Steve Einhorn - Omega Advisors Interview on Boyar Podcast

Steve Einhorn of Omega Advisors was recently interviewed on The World According to Boyar Podcast.  Einhorn has been Lee Cooperman's longtime partner at the firm, which recently converted into a family office.


Steve Einhorn Interview on Boyar Podcast

-  Omega runs long/short, primarily in the US with average exposure in developed economies.  Would prefer 15% lumpy return than a 8% non-lumpy return.

- They also spend a lot of time on macro thinking and strategy to combine with their equity research.  They assess a number of factors: economic activity, earnings growth, monetary/fiscal policies, valuation, supply and demand, etc.

-  This helps them determine what exposure they want in the portfolio.  If they're constructive overall, they're willing to take more stock specific risk.  They're bottom-up stock pickers, but if a macro outlook leans certain ways, they can look to take more exposure to a certain sector.  They'll also sell options premium in certain instances.

- On position sizing: they first look at liquidity as they don't want to be so large in a name that they can't get out without disturbing the market.  The second is the risk/reward associated with a given name.  A large long for them is 3-5% of assets and large short would be 1-2%.

-  They'll exit a stock if it meets their stock price target and upside is diminished, or if they were simply wrong on their assessment of fundamentals, or if there's another stock in the sector that's more attractive.

-  Currently he likes the tech sector (software) due to rapid growth in revenue and cashflow.  They see moats around many of these names allowing them to keep pricing flexibility.  They think global growth will be less than it has been historically, and in this environment they want to be invested in growth names, as tech names are often independent of the business cycle.  Not to mention, the multiples they're paying is not excessive in their view.

- Another sector they like is industrials as a synchronized global economic expansion will benefit some of these companies.  They like the position in the cycle.  They also like financials, feels they're cheap relative to tangible book and can see high dividend growth.  In the energy sector, oil prices have ramped up, but some of those stocks haven't reflected that.

- They're not interested in utilities or telecom names, anything interest rate sensitive.  Consumer staples is another area that "looks expensive to them on a multiple basis relative to underlying growth prospects."


Steve Einhorn's Bear Market Checklist

Five items are almost always present at the end of a US bull market and the start of a bear market.  The five are:

1)  Problematic inflation:  if wage inflation is around 3.5% it's a problem (it's currently well below that).  Also watch core consumer prices (you'd need to see consumer inflation in excess of 2.25%)

2)  A hostile Federal Reserve:  raising rates well above the neutral rate of 2.5-3% causes a hostile Fed (currently below that).  Thinks they'll gradually lift rates.

3)  Prospect of recession: "virtually nothing we look at shows the economy in the US is prone to a recession anytime soon."

4)  Investor sentiment:  climbing a wall of worry.  Currently doesn't think it's excessive or speculative.

5)  Valuation: When it becomes extended relative to interest rates and inflation.  Current multiples aren't extended in relation to interest rates.  Modestly above long-term average.


- Sees forward equity returns of 7-9%.  "Bull markets don't die of old age, they die because they are murdered by the Federal Reserve.  Our Federal Reserve is not in a murderous mentality given tame inflation and moderate economic growth."


For other recent podcasts, we've also previously highlighted Boyar's interview with Chris Mayer, the author of 100 Baggers.

Embedded below is the podcast audio of Boyar's interview with Steve Einhorn:



Email readers:  Click here to listen

If you missed it, we also posted up complimentary equity research from Boyar on Charter Communications (CHTR), Franklin Resources (BEN), and SunOpta (STKL). 

Lee Cooperman Buys More Ocwen Financial

Per a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has indicated he's purchased more shares of Ocwen Financial (OCN).  This is the second time this year he's purchased shares, as we highlighted his previous OCN buy as well.

In various trades on February 28th, March 1st, and March 2nd, Cooperman bought 539,798 shares in total at prices around $3.5872 for various Omega investment vehicles.

For more on this investor, be sure to also check out Cooperman's recent interview in the Graham & Doddsville newsletter.

Per Google Finance, Ocwen Financial is "a financial services holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, originates and services loans. The Company's segments include Servicing, Lending, and Corporate Items and Other. The Company's Servicing segment consists of its residential servicing business. The Company's Lending segment is focused on originating and purchasing conventional and government-insured residential forward and reverse mortgage loans. The Company's Corporate Items and Other segment includes revenues and expenses of Automotive Capital Services (ACS) and its other business activities. Its servicing clients include some of the financial institutions in the United States, including the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and non-Agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trusts. "

Graham & Doddsville New Issue: Lee Cooperman, David Poppe, John Harris & More

The Winter 2018 issue of Columbia Business School's Graham & Doddsville newsletter is out.  It features interviews with Lee Cooperman of Omega Advisors as well as David Poppe and John Harris of Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb.  Also, they talk with Vulcan Value Partners' C.T. Fitzpatrick, as well as Seth Fischer of Oasis Management.

Cooperman talked about the market's run: "I believe we're adequately priced.  I think we're heading to a normalization.  We have been living through a very strange period."  He doesn't see euphoria in the market yet, though notes everyone expects the market to head higher.  He pointed to 1987 as an example where the market traded at 27x earnings.

The gentlemen from Ruane Cunniff talked about their investment in Alphabet (GOOG) which they recently bought more or and it's now around 10% of their fund.  They also touched on their thesis on Credit Acceptance Corp (CACC).  (We recently posted Sequoia Fund's Q4 letter here.)

The issue also includes student investment pitches including long Staples 8.5 2025 unsecured notes, long FleetCor Technologies (FLT), and long First Data (FDC).

Embedded below is the Winter 2018 issue of CBS's Graham & Doddsville newsletter:



You can download a .pdf copy here.

Lee Cooperman Acquires More Ocwen Financial

Lee Cooperman of Omega Advisors has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding shares of Ocwen Financial (OCN).  Per the filing, Cooperman's most recent activity was buying shares of OCN on January 22nd and 23rd at $3.1582.  In total across various vehicles, he purchased 494,459 shares. 

In an additional 13G filed with the SEC, Cooperman disclosed he now owns 10.5289% of the company with over 14.04 million shares.  Omega previously only owned 8.66 million OCN shares as of the end of the third quarter in 2017.

Per Yahoo Finance, Ocwen Financial is "a financial services holding company, engages in the servicing and origination of mortgage loans in the United States. Its Servicing segment provides residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing, and asset management services to owners of mortgage loans and foreclosed real estate. This segment's residential servicing portfolio includes conventional, government insured, and non-agency loans. The company's Lending segment originates and purchases conventional and government-insured residential forward and reverse mortgage loans primarily through its correspondent lending arrangements, broker relationships, and directly with mortgage customers. The company also provides short-term inventory-secured loans to independent used car dealers to finance their inventory. Ocwen Financial Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida."

Lee Cooperman's 7 Reasons For Market Upside

Omega Advisors founder Lee Cooperman recently appeared on Bloomberg TV and outlined seven reasons for market upside.  Here's his rationale:

1. This would be the first market peak that occurred without one Fed tightening.  He says on average, the market went up for 2.5 years after the first rate hike.

2. Bear markets come due to recession, overvaluation, hostile Fed, or a geopolitical event.  Those don't really seem to be present, with the caveat of the last one.

3. Markets usually peak during euphoria and he doesn't see any signs of that.

4. The stock market has already corrected recently.

5. What's the alternative to stocks... bonds yielding 2% or cash earning zero?

6. There's enormous substitution taking place of debt for equity.  Corporations are announcing big buybacks and that supports the market.

7. Valuation is reasonable

Embedded below is the video of Cooperman's Bloomberg appearance:



You can view recent portfolio activity from Cooperman here.

Lee Cooperman Boosts PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust Stake

Omega Advisors' founder Lee Cooperman has filed a 13G on shares of PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT).  Per the filing, Cooperman now owns 5.17% of the company with over 3.86 million shares.

This is up from the 2.6 million shares Cooperman owned as of the end of the second quarter.  The new filing was made due to activity on September 4th.

For more from Omega, head to Steve Einhorn's interview on Wall Street Week.

Per Google Finance, Pennymac Mortgage is "a specialty finance company that invests primarily in residential mortgage loans and mortgage-related assets. The Company conducts all of its operations, and makes all of its investments, through PennyMac Operating Partnership, L.P. and its subsidiaries. The Company operates through two segments. The correspondent production segment represents the Company’s operations aimed at serving as an intermediary between mortgage lenders and the capital markets by purchasing, pooling and reselling newly originated prime credit quality mortgage loans either directly or in the form of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), using the services of PNMAC Capital Management and PennyMac Loan Services, LLC. The investment activities segment represents the Company’s investments in mortgage-related assets, which include distressed mortgage loans, real estate acquired in settlement of loans, MBS, mortgage servicing rights and excess servicing spread.."

Steve Einhorn on Wall Street Week: "More Years" Left In Bull Market

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's Wall Street Week this time around featured Steve Einhorn of Omega Advisors.  While many people will be more familiar with Omega's founder Lee Cooperman due to his numerous public appearances, Einhorn is an integral part of the team as well.

In his interview, Einhorn commented that Omega feels that there's still "quite a while to go" in this bull market.  While many investors anticipate markets to get choppy once rates start rising, Omega has taken a different stance.

He thinks that the situation in Greece and the timing of the rate rise aren't that important in the grand scheme of things.  He notes, "the fundamentals that largely determine how the stock market does are quite good, and partly overlooked by investors."

Embedded below is the video of Steve Einhorn's appearance on Wall Street Week (his portion starts at 18:34):



For more from Omega Advisors, we recently highlighted Lee Cooperman's latest interview.

For more from the show, be sure to check out Byron Wien's Wall Street Week interview as well.

Lee Cooperman's Masters In Business Interview

Barry Ritholtz's podcast on Bloomberg Radio called Masters in Business recently featured an interview with Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman.

You can listen to the full interview here but we wanted to offer a few quick takeaways:

- He attributes his success to a combination of hard work, education, and luck.

- The only place he feels is a bubble currently is fixed income and interest rates are going higher

- Ritholtz mentioned research he's done on stock market returns when rates are rising. He noted that the only time stocks didn't do so well was when you're raising rates from already high levels and with inflation.  He says that when you're starting from a low base (like we are now), that returns tend to be favorable and Cooperman agreed.

- Cooperman looks at a top down macro level to survey the land and then drills down to specific companies.  He looks for "more growth at a lower multiple."

- He loves what he does and consumes content all the time.  He's always reading about companies, industries, macro stats, and meeting with other investors or companies trying to get a feel for how things are going and what will happen going forward.

- Cooperman is long Japan via the indexes rather than individual stocks because he doesn't have individual expertise there, but he has a macro view on the country and has expressed it as such.

- When a stock moves against him, sometimes he doubles down, sometimes he sits tight, and sometimes he sells.  It really depends on the specific situation.  If something has tangibly changed, you've got to make a different decision. 

-  "What is your sell discipline?"  1.  If it hits our price objective, even without circumstances changing, they sell.  2.  Not everything unfolds the way you anticipated, so get out.  3.  If you find a better idea, switch the capital there.  4.  If they change their view on the market and want to reduce exposure.

- On hedging: "We tend to be long-oriented.  Our short positions tend to be 5-15% of the fund.  We don't run a big gross book and a small net book, I find that very difficult."

- Average holding period:  Half our asset base is taxable, so we try to focus long-term.  75% of our investments have a horizon of over a year.

- For people looking into the business, his advice:  get a good education, don't go into a field just for the money, go to work for someone you respect and admire to build a good foundation.

- On what he knows today that he wished he knew when he first started: He wish he would have started his hedge fund earlier.


We've highlighted some of Cooperman's recent portfolio activity here.

Lee Cooperman Increases Loral Space & Communcations Stake

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding his position in Loral Space & Communications (LORL).  Per the filing, Cooperman now owns 5.21% of the company with over 1.11 million shares.

This marks an increase in his position size of 94,225 shares since the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on June 25th.

We also highlighted some other recent portfolio activity from Cooperman here.

Per Google Finance, Loral Space & Communications is "a satellite communications company. The Company, through its ownership interests in affiliates, is engaged in satellite-based communications services. The Company participates in satellite services operations through its 62.8% economic interest in Telesat Holdings Inc. (Telesat Holdco), which owns Telesat Canada (Telesat). Telesat owns and leases a satellite fleet that operates in geosynchronous earth orbit approximately 22,000 miles above the equator. The Company also own 56% of XTAR, LLC (XTAR), a joint venture between Loral and Hisdesat Servicios Estrategicos S.A. (Hisdesat). XTAR owns and operates an X-band satellite. Telesat earns revenue by providing ground-based transmit and receive services, selling equipment, installing, managing and maintaining satellite networks, and providing consulting services in the field of satellite communications. Telesat categorizes its revenues into: Broadcast, Enterprise Services and Consulting & Other."

Lee Cooperman Dumps Sandridge Energy Position

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Sandridge Energy (SD).  Per the filing, Cooperman no longer owns a stake in the company.

The filing was made due to activity on June 19th.  At the end of the first quarter, Cooperman previously owned over 24.3 million shares of SD.

Sandridge shares have collapsed even further since the first quarter and now Cooperman has exited the name entirely.  He also recently sold his position in Caesars Entertainment, another troubled stock.

Per Google Finance, Sandridge is "an oil and natural gas company. The Company operates in three business segments: exploration and production, drilling and oil field services, and midstream services. The exploration and production segment explores for, develops and produces oil and natural gas in the Mid-Continent. The drilling and oil field services segment performs services for third parties, including third-party working interests in wells that it operates. The midstream services segment is engaged in gas marketing. The Company focuses on exploration and production activities in the Mid-Continent region of the United States. It also operates businesses and infrastructure systems, including gas gathering and processing facilities, marketing operations, a saltwater disposal system, an electrical transmission system and a drilling rig and related oil field services business."

Lee Cooperman Dumps Caesars Entertainment Stake

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Caesars Entertainment (CZR).  Per the filing, Cooperman no longer owns any shares of CZR and has exited his position entirely.

He previously reported ownership of over 7.33 million shares at the end of the first quarter.  The updated filing was made due to activity on June 5th.

CZR shares recently hit a 52-week low as the company's subsidiary, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company is in bankruptcy and is fighting with creditors and this could have implications for the parent company. 

Per Google Finance, Caesars Entertainment is "a holding and casino-entertainment and hospitality services company. The Company's facilities include gaming offerings, food and beverage outlets, hotel and convention space, and non-gaming entertainment options."

Lee Cooperman on Wall Street Week: Market Not Cheap, But Not Priced To Perfection Either

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's Wall Street Week recently interviewed Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman.  He manages around $9.5 billion nowadays.


On the current stock market, Cooperman says, "It's not cheap, but it's not priced to perfection."

He also addressed the potential looming interest rate hikes by noting that historically, the market is higher one year after the first rate hike.  He says you only have to start to worry once rates get high enough that they start to compete with stock market returns.

He noted, "There's no question that every asset has benefited by our interest rate policy.  Having said that, a bubble is not in the stock market... if there's a bubble, it's in the bond market."  This echoes what Carl Icahn said on his Wall Street Week appearance as well.

Two specific stocks Cooperman commented on were Chimera (CIM) as well as Citigroup (C).

He talked about how he first looks at the market to discern whether it's overvalued or undervalued, and then he drills down to specific companies to see where some value might be.  He's always looking for "more growth at a lower multiple" and likes to hunt for mispricings in the market.

Embedded below is the video of Lee Cooperman's interview on Wall Street Week:



Be sure to check out other recent fund manager appearances, such as Jim Chanoss interview on Wall Street Week.

Lee Cooperman Discloses Resource America Stake

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Resource America (REXI).  Per the filing, Cooperman has disclosed a 11.7% ownership stake in the company with over 2.69 million shares.

This is a new position for Cooperman since the end of the first quarter.  The filing was made due to activity on May 29th.

For more from Cooperman, head to his latest stock picks from the SALT Conference.

Per Google Finance, Resource America is "a specialized asset management Company, which evaluates, originates, services and manages investment opportunities through its real estate, commercial finance and financial fund management subsidiaries. The Company seeks to develop investment funds for outside investors, for which it provides asset management services, underLong-term management arrangements either through a contract with, or as the manager or general partner of, its sponsored investment funds. It maintains an investment in the funds it sponsors. In its real estate operations, it concentrates on the ownership, operation and management of multifamily and commercial real estate and real estate mortgage loans, including whole mortgage loans, first priority interests in commercial mortgage loans, known as A notes, subordinated interests in first mortgage loans, known as B notes, mezzanine loans, investments in discounted and distressed real estate loans and investments in value-added properties."

Lee Cooperman Trims Pennymac Financial Stake, Exercises Warrants on Aspen Group

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has made two separate filings with the SEC recently.


Trims Pennymac Financial Services Stake

First, Cooperman has submitted a Form 4 regarding his stake in Pennymac Financial Services (PFSI).  Per the filing, Cooperman was out selling 58,100 shares on April 27th and 28th at prices around $18.34.  After the sales, he still has exposure to over 3.3 million PFSI shares.

Per Google Finance, Pennymac Financial is "a specialty financial services firm with a mortgage platform and integrated business focused on the production and servicing of United States residential mortgage loans and the management of investments related to the United States residential mortgage market.."


Exercises Warrants on Aspen Group

Second, Cooperman filed a 13G with the SEC regarding shares of Aspen Group (ASPU).  Per the filing, Cooperman continues to own 9.9% of the company.  However, on April 23rd he exercised warrants yielding him 4 million more shares.

The filing also notes that, "In connection with the exercise of the warrants, the reporting person and the issuer have agreed to waive the 9.99% Blocker contained in the warrant agreement."

Per Google Finance, Aspen Group "offers relevant online education. The Company derives revenue primarily from tuition and fees derived from courses taught by the Company online, as well as from related educational resources that the Company provides to its students, such as access to its online materials and learning management system. The Company’s subsidiary, Aspen University Inc. (Aspen University), delivers education experiences and has served thousands of students."

We've previously detailed other portfolio activity from Lee Cooperman here.

Lee Cooperman Trims Altisource Portfolio Solutions Stake

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a Form 4 with the SEC regarding his position in Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS).  Per the filing, Cooperman has sold around 262,000 shares.

He was selling on March 16th and 17th at weighted average prices of $16.33 and $15.57.  ASPS has since continued to slide lower and currently trades around $12.73.  We've outlined the ASPS situation here previously.

Per Google Finance, Altisource Portfolio Solutions is "a provider of marketplace and transaction solutions for the real estate, mortgage and consumer debt industries. The Company operates through three business segments: Mortgage Services, Financial Services and Technology Services. The Company offers mortgage services, such as Asset management, Insurance services, Residential property valuation, Default management services and Origination management services. Financial Services provide collection and customer relationship management services to debt originators, servicers and the utility and insurance industries. Technology Services provides software applications and technologies that manage the end-to-end lifecycle for residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, including the automated management and payment of a distributed network of vendors."

We've detailed other recent portfolio activity from Cooperman here.

Lee Cooperman Increases New Senior Investment Group Stake

Lee Cooperman of Omega Advisors has filed a 13G with the SEC regarding his position in New Senior Investment Group (SNR).  Per the filing, Cooperman now owns 5.13% of the company with over 3.4 million shares.

He's increased his holdings by 803,327 shares since the end of the first quarter.  The filing was required due to activity on March 5th.

We've detailed other recent portfolio activity from Cooperman here.

Per Google Finance, New Senior Investment Group is "a real estate investment trust (REIT) with a portfolio of senior housing properties across the United States. The Company’s portfolio is categorized into two segments: Managed Properties, which are operated by property managers as property management agreements and Triple Net Lease Properties, which the Company lease to tenants. The Company’s managed portfolio includes 42 assisted living, memory care and independent living properties and its triple net lease portfolio includes 57 assisted living, memory care, independent living and continuing care retirement communities."

Lee Cooperman Trims SandRidge Energy & New Residential Stakes; Adds to THL Credit

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman has filed a myriad of amended 13G's with the SEC as of late.  We covered some of his recent portfolio activity here.  In other recent moves, Cooperman was out trimming 2 stakes, and adding to another.


Trims SandRidge Energy

First, Omega Advisors has reduced its position in SandRidge Energy (SD) by over 13.3 million shares since the end of the third quarter.  Per the 13G filed with the SEC, Cooperman now owns just over 32.1 million shares.  This was made due to activity on December 31st.

Per Google Finance, SandRidge Energy is "an oil and natural gas company. The Company focuses on exploration and production activities in the Mid-Continent region of the United States. The Company also operates businesses and infrastructure systems, including gas gathering and processing facilities, marketing operations, a saltwater disposal system, an electrical transmission system and a drilling rig and related oil field services business."


Cuts New Residential Stake

Next, the hedge fund manager also cut his exposure to New Residentail Investment Corp (NRZ).  After selling over 3.8 million shares, he's left owning over 7.97 million shares.  The filing was also made due to activity on December 31st.

Per Google Finance, New Residential Investment Corp is "a real estate investment trust. The Company focuses on investing in, and actively managing, investments related to residential real estate. The Company is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a global investment management. The Company primarily target investments in excess mortgage servicing rights, residential mortgage backed securities, residential mortgage loans and other related investments."


Adds To THL Credit Position

Last, Cooperman also disclosed he has added to his THL Credit (TCRD) position.  After buying over 1.1 million more shares, he now owns over 2.11 million shares of the company.  The 13G was filed due to activity on December 31st.

Per Google Finance, THL Credit is "a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. It operates as a business development company. The Company’s investment objective is to generate both current income and capital appreciation, primarily through investments in privately negotiated debt and equity securities of middle market companies. The Company is a direct lender to middle market companies and invest in subordinated, or mezzanine, debt and second lien secured debt, which may include an associated equity component such as warrants, preferred stock or other similar securities."

Don't forget you can see the rest of Cooperman's recent portfolio activity here.

Lee Cooperman Starts 2 New Stakes, Adds To 4 Positions, Trims Another

Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman filed a myriad of amended 13G's with the SEC recently.  Here's the breakdown:


Starts 2 New Positions: Aspen Group & Arbor Realty Trust

The hedge fund manager has revealed newly bought stakes in two companies: Aspen Group (ASPU), an online education company, and Arbor Realty Trust (ABR), a specialized real estate finance company.  Both positions were disclosed due to activity on December 31st, 2014.

Cooperman now owns 7.11% of Aspen Group with 8 million shares and owns 7.53% of Arbor Realty Trust with over 3.77 million shares.


Adds to Altisource Portfolio Solutions, Calls Out Management

Also, Cooperman has filed a 13G, Form 3, and multiple Form 4's with the SEC regarding Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS).  He disclosed an ownership stake of 11.14% of the company with over 2.25 million shares as of December 31st, 2014.  This means he's increased his position by almost a million shares since the end of the third quarter.

The Form 4 indicates that Cooperman bought ASPS shares at weighted average prices of $47.47 and $39.42 on December 19th and 22nd, respectively.

Shares of ASPS currently trade around $22 after the company has been hit with regulatory scrutiny as the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) came down hard on ASPS's biggest customer, Ocwen Financial (OCN), and in turn ASPS as well.  Both companies were part of Bill Erbey's empire and as part of the settlement with the DFS, Erbey will step down from his posts at both companies.

Cooperman also recently appeared on a company conference call and lashed out at management for poor capital allocation decisions, asking "what I'm trying to figure out to be honest with you ... whether your testicles are bigger than your brains or your brains are bigger than your testicles."

The company bought back a ton of stock at much higher prices (around $104 per share) during the period of regulatory scrutiny, only to see their shares plummet much further down to current levels of around $22. 

Numerous hedge funds have been involved in ASPS and OCN shares and it will be interesting to see who held on through the carnage, who exited, and who might have picked up shares as a distressed play at the end of 2014.  Unfortunately, it will be another 3 weeks until those disclosures (Q4 13F filings) are submitted to the SEC.

At the end of the third quarter, the largest holders of ASPS were Luxor Capital, Omega Advisors, White Elm Capital, among others.  Top OCN holders included Pennant Capital, Highfields Capital, Baupost Group, Kingstown Capital, Own Creek Asset Management, White Elm Capital, among others.  Since the end of the third quarter, OCN is down 72% and ASPS is down 78%.


Adds to Atlas Energy & Atlas Pipeline Stakes

Next, the Omega Advisors founder has been out buying shares of Atlas Energy (ATLS).  Per the 13G filing, Cooperman now owns over 7 million shares (an increase of over 2.9 million shares since the end of the third quarter).

Additionally, he has also increased his exposure to Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) and now owns over 7.45 million shares (compared to the 3.34 million he owned at the end of the third quarter).


Increases Gulf Coast Ultra Deep Royalty Trust Exposure

Next, Cooperman has disclosed an increased position in Gulf Coast Ultra Deep Royalty Trust Units (GULTU).  He previously owned 16.9 million shares but now owns 22.22 million, an increase of over 5.3 million shares since the end of the third quarter.


Slightly Trims Chimera Investment Corp Stake

Lastly, Cooperman disclosed in another 13G that he has ever-so-slightly reduced his stake in Chimera Investment Corp (CIM) by a minor 168,645 shares.  He still retained a position of over 64.3 million shares at the end of 2014.

For more of Cooperman's recent portfolio activity, head here.

Lee Cooperman Adds To Caesars Entertainment Stake

Lee Cooperman's hedge fund firm Omega Advisors has just filed a 13G with the SEC regarding their position in Caesars Entertainment (CZR).  Per the filing, Cooperman has revealed a 5.41% ownership stake in CZR with over 7.81 million shares.

He's boosted his stake by 824,967 since the end of the third quarter and the filing was required due to activity on December 12th.

Per Google Finance, Caesars Entertainment is "a diversified casino-entertainment provider.."

Lee Cooperman Discloses Aspen Group Position

Lee Cooperman has disclosed a new position in Aspen Group (ASPU) via a 13G filed with the SEC.  He now owns 9.99% of the company with 11.24 million shares.  The filing was made due to activity on September 4th.

The fine print notes that this "does not include additional shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants which contain a blocker provision under which the reporting person can only exercise his warrants to a point where he would beneficially own a maximum of 9.99% of the issuer's outstanding shares.

Per Google Finance, Aspen Group is "offers relevant online education. The Company derives revenue primarily from tuition and fees derived from courses taught by the Company online, as well as from related educational resources that the Company provides to its students, such as access to its online materials and learning management system. The Company’s subsidiary, Aspen University Inc. (Aspen University), delivers education experiences and has served thousands of students. Aspen University offers students 65 degree programs, specializations, completion programs and certificates in a range of areas, including business and organization management, education, nursing, information technology, general studies and more."