Glenview Capital Trims Brookdale Senior Living Stake

Larry Robbins' Glenview Capital now owns 9.59% of Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) with over 17.63 million shares, per a 13G recently filed with the SEC.  This marks a slight decrease from the 18.43 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to portfolio activity on October 30th.

Per Yahoo Finance, Brookdale "owns and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates through five segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, CCRCs, Health Care Services, and Management Services."

Glenview Capital Files 13D on Meritor

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13D with the SEC on shares of Meritor (MTOR).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 14.7% of the company with exposure to over 12.1 million shares.  This is inclusive of 4.9 million shares underlying call options.

This is up from the previous 7.2 million shares Glenview had exposure to at the end of the second quarter, per their most recent 13F filing.  So basically Glenview has added call option exposure and then gone activist on the name.

The filing also includes the standard activist investor boilerplate: "The Reporting Persons intend to engage in discussions with the Company and the Company’s management and board of directors, other shareholders of the Company and other interested parties on issues that may relate to the business, management, operations, assets, capitalization, financial condition, strategic plans, governance, board composition and the future of the Company.  Glenview Capital Management has entered into a customary confidentiality agreement with the Company in order to facilitate these discussions."

Per Yahoo Finance, Meritor "designs, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, sells, services, and supports integrated systems, modules, and components to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the aftermarket for the commercial vehicle, transportation, and industrial sectors. It operates through two segments, Commercial Truck; and Aftermarket, Industrial and Trailer."

Glenview Capital Acquires More Tenet Healthcare

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding shares of Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview bought 81,368 shares on August 23rd at a weighted average price of $20.6965.  They now own over 19.43 million shares.

In a previous filing, they also were out buying on August 16th, purchasing 26,456 shares at a weighted average price of $19.8153.

Per Yahoo Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a diversified healthcare services company. The company operates in three segments: Hospital Operations and Other, Ambulatory Care, and Conifer. Its general hospitals offer acute care services, operating and recovery rooms, radiology and respiratory therapy services, clinical laboratories, and pharmacies. The company also provides intensive and critical care, and coronary care units; physical therapy, orthopedic, oncology, and outpatient services; cardiothoracic surgery, neonatal intensive care, and neurosurgery services; quaternary care in heart, liver, kidney, and bone marrow transplants areas; tertiary and quaternary pediatric, and burn services; and limb-salvaging vascular procedures, acute level 1 trauma services, intravascular stroke care, minimally invasive cardiac valve replacement, imaging technology, and telemedicine access for various medical specialties. In addition, it operates ambulatory surgery and urgent care centers, imaging centers, and surgical hospitals; and offers healthcare business process services in the areas of hospital and physician revenue cycle management, as well as value-based care solutions to healthcare systems, individual hospitals, physician practices, self-insured organizations, health plans, and other entities. As of December 31, 2018, the company operated 68 hospitals, 23 surgical hospitals, and approximately 475 outpatient centers, as well as 255 ambulatory surgery, 36 urgent care, and 23 imaging centers in the United States. Tenet Healthcare Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas."

Larry Robbins Long HMOs/Hospitals, Short 3M & Chemours: Sohn New York Conference

We're posting up notes from the Sohn New York Investment Conference.  Next up is Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital who talked about the healthcare industry and shared a myriad of ideas, including long HMOs and hospitals, short pharma index, and short 3M (MMM) and short Chemours (CC).


Larry Robbins's Sohn New York Presentation

Buy HMOs and hospitals. Short pharma index.  Hospitals trading at discount despite superior growth.  Buy Cigna (CI), Humana (HUM), UnitedHealth (UNH), HCA (HCA), Tenet Health (THC), UniversalHealth (UHS). 

•    Medicare For All is dead on arrival. Need President and Congress in order to get Medicare For All. Too high of a hurdle. Only 3 presidential candidates support this and they are not the favorites. Democrats in House and Senate not all on board. Need 60 senate votes to do this because it requires spending money.
•    Multiples are compressed relative to the market in HMO sector and have over 50% upside
•    President can act unilaterally to lower drug costs due to provisions of ACA. Drug revenues at risk
•    Same drug cost 3 times more in the US as in other OECD countries
•    Both sides (Dem and Republican) agree on drug prices
•    People under appreciate coming biosimilars

Short 3M (MMM) on PFAS (chemical that causes cancer that has ended up in drinking water) risk. Lawsuits have gone up 87 fold. Reserves for liabilities have only gone up 8%. They are not reserved. They have at least  $3 to $6 billion liabilities on this.

Short Chemours - is also exposed to these PFAS lawsuits.  Each time DowDuPont (DWDP) loses a lawsuit, he says you should assume this also hits CC.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Sohn New York conference presentations.

Notes From Sohn New York Investment Conference 2018: Einhorn, Robbins, Gurley & More

The annual Sohn New York Investment Conference recently took place and featured top hedge fund managers sharing their latest ideas to benefit charity.  Below are notes from the event.  We've also posted up notes from the emerging manager panel, Next Wave Sohn New York.


 Notes From Sohn New York Investment Conference 2018


John Khoury, Long Pond Capital: Long D.R. Horton (DHI).  He runs a $2.5B long/short fund mainly in Real Estate.  Pitch is DHI is getting asset light by only building on developed lots instead of buying raw land, getting approvals, and building the infrastructure.  So it's an asset-light model with less debt and better ROIC, so deserves better multiple.  They are the biggest US builder based on number of units - average price is $300k, basically entry-level homes, and they built 50k last year.  What about interest rates? Says that is the biggest fear now, but rates could go up 100 bp and housing would still be affordable in relation to current income and net worth of households.  Key is rates would be coming up from such a low place. Says record low inventories.  Expects $5.50 EPS by 2020, uses 13x to get $71.50, or 63% upside.


Li Ran, Half Sky Capital.  Long: GrubHub (GRUB).  2014 IPO.  Felt like the companion pitch to the TKWY pitch in the morning at Next Wave Sohn from Alex Captain of Cat Rock Capital.  Large addressable market, positive unit economics, proof of concept, and support from restaurants.  Painted a pretty rosy picture, didn't really touch on the bear case.  She says $70B TAM on 35% penetration on 110M diners (they have 14.5M now, and many analysts think they are close to fully penetrated in the US.)  She has done surveys of restaurant managers that expect GRUB to keep growing.Price Target $160, on 15x EV/EBITDA, up 60% from here.  Previously worked at Lone Pine Capital.


Jeffrey Gundlach, DoubleLine Capital: Long XOP ETF, short Facebook (FB).  His FB pitch seemed to mainly be based on technicals.  He used the fact that FB is below the 200 day moving average at the time as his reason to be short.  He also cited 2 examples of government regulation hurting stocks - one was tobacco. (He didn't mention other examples where stocks were stronger yet, such as credit cards, banks, etc.).  He pointed out a 'head and shoulders' formation on the FB chart, which is usually bearish.       


Chamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital: Long Box (BOX).  He said BOX was an AI play, and he also said you should have an AI basket of AMZN, GOOG, BOX.  He was less enthusiastic about NVDA, because he believed GOOG's TPUs are "ten times better."  On BOX, he said it goes up 10x in 10 years, even though it has 70% of Fortune 500 already.  Core business stable, adding SaaS revenue.  Big Data/AI play, and 4.3x revenue. Only growing 20% CAGR, yet he expects multiple expansion.


Glen Kacher, Light Street Capital: Long Palo Alto Networks (PANW).  Tiger Cub 1993-1997.  He was up 11% through the end of Q1 in 2018.  He talked about cyber warfare, and how firewalls weren't enough and how you need a platform approach.  $19B market cap, biggest in Cyber, ARPU 4x the competition, which is CHKP, CSCO, FTNT, JNPR and others. Compares their attempt to shift to subscription services that ADBE has done (though he didn't mention the difference is that ADBE didn't sell hardware).  He gets a $360 price target using 10.6x Revenue.  He admits products slipped in 2017, but thinks it comes in 2018.


Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, New York Times op-ed contributor, visiting lecturer at The Wharton School and former Google data scientist.  Gave an interesting preview of his book, Everybody Lies.  Basically, a lot of people have secrets and tendencies, even though they don't admit it, but you can find out because of Google searches, which he calls "Digital Truth Serum."


Scott Ferguson, Sachem Head Capital: Long Whitbread (WTB).  Basically "Dunkin Donuts of the UK, with a budget hotel thrown in.  "Hasn't done well, they have been stuck in it for a year, he says the bad news is now priced in.


John Pfeffer, Pfeffer Capital: Long bitcoin.  The other alternative coins aren't great, stick with best of breed.  The pitch was basically that bitcoin is gold 2.0, similar to what the Winklevoss twins have argued.  Used a lot of formulas in the pitch.  Ultimately says could be a 1% chance that XBT goes to $700k if it's used as a Reserve Currency.  Maybe it's only Gold 2.0, then it's worth about $90-180k per coin, up from about $9k today.


Bill Gurley, Benchmark, with Chamath Palihapitiya:  Interesting back and forth between two talented VCs.  Gurley contemplates the idea of "peak car" ownership in the US.  3.2 cars per household now, could never get higher.  Says Uber is getting turned around, culture improving.  Slack, AirBnB are big ones to watch when they IPO.  He says autonomy could be 2 decades away, because the US is such a litigious society.  FB- he would be long, says this is not an existential threat.  AMZN- "of course, long."  GOOG - he's concerned - they have problems, although he wouldn't short (He also told an amusing story how they turned them down for VC money).  TSLA- says Musk is making it too risky to own the stock.  SoFi- "when you are handing out money there is no barrier to entry and the guy doing the highest volume usually has the loosest rule set."  HTZ- he would be short, even against Icahn.  Several issues:"disruption and debt are bad sisters," 5-15x levered, depending on whether you count the car loans.  Ride sharing is a huge substitute for rental cars in many US cities.  Systematic used car problem - if the macro gets hard at all, this business has zero flexibility due to the debt load.


Larry Robbins, Glenview Capital: Long ESRX, MCK, CVS.  Says AMZN is not going to get into their business, the PBMs aren't really gouging, they only make pennies, and drug prices have actually dropped over the last 4 years.  Says they trade at historically low multiples.  Says MCK goes up 91% in 2-3 years after the spin, and share buyback. ESRX deal with CI will happen.


Sohn Idea Contest Winner, Andrew Walker: Long LQM.  Mispricing due to taxable spin, incentive to keep price low.  This is a popular HF play right now.


Nathaniel August, Mangrove Partners: short EROS."Netflix of India" maker of Bollywood films.  He did a long presentation which focused on how he argues the company is cheating on their accounting every way possible.  He's being sued by the company.  Small cap, doesn't trade much.


David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital: Short Assured Guaranty (AGO).  Bond insurer, beset by Puerto Rico bonds and decline in overall muni bond issuance.  Business is also levered, with smaller room for error.


Be sure to also check out notes from the emerging manager segment of the conference: notes from Next Wave Sohn New York.

Glenview Capital Boosts Newell Brands Exposure

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has ratcheted up its exposure to Newell Brands (NWL).  Per a 13G filed with the SEC, Glenview now shows a 5.56% ownership stake with over 26.96 million shares. 

The filing was made due to portfolio activity on March 16th.  This is up from the 17 million shares they owned at the end of 2017. 

As we've highlighted previously, activist investor Starboard Value is involved in Newell shares and it's recently been revealed that Carl Icahn owns NWL as well. 

Sohn Conference New York Notes 2017: Ackman, Einhorn, Meister & More

Below we're posting up notes from the Sohn Conference New York 2017.  It featured top hedge fund managers sharing their latest investment ideas all to benefit pediatric cancer research.  We've also posted up the emerging manager presentations from Next Wave Sohn.


Notes From Sohn Conference New York 2017

Bill Ackman (Pershing Square): Long Howard Hughes (HHC)

He argued strong management and solid real estate locations as the main reasons to own the company.  Note that Ackman is the Chairman of the co.  We've posted up Ackman's slideshow presentation from Sohn here.



David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital): Short Core Labs (CLB)

Cyclical stock, expects earnings to disappoint.  Oil prices won't have a 'v' shaped recovery.  Company's annual report shows 65% decrease in oil prices over two years and then a 100% increase in price, a literal 'v' chart.  Says stock is pricey and that they're exposed to the least desirable parts of the market.  Exposure to international oilfield capex budgets which won't recover.  Fair value could be around $62, or over 40% lower.  Recall that Einhorn has also been short Pioneer Natural Resources (PDX) in pitch at previous conferences.



Larry Robbins (Glenview Capital): Long DXC Technology (DXC), FMC (FMC), Quintiles IMS (Q)

DXC has already doubled over the past two years but he thinks it can double again given the huge increase in earnings power.  FMC purchased businesses that Dow and DuPont dumped as part of their merger.  Thinks FMC benefits as the others had to divest this in order to get their big deal done.



Keith Meister (Corvex Management): Long CenturyLink (CTL)

Thinks the company's merger with Level 3 is a game changer.  Filing a 13D with the SEC today disclosing a 5.5% stake.  Says consolidation in telecom will continue due to more data.  If economy is doing well = more data growth which is good for CTL.  If economy doing bad = a 9% dividend yield versus a 10-year Treasury potentially falling back to 2%.  Would never have invested if it weren't for the merger.  Stock priced as if things are in decline permanently.  Sees 40% upside with dividends in base case, but potential return as high as 50-70% if there's corporate tax reform.



Clifton Robbins (Blue Harbour Group): Long Investors Bancorp (ISBC)

Has seen deposit and asset growth continue, should benefit from less regulations and tax reform as well.  They own around 9.9% of the company and one of their partners just joined the board.  Stock could be worth between $17 and $19.  Fortress balance sheet.  Have grown loans 22% CAGR.  Co has $1 billion in excess cash to allocate.  Could potentially be an acquisition target since it's a strong regional bank.  Has previously pitched this name at another conference a few years ago.  Also noted his firm is focusing more now on the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) in investing.



Chamath Palihapitiya (Social Capital): Long Tesla 2022 Convertible Bonds

He called Elon Musk this generation's "Thomas Edison."  Thinks playing the bonds means no money lost as long as the company is worth at least $15 billion.  Argues company will have 5% of car market in the next decade.  They don't spend on advertising or a dealer network, don't have unions, etc.  Very capital intensive.  Called TSLA "unmodelable."



Josh Resnick (Jericho Capital):  Short Frontier Communications (FTR)

Massive debtload and deteriorating EBITDA which is a bad combination.  Has been short for five years, from $4 down to $1.50, longest short of his career.  Thinks company goes bankrupt.  32% of revenue comes from voice (phones) and thinks it declines sharply.  Losing market share to cable as well.



Jeff Gundlach (DoubleLine Capital): Emerging market outperformance (EEM) vs S&P 500

Not very bearish on the US dollar, but also not a bull.  American stock market seems to be overvalued. Questioned the herd mentality around index funds.  Go long EEM short SPY and leverage it up 1x.  Also said he's now on Twitter: @TruthGundlach to fight back fallacious media reports.



Debra Fine (Fine Capital): Long DHX Media (DHX/B on TSE)

Creator, buyer and distributor of children's TV content in Canada.  Thinks fair value is C$20-C$30.  The change in how video is consumed has increased need for children's content.  Says new content buyers like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube are driving up prices.  Notes that children's content drives merchandise and licensing dollars.  Children's content ages well and is usually cheaper to produce.



Davide Serra (Algebris Investments): Short U.K. gilts (bonds), Long UniCredit (UCG:BIT)

Brexit doesn't really help the UK economy, thinks it costs U.K. around 7% of GDP (~$200 billion).  Thinks European stocks are at an inflection point.  Big gap versus S&P 500 over past eight years and that's about to change.  Also talked long UniCredit, thinks Europe is overdue for consolidation efforts.  Italian banks been penalized for high share of nonperforming loans which creates opportunity as the company is fixing this and then added tailwinds of interest rates normalizing.  We previously highlighted Dan Loeb & Third Point's thesis on UniCredit.



Brad Gerstner (Altimeter Capital): Long United Airlines (UAL)

Thinks skepticism of the airline industry that's been pervasive for years is too negative.  Led to lower multiples despite margins that were uptrending.  Sentiment shouldn't be that low.  Millennials are traveling more than their parents did so airlines can be a secular grower.  Altimeter settled proxy contest with UAL last year.  Sees 18% increase in EPS to around $16.75.  More conservative base case is $13 a share by 2020.  Consolidation of the industry cannot be overstated and has basically resulted in an oligopoly.  Planes are full and price wars are long gone so there's pricing power now.  We've also highlighted how Warren Buffett likes airlines now too. Shares could double.



Kevin Warsh (Former Fed Governor):

Thinks a lot about tail risks and tail outcomes.  Feels most assets aren't ready for downside surprise.  Says to watch capex going forward.  If companies are spending, the economy still has further legs.  If there's a cut, not so sure the economy can keep it in high gear to go forward.  Biggest question for him is if lower inflation continues with slow growth.  Thinks institutional credibility rather than the printing press will be biggest asset going forward.



Tal Ben-Shahar (Potentialife): General advice: Do less

If you want to be happier, do less as quantity affects quality.  Reduce multi-tasking and find time for play, for friends, for family.



Sohn Contest Winner Dylan Adelman: Long eBay


Be sure to also check out notes from Next Wave Sohn which featured emerging managers pitching their investment ideas.

Glenview Capital Boosts Computer Sciences Stake

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its position in Computer Sciences Corp (CSC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 5.26% of the company with over 7.38 million shares.

This is an increase over the 6.87 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on August 23rd.

You can see the rest of Glenview's portfolio in the brand new issue of our newsletter.

Per Google Finance, Computer Sciences Corp is "a global provider of information technology (IT) and professional services and solutions. The Company operates through two segments: Global Business Services (GBS) and Global Infrastructure Services (GIS). The GBS segment provides various technology solutions, including consulting, applications services and software. GBS has three primary growth engines: end-to-end applications services, consulting services, big data services and industry-aligned software and solutions. The GIS segment provides managed and virtual desktop solutions, unified communications and collaboration services, data center management, cyber security, compute and managed storage solutions to commercial clients across the globe. GIS also delivers CSC's various cloud offerings, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), private cloud solutions, CloudMail and Storage as a Service (SaaS). The Company has operations throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia."

Interview With Glenview Capital's Larry Robbins: Capitalize For Kids Investor Series

The Capitalize For Kids Conference has recently started an Investor Series of interviews.  Their first issue (Volume 1) features conversations with Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital, Pierre Lavellée of CPPIB as well as the team at Cambridge Associates.  The full document is available here, but we've pulled some select quotes from Robbins:


On how he invests:

"I think one of the challenges that many people have is that, in their pursuit of highly diversified investment strategies, they end up investing their own capital – or capital that they are the fiduciary for – on things that, due to time constraints, they have no contact with. Or of which they don’t have a capacity to develop a deep understanding. The theory, when we started Glenview – and that perpetuates today – is to invest in businesses that we believe we can adequately describe in a matter of minutes. Businesses where we can look at past and present fundamentals and try to predict future fundamentals – including future earnings growth, cash flow growth, shareholder returns, and where we can invest capital at valuations – absolute valuations – that we find reasonable. And the final thing is that, all along the way, we wanted to think and act like owners – which the business has allowed us to do."


On incentives in the hedge fund industry:

"I believe that the reason that hedge funds work over time is because the owner/operator hedge fund has a tremendous and complete alignment of interest between the fund manager and the client – because the fund manager is the largest non-diversified client. And because of that, I am not only well-motivated to drive returns over time, but I’m also extremely well motivated to manage risk. Unfortunately, most people gauge risk based upon the mark-to-market stock price movements or security price movements of the day, whereas in reality those risks are more appropriately measured through a cycle – based upon the certainty of outcomes and the hit rate in which one invests long and short with success. I think that alignment of interest is exactly fair and appropriate, and is the motivating factor by which hedge funds have delivered risk-adjusted returns and alpha over time."


On the unfortunate truth of the business:

"The unfortunate truth of our business is we’re trying to do something that’s very hard, and very unnatural. We were created in order to take advantage of market anomalies, and yet we are also expected to prevent market anomalies from negatively impacting capital balances. I’m not complaining about that dichotomy. We’re not crying about it, but we do recognize that there’s a natural tension between the times that opportunity sets are created and the times that the opportunity sets are harvested. And it is likely, over decades, that occasionally opportunity starts to get created on your watch while you’re holding that security. In order to encourage opportunistic investor behavior, I think you’re accurate in saying that we will go to great lengths to encourage opportunistic investor behavior – because we want to make sure that the clients know that we will do anything we can to support their objectives."


Update on Glenview's Thermo Fisher (TMO) stake:

"Thermo Fisher is an example of a company which is well run and well-managed – from top to bottom. So much of the popular press talks about hedge funds engaging underperforming companies, or entrenched managements, or dysfunctional boards. And yet, if you look at Thermo Fisher Scientific which is the aggregation of four different companies: Thermo Electron, Fisher Scientific, and Life Technologies – itself two different companies, it’s an example of a board and management operating on all cylinders. Number one, their business continues to exhibit the defensive growth characteristics that attracted us to want to invest in the life sciences industry. In the fourth quarter of 2015, they posted their strongest organic revenue growth quarter in five years, posting seven percent organic revenue growth. For a firm like ours, whose average portfolio earnings multiple is 12 times this year’s and 10 times next year’s earnings, it’s hard to find businesses that grow organically more than seven percent, so certainly we’re gratified that the business does that. Thermo has allocated capital extremely well. They repurchased shares and made meaningful acquisitions – the most significant of which in the last several years was their acquisition of Life Technologies, which was also a Glenview holding. At the time we pitched Thermo to your conference [October 2014], our thesis was that Thermo’s organic revenue growth would accelerate not only because Life Technologies was a financially accretive tuck in that offered significant cost savings, but because the platform that Life Technologies owned would actually accelerate organic revenue growth. That certainly has come to pass in 2015, and is reflected in increased optimism with respect to organic revenue growth in 2016 and beyond. Finally, Thermo is an example of what we would call the ‘wash-rinse-repeat trade’. There is much discussion in the market of companies that either employ financial engineering or have a too great reliance on leverage in order to drive financial returns. And yet Thermo, as an investment grade company, has developed enormous credibility with the credit markets and with the rating agencies, as well as with its shareholders, by identifying attractive acquisition candidates and financing them mostly with debt securities – but then using their prodigious free cash flow and the underlying EBITDA growth of the combined company in order to have the balance sheet self-repair over an 18 to 24 month period. As we sit here today, Thermo has de-levered to below three times debt to EBITDA, which puts them in a position in 2016 to again be a significant capital deployer. To date, they have bought back $500 million of stock and have announced the accretive acquisition of Affymetrix. We believe that the company has additional firepower to augment their strong organic top-line growth – and a strong margin expansion with additional accretive repurchases or M&A that'll further shareholder returns."


To read the rest of Robbins' in-depth interview, definitely check out the Capitalize For Kids Investor Series here.

Notes From Sohn Conference New York 2016: Druckenmiller, Robbins, Einhorn & More

The 2016 Sohn Conference New York just concluded and featured top hedge fund managers sharing investment ideas in order to benefit the Sohn Conference Foundation which is dedicated to the treatment and cure of pediatric cancer and childhood diseases.  Here's the takeaways:


Notes From Sohn Conference New York 2016


Larry Robbins (Glenview Capital): “Get a Grip.” Theme was stocks can be a bumpy ride for investors, and hedge funds have taken a lot of hits in the press, but if you expect them to not be short-term traders, then don’t judge them by their short-term records.   He talked his book; claiming that fundamental investing is not dead.   He is long: VCA (WOOF) – Veternarian hospital, multiple has compressed as earnings have grown and “There is no Obamacare for Veternarian hospitals.” Also pitched his longstanding holding of Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO).  Yes, it has FX issues, but it has EPS growth.  Pitched Lab Corp (LH) as well: hit by fears of new technology, but Theranos story shows that it’s not that easy to come up with new technology. On CBS (CBS): the viewing model is changing, with over-the-top (OTT), but content still has value.   Flextronics (FLEX): they got out of the low value business, but still grew revenue 3% and EPS 15% yet their P/E is only 8.5x.  The stock fell in February 19% and nobody knows why. Abbvie (ABBV): has a pipeline, Humira has IP protection, and biosimilars will take time to develop. Brookdale Senior Living (BKD): earning less, but still, oversold. Talked about Anthem (ANTM): 1.     Managed care is still a good business  2.     Cigna (CI) merger could lead to 20% accretion  3.     ANTM vs ESRX contract repricing spat could lead to more earnings  4.     Market pricing says deal breaks, he doesn’t think it will.


Carson Block (Muddy Waters):  Famed short seller says, “No such thing as alchemy in banking” and touts Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK) as a short because they’ve done a lot of aggressive construction loans and acquisitions. Best case stock re-rates due to unsustainable EPS growth rate, worst case, balance sheet pressure.


John Khoury (Long Pond Capital):  Value oriented, private equity approach. Hyatt (H) long. Says 65% upside, and low leverage gives a floor to valuation.  Admits Pritzker family controls company but says they make good capital allocation decisions. Low end, leisure hotels most vulnerable to AirBnB threat.  Hyatt has more corporate, higher end, which is relatively insulated. Not making a bullish call on all hotel stocks.  Saying Hyatt since 2010 IPO, EBITDA is up 66%, shares up only 14% while they have bought back 20% of shares outstanding.    Uses SOTP to get $79 PT, 65% upside.


Chamath Palihapitiya (Social Capital):  Silicon Valley investor. Says Amazon (AMZN) is a multi-trillion monopoly in plain sight. Walked through e-Commerce, Amazon Web Services (AWS), says this is just the beginning, that Jeff Bezos will make good investment decisions. Says AWS is not understood by the Street and could be worth a lot more. (Seems like the AWS bull case is already widely touted by AMZN bulls?) Lots of potential losers as AWS scales.


Jeff Smith (Starboard Value): Activists. In 12 years they have replaced 162 board members at 50 companies. Likes Depomed (DEPO) long, pain medication, like Oxycontin, less abuse potential. Not taking price increases. Horizon Pharma (HZNP) tried to buy them, they refused to deal. Starboard has nominated a new board- sounds like a proxy battle is brewing.   Also like Westrock (WRK), merger of Mead WestVaco and Rock Tenn.  Sounds like a commodity business, but he says it is not, and it’s still cheap, at 4.9x 2017E EBITDA. Has $71 PT, almost a double from here.


Richard Deitz (VR Capital):  They do a lot of emerging markets stuff. He says long Greek banks and Greek treasury bonds.  Went through the sordid history of bailouts, and says now things are better, the banks are finally strong, may need one more round of recapitalizations.  141% upside, 34% IRR over next 3 years.


Stanley Druckenmiller (Duquesne Family Office): In a sentence: we have low rates, high multiples on stocks, high leverage, sell stocks and everything, buy gold.  Fed is out of control, encouraging borrowing, reckless behavior. China is out of control, just buy gold.


Jeff Gundlach (DoubleLine Capital): Comedy show, with art talk in the beginning.  In other words, his usual type of presentation. Says short XLU (utilities) long REM (mortgage REITs.)  REITS are priced at 0.88x p/book, with 11% dividend, Utilities are 1.9x p/book with 3% dividend, you earn 8% net and you can lever it up 100% and earn 15%, plus the two should converge. He mocked the “low volatility” equities and showed that even utilities have had 56% drawdowns in the past. His most incendiary statement was that Donald Trump would be President, and “he’s comfortable with debt.”


Zach Schreiber (PointState Capital): He is the man that pitched oil short 2 years ago, when it was $100 per barrel.   Long USD, short the Saudi currency, he says.  He made a compelling case for why Saudi is in an “unsustainable equilibria” with lavish unfunded entitlements, unsustainable debt, and not enough currency reserves to protect their peg. Other oil producers’ currencies are down 25- 45% vs the dollar- Mexico, Norway, Russia, for example, yet the Saudi currency is unchanged.  Only costs 1.5% to put this trade on and very asymmetric pay off.


Sohn Investment Contest Winner (Mark Grow, Columbia Business School):   DXCM, Dexcom short was the pitch. Insulin device maker (continuous glucose monitoring ~ CGM) which is facing impending competition and is unable to increase price as revenue per user declines. Says stock can drop in half.


Adam Fisher (Commonwealth Opportunity Capital):  Real estate background, now a Macro guy. Says short Japanese rates, long European rates. Very compelling case for how long JGBs that yield only 30 bps have nowhere to go but up. Even a move to 40 bps yield wipes out 10 years of return.  Says maximum return for bondholders is 9% return over 30 years - that is not a CAGR of 9%, that is a TOTAL of 9%!  Huge convexity in the trade.


David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital): He pitched Caterpillar (CAT) short, says company is NOT at trough earnings yet and the mining sector will never recover to the heights of the China boom.  No catalyst on the short, other than EPS growth expected to take longer than expected.  Then he pitched General Motors (GM) as a long, admitting that US business would drop off almost 20% but the currently money losing segments in Europe and Mexico could make up for the shortfall.  Long deck with lots of charts and cartoons as usual.  GM pitch rested on low P/E of 5.6x to increase despite US EBITDA to decline.


Jim Chanos (Kynikos Associates): Got a dig in on Tesla (TSLA), which he had said he was short earlier that day on TV.  He said Elon Musk had not enough production, not enough batteries, and now not enough executives, but he pulls production forward 2 years.  “What a showman,” he said. His pitch was a complicated one, talking about weakness in South Africa, and Nigeria, which led to a short of MTN group, a wireless carrier which is also struggling with subscriber growth and declining average revenue per user (ARPU).  At $20B EV, this is a big company that he says is not cheap.

Glenview Capital Adds To FMC & Tenet Stakes, Trims Flextronics & Community Health Stakes

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has made numerous portfolio adjustments recently.  Below are the details of the various SEC filings they've made.

Increases FMC Position

Glenview has filed a 13G with the SEC on shares of FMC Corporation (FMC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 5.01% of the company with over 6.69 million shares.

This is up from the 4.8 million shares they owned at the end of the second quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on October 12th.

Per Google Finance, FMC is "a diversified chemical company. The Company serves agricultural, consumer and industrial markets with solutions, applications and products around the world. The Company operates in three business segments: FMC Agricultural Solutions, FMC Health and Nutrition, and FMC Lithium. The Company's FMC Agricultural Solutions segment develops, markets and sells three classes of crop protection chemicals, which include insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. The FMC Health and Nutrition segment focuses on food, pharmaceutical ingredients, nutraceuticals, personal care and similar markets. The pharmaceutical additives are used for binding, encapsulation and disintegrant applications. The Company's FMC Lithium segment manufactures lithium products."


Reduces Flextronics Exposure

Second, the hedge fund has also filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Flextronics (FLX).  Per the filing, Glenview sold 20 million shares at $11.1 on October 22nd.  After this transaction, they still own 55.13 million shares.

Per Google Finance, Flextronics is "a Singapore-based provider of global supply chain solutions. The Company designs, builds, ships and serves packaged electronic products for its original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in various groups. The Company offers a range of design and engineering services that relate to manufacturing (including enclosures, metals, plastic injection molding, precision plastics, machining, and mechanicals), system integration and assembly and test services, materials procurement, inventory management, logistics and after-sales services (including product repair, warranty services, re-manufacturing and maintenance), supply chain management software solutions and component product offerings (including rigid and flexible printed circuit boards and power adapters and chargers)."


Trims Community Health Systems Stake

Third, Larry Robbins' hedge fund has filed a Form 4 with the SEC indicating they've reduced their stake in Community Health Systems (CYH).  Per the filing, Glenview sold 279,074 shares on October 22nd at weighted average prices of $27.7284 and $26.8947 with about a third of the sales occurring at $30.08.

After these sales, Glenview still owns 11.81 million shares of CYH.

Per Google Finance, Community Health Systems is "a hospital company and an operator of acute care hospitals in communities across the United States. The Company provides healthcare services through the hospitals that it owns and operates in non-urban and selected urban markets throughout the United States. It operates in two operating segments: hospital operations and home care agencies operations. Its hospital operations include the Company's acute care hospitals and related healthcare entities that provide inpatient and outpatient healthcare services. Its home care agencies operations provide in-home outpatient care. Services provided through its hospitals and affiliated businesses include general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric and rehabilitation services. It provides a range of hospital healthcare services and other outpatient services to patients in the communities in which the Company is located.."


Adds to Tenet Healthcare Position

Last, Glenview also increased its holdings of Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Glenview acquired 500,000 shares total on October 22nd at weighted average prices of $28.8656 and $29.8034.  After these buys, Glenview now owns over 16.99 million shares of THC.  As we've detailed previously, Glenview has previously been out buying THC in October.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets. As of December 31, 2014, it operated 80 hospitals, 210 outpatient centers, six health plans and Conifer Health Solutions, LLC (Conifer), which provides healthcare business process services in the areas of revenue cycle management, value-based care and patient communications. It provides operational management for revenue cycle functions, including patient access, health information management, revenue integrity and patient financial services. It also offers communications and engagement solutions to optimize the relationship between providers and patients. Conifer operates a management services business that supports value-based performance through clinical integration, financial risk management and population health management. It has two operating segments: Hospital Operations and other, and Conifer.."

Glenview Capital Buys More Tenet Healthcare

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital recently filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 16.49 million THC shares.

They acquired 500,000 shares on September 30th at weighted average prices of $36.21 and $36.92.  Tenet has been a longstanding holding of the hedge fund's as part of their for-profit hospital basket.  THC shares are down 36% over the past three months.

We've also highlighted other recent portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets. As of December 31, 2014, it operated 80 hospitals, 210 outpatient centers, six health plans and Conifer Health Solutions, LLC (Conifer), which provides healthcare business process services in the areas of revenue cycle management, value-based care and patient communications. It provides operational management for revenue cycle functions, including patient access, health information management, revenue integrity and patient financial services. It also offers communications and engagement solutions to optimize the relationship between providers and patients. Conifer operates a management services business that supports value-based performance through clinical integration, financial risk management and population health management. It has two operating segments: Hospital Operations and other, and Conifer."

Glenview Capital Raises Hertz Stake

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding its position in Hertz (HTZ).  According to the filing, Glenview now owns 5.2% of the company with over 23.74 million shares.

This is up from the 17.6 million shares Glenview owned at the end of the second quarter.  The latest filing was made due to activity on August 25th.

We've highlighted other recent portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Hertz is also a position in activist Carl Icahn's portfolio as he has representation on the board as well.  The company's shares have been under pressure over the past year as they had to restate various financials in addition to worries about the ability to raise prices and potential competition from services like Uber.  HTZ also has a potential catalyst coming up with the spin-off of its equipment rental business.

Per Google Finance, Hertz "operates car rental business through its Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly brands. The Company's operating segments are U.S. Car Rental, International Car Rental, Worldwide Equipment Rental and All Other Operations."

Glenview Capital Accumulates More Tenet Healthcare

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns over 15.99 million shares of THC.

They bought 500,000 shares combined over the course of August 21st, 24th, and 25th at weighted average prices of $49.3752, $46.8964, and $47.

This is the second time they've bought THC shares in August.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets."

Glenview Capital Increases Tenet Healthcare Stake Again

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its position in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns over 15.49 million shares of THC.

Robbins' firm was out buying shares on August 5th and 6th at prices ranging from $53.75 to $55.  In total, they purchased 697,917 shares.

This is the second time Glenview has added to its THC position this summer.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets."

Last week we also detailed additional portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Glenview Capital Cuts VCA Position Size

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed an amended 13G with the SEC regarding its position in VCA (WOOF).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 9.83% of the company with a little over 8 million shares.

An additional Form 4 filed with the SEC indicates Glenview sold 4,720,800 shares on August 3rd, with the bulk of the trade being made at $56.33.

Earlier this week, we also highlighted some other Glenview portfolio activity.

Per Google Finance, VCA is "a national animal healthcare company operating in the United States and Canada. The Company operates in two segments: animal hospital and laboratory. The Company provides veterinary services and diagnostic testing to support veterinary care and also sells diagnostic imaging equipment and other medical technology products and related services to the veterinary market. The Company provides communication marketing solutions and other services to the veterinary community. The Company's animal hospital offer general medical and surgical services pharmaceutical products and performs pet wellness programs. The Company's communication and marketing solutions business provides services to veterinary practices pharmaceutical manufacturers and the pet owning community. The Company's network of veterinary diagnostic laboratories provides sophisticated testing and consulting services."

Glenview Capital Boosts HealthSouth Stake

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of HealthSouth (HLS).  Per the filing, Glenview has disclosed a 6.46% ownership stake in the company with over 5.9 million shares.

This is up from the 1.7 million HLS shares Glenview owned at the end of the first quarter.  The new filing was made due to activity on July 21st.

We also recently highlighted how Glenview added to its Tenet Healthcare (THC) stake.

Glenview has been extremely successful with their bets on the healthcare industry since the Affordable Care Act was initially introduced.  They've wagered on for-profit hospitals and insurers, among other things and have seen substantial returns from consolidation and increased profits at these companies.

Per Google Finance, HealthSouth is "an owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. The Company's inpatient rehabilitation hospitals offer rehabilitative care across an array of diagnoses, which include physical and cognitive disabilities or injuries due to medical conditions, such as strokes, hip fractures, head injuries, spinal cord injuries and a variety of debilitating neurological conditions. HealthSouth operates in around 33 states across the United States and in Puerto Rico and serves patients through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. The Company's inpatient rehabilitation hospitals offer rehabilitative care across an array of diagnoses. As of December 31, 2014, the Company operated 107 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. The Company's inpatient hospitals are concentrated in the eastern half of the United States and Texas."

You can view additional portfolio activity from Glenview here.

Glenview Capital Adds To Tenet Healthcare Position

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding its stake in Tenet Healthcare (THC).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns over 14.79 million shares. 

The Form 4 notes that Glenview was out buying 979,482 shares on June 25th at weighted average prices of $54.3028, $54.9934, and $55.924.  This is right around when the Supreme Court decision reaffirmed Obamacare subsidies and hospital stocks rocketed higher.

This has been a longstanding play for Glenview, and a highly successful one at that.  This was part of their basket of for-profit hospital stocks that they wagered would benefit from the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  THC has been their biggest play in the space.

We've also detailed some other portfolio activity from Glenview earlier this week.

Per Google Finance, Tenet Healthcare is "a healthcare services company. The Company operates regionally focused, integrated healthcare delivery networks in large urban and suburban markets."

Glenview Capital Ramps Up Manpower Group Exposure

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Manpower Group (MAN).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 7.24% of the company with over 5.66 million shares.

This marks a sizable increase over the 2.26 million shares they owned at the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on June 15th.

You can see more recent Glenview portfolio activity here.

Per Google Finance, Manpower Group is "a provider of workforce solutions and services. The Company’s services include recruitment and assessment; training and development; career management; outsourcing, and workforce consulting. Training and development offer a portfolio of training courses and leadership development solutions. The Company provides clients with outsourcing services related to human resources functions primarily in the areas of recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives. The Company offers various brands, which include Manpower; Experis; Right Management, and ManpowerGroup Solutions."

Glenview Capital Adds To Manitowoc Position, Files 13D

Larry Robbins' hedge fund firm Glenview Capital has filed a 13D on shares of Manitowoc (MTW).  Per the filing, Glenview now owns 7.06% of the company with over 9.61 million shares.

This means they've increased their position size by 1 million shares since the end of the first quarter.   This is the second time Glenview has added to their stake this year. The filing shows they were out purchasing in late April at weighted average prices of around $19.55.

The 13D contains the standard boilerplate about potentially engaging management, etc.

Readers will recall that activist Carl Icahn successfully pushed for the company to split up.  Manitowoc will split into two: a crane manufacturer and a food service unit.

For more from Glenview, head to Larry Robbins' Sohn Conference presentation.

Per Google Finance, Manitowoc is "a multi-industry, capital goods manufacturer. MTW operates in two markets: Cranes and Related Products (Crane) and Foodservice Equipment (Foodservice). Crane is a provider of engineered lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. Foodservice is a manufacturer of commercial foodservice equipment serving the ice, beverage, refrigeration, food-preparation, and cooking needs of restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, healthcare, and institutional applications."