): 1.7% of portfolio
16. Raytheon (RTN): 1.6% of portfolio
17. Coca Cola (KO): 1.6% of portfolio
18. Philip Morris International (PM): 1.6% of portfolio
19. Union Pacific (UNP): 1.5% of portfolio
20. Omnicom (OMC): 1.5% of portfolio

Assets from the collective holdings were $6.5 billion last quarter and were only $2.2 billion this quarter. Much like fellow Commodities Corp 'offspring' Paul Tudor Jones and Louis Bacon, Kovner was also decreasing exposure to equities all across the board. Please note that we have not detailed every single change to every single position in this update, but we have covered all the major moves. Also, keep in mind that these filings only include long equity, notes, and options holdings and do not reflect their cash, short portions, or holdings in other markets (currency, commodities, debt, etc). This is just one of many funds in our hedge fund tracking series in which we're tracking 35+ prominent funds. We've already covered Whitney Tilson's T2 Partners, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital, Timothy Barakett's Atticus Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital, Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, John Paulson's Paulson & Co, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, and Dan Loeb's Third Point, Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp, and Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management. Overall, its been one of the worst years ever for hedge funds, as we noted in our recent November hedge fund performance update. Thus, the recent moves they've made in their portfolios become all the more interesting given the way the market has played out.

More on Kovner & Caxton:
- Caxton's portfolio holdings from Q2 2008
- Caxton boosts stake in Ferro (FOE)
- November hedge fund performance numbers
- October hedge fund performance numbers
- Hedge Fund Rankings

Caxton Associates Boosts Stake in Ferro (FOE)

In a recent 13G filing made with the SEC, Bruce Kovner's Caxton Associates revealed their 5.2% ownership stake in Ferro (FOE). As of the date of the filing, they owned 2,276,526 shares. Previously, in their most recent 13F filing, they only owned 245,944 shares. So, as you can see, Caxton has significantly upped their stake in the company. You can view Caxton's most recent portfolio holdings here.

Caxton Associates is ran by Bruce Kovner. Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." (Wikipedia)

Year-to-date, Caxton Associates was up 5% as of mid September, as I wrote in my hedge fund year-to-date performance update. And, I've recently updated with a comprehensive post detailing how many affluent hedge funds' performance suffered in September.

Taken from Google Finance, Ferro (FOE) is "a producer of specialty materials and chemicals that are sold to a range of manufacturers who, in turn, make products for end-use markets. In approximately 50 manufacturing sites around the world, the Company produces products, such as Inorganic specialty products, which include glazes, frits, enamels, pigments, dinnerware decorations and other performance materials."

Hedge Fund Tracking: Caxton Associates 13F Filing (Bruce Kovner)

(Note: Before reading this update, make sure you check out the preface to the series I'm doing on Hedge Fund 13F's here).

Time to continue the Hedge Fund tracking series! If you've missed them, I've already covered Jeffrey Gendell's Tontine Partners here, Bret Barakett's Tremblant Capital here, Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital here, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital here, Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital here, John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital here, Boone Pickens' BP Capital here, Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management here, and Paul Tudor Jones' Tudor Investment Corp here. This week, I'm taking a slightly different approach to the hedge fund tracking series. I'm doing so because the 13F SEC filings are filed on a quarterly basis, so these materials are time sensitive and the next ones are due out in November. I stated in my series preface that you need to treat these as a lagging indicator, because that's what they are. The holdings discussed below reflect portfolio holdings as of June 30th, 2008. So, since these forms are so tedious to sort through, I've condensed the rest of the hedge funds I track to summarize their major moves and top holdings.

Additionally, the majority of the rest of the funds I follow are macro funds. And, since 13F filings only detail equity holdings, we're left with a bit of a problem. Macro funds typically employ strategies that encompass many financial markets. Be it commodities, currency, futures, foreign markets.... you name it. So, these funds are much harder to track. Since they are not required to disclose positions held in those markets, we only get to see their equity holdings. But, at the same time, I still find the information useful because many of these funds have numerous large equity positions which give you a broad sense as to what their strategies may be.

So, next in the macro hedge fund tracking series we have Caxton Associates, ran by Bruce Kovner. Taken from Wikipedia, Kovner's bio is as follows: "Kovner's first trade was for $3,000, borrowed against his MasterCard, in soybean futures contracts. Realizing growth to $40,000, he then watched the contract drop to $23,000 before selling. He later claimed that this first, nerve-racking trade taught him the importance of risk management. In his eventual role as a trader under the legendary Michael Marcus at Commodities Corporation (now part of Goldman Sachs), he purportedly made millions and gained widespread respect as an objective and sober trader. This ultimately led to the establishment of his current company, Caxton Associates, in 1983, which today manages over $10 billion in capital and has been closed to new investors since 1992." Year-to-date, Caxton Associates was up 5% as of a few weeks ago, as I wrote in my hedge fund year-to-date performance update.

If you want to hear some insightful thoughts from Bruce Kovner himself, head over to my post on Hedge Fund manager interviews. So, now that we've got a background on Kovner and Caxton Associates, let's take a quick look at his portfolio highlights. Keep in mind that this is merely a brief summary of Caxton's top holdings. Due to the time sensitive nature of the 13F material, I wanted to get this information posted before the next set of filings come out in November.

Top 20 Holdings by % of portfolio
1. Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) - Increased position by 72934%, from 25,000 shares to 18,233,668 shares
2. Electronic Data Systems (EDS) - New Position
3. Activision (ATVI) - New Position
4. Monsanto (MON) - Increased position by 41 %
5. Rockwood Holdings (ROC) - Increased position by 68.8%
6. W-H Energy Services (WHQ) - Increased stake by 195%
7. Occidental (OXY) - Increased stake by 65%
8. ChoicePoint (CPS) - Decreased position by <>
9. DirecTV (DTV) - Decreased stake by 25%
10. W.R. Grace (GRA) - Boosted stake by 8%
11. Qualcomm (QCOM) - Boosted stake by 44.6%
12. Coca Cola (KO) - Decreased position by 12.5%
13. Rural Cellular (RCCC) - Increased stake by 12.4%
14. Research in Motion (RIMM) - Boosted stake by 8.7%
15. Service Corporation (SCI) - Increased position by 32%
16. Nucor (NUE) - Boosted position by 37%
17. (ANST) - New position
18. XTO (XTO) - Boosted stake by 150%
19. Stewart Enterprises (STEI) - Increased position by 12%
20. Gilead (GILD) - Decreased position by 26.7%

Kovner's Caxton Associates definitely disassociate themselves from the rest of the macro pack when it comes to the equity side of their portfolio. While their portfolio does hold typical energy and technology names often seen in other hedge fund portfolios, they also hold seemingly obscure names that I have yet to see pop up in any other funds I track. So, Kovner and his team may have discovered some diamonds in the rough here. In particular, I want to focus on his top holding: Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU). In the quarter prior to the filing, he held just 25,000 shares of this name. Then, over this past quarter, he ratcheted up his holdings in the name big time. He increased his position by 72,934%, bringing it all the way up to his firm's top holding, with a market value of over $642 million at the time of the filing. Needless to say, they bought this name with conviction. And, although I've seen numerous other funds buying up shares of Latin & South American beverage companies, this is the first fund I've seen pick up this name. So, definitely keep an eye on it.

Additionally, I want to point out his holdings in Rocwood Holdings (ROC), W-H Energy Services (WHQ), and Service Corporation (SCI). These are three other names I am seeing for the first time amongst the hedge funds I track. And, he was adding across the board to all three names. Caxton added to WHQ the most, increasing their position by 195%.

Now, turning to the 'hedge fund favorite' names that tend to pop up in numerous hedge fund portfolios that I track, we see Caxton holds positions in Qualcomm (QCOM), Research in Motion (RIMM), XTO Energy (XTO), Occidental (OXY), and Gilead (GILD). Caxton was out adding pretty moderately to all these names. OXY and XTO are easily two of the favorite equity energy plays amongst various hedge funds. And, you have to wonder how they affected their portfolio, given the volatile ride energy stocks have seen as of late. Turning to tech, we see that Caxton, like so many other funds, enjoy large positions in both QCOM and RIMM. As I've noted before, QCOM is easily a top five most common equity holding among the hedge funds I track. And, just like energy, technology stocks have been whipsawed around a lot recently. So, although Caxton was out adding this past quarter, we'll have to see if they were still adding to these names come the next 13F filing.

We already knew hedge funds (and macro funds in particular) had a rough July, as I noted here. And, it's easy to see why, with the heavy commodity exposure many of them had. What we don't yet know is how they've rebounded (if at all). Lastly, I just want to re-emphasize that since Caxton is a macro fund, they obviously have the majority of their positions in the commodity, currency, futures, or other markets. But, at the same time, they still have a sizable chunk of money in the equity markets.

Caxton Associates' full 13F filing listing every position can be found at the SEC.