Weekend Reading

De-leveraging - Fairy Tale Endings

GLG Chief Emmanuel Roman Warns of Thousands of Hedge Funds on Brink of Failure

Death of the American Consumer

(click to enlarge)

Great image from the NY Post

Alternative Energy & Energy Independence: Obama Versus McCain

I'm going to keep this plain and simple. The upcoming Presidential election will undoubtedly focus on the economy. However, I also believe people will be focused on alternative energy. So, cut and dry, let's look at McCain's and Obama's separate plans in this regard. (Hat tip to the Green Skeptic for assembling all of this information).

Obama's alternative energy plans (as per his website):

• Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

And now, McCain's plans:

• Expanding domestic oil exploration;
• Promoting and expanding the use of domestic supplies of natural gas;
• Changing how we power our transportation sector;
• Becoming a leader in a "New International Green Economy";
• Committing US$2B annually to advancing clean coal technologies;
• Constructing 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 with ultimate goal of 100;
• Creating a permanent Tax Credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D;
• Proposing a Cap-and-Trade system that sets limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions while encouraging development of low-cost compliance options;
• Greening The Federal Government A Priority Of His Administration.
• Move The United States Toward Electricity Grid And Metering Improvements To Save Energy.
• Addressing Speculative Pricing Of Oil , but not imposing a windfall profits tax.

So, while we obviously have to wait until November to find out the outcome of the election, it doesn't mean we can't start positioning our portfolios to benefit over the coming years. While I realize there are technicalities, politics, and logistics behind each plan, let's just look at things from a broad-based prospective for now. It's very clear that alternative energy could be one of the better investments you could make in the coming years. But, which type of energy will be brought to scale? My guess is that a combination of types will be used, so its best to spread your bets around.

Teeka Tiwari has written two pieces about which stocks they think will benefit the most should either gentlemen take office. If McCain is elected, they expect the following stocks to outperform: Cameron (CAM), Transocean (RIG), Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO), Halliburton (HAL), Cameco (CCJ) and nuclear ETF Market Vectors Nuclear Energy (NLR).

In an Obama victory, Tiwari likes the following names: Icon (ICLR), Accenture (ACN), Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), LDK Solar (LDK), and General Electric (GE).

I agree with Teeka on some of their selections, but not all of them. I am mainly using this post as a platform to establish each candidate's position as a reference point for my future series of posts on alternative energy investing. While all these names could potentially benefit if the respective candidate takes office, I still think the best bet is to position yourself across multiple alternative energy types. Because, undoubtedly, the world will shift to new means of creating energy and I highly doubt there will be a "global standard." Individual nations will determine what is best for them, and numerous types of alt-energy could be positioned to benefit. Also, I think its very worthwhile to play the current energy landscape, because (among other reasons) it will take a long time to bring alternative energy to scale. To read about how to play energy in the intermediate term, check my post out here.

So, which stocks do you think are most poised to benefit in either a McCain or Obama victory? Post up your thoughts!

Sources: The Green Skeptic, Tycoon Report, iStockAnalyst (Teeka Tiwari)

Tontine Partners Discloses 6.16% Stake in Myr Group (MYRG) - 13G Filing

In a 13G filed with the SEC last week, hedge fund Tontine Partners has disclosed their 6.16% stake in Myr Group (MYRG). This is a new position for them, as they previously did not show a stake in it as of June 30th in their most recent 13F filing. Jeffrey Gendell's Tontine Partners were -59.30% in September and are now -66.7% for the year. You can check out more hedge fund performance numbers that we've accumulated here. And, you can view the detailed list of Tontine Partners' portfolio holdings here.

Taken from Google Finance, MYR Group (MYRG) "is a specialty contractor serving the electrical infrastructure market in the United States. The Company is a national contractor, servicing the transmission and distribution (T&D) sector of the United States electric utility industry. It also provides commercial and industrial electrical contracting services in the western United States. Its T&D customers include more than 125 electric utilities, cooperatives and municipalities nationwide. Its range of services includes design, engineering, procurement, construction, upgrade, maintenance and repair services with a particular focus on construction, maintenance and repair throughout the continental United States."

Eddie Lampert Lost $30 Million an Hour

According to the NY Post's calculations, Eddie Lampert (ESL Investments) has lost $30 million an hour from his top 9 holdings since September 19th (26 trading days). Some of these top holdings include Sears (SHLD), Autozone (AZO), Autonation (AN), and Citigroup (C). The Post writes,

"Lampert's Greenwich, Conn.-based ESL Investments saw its holdings in the eight companies fall by an average of $193 million each trading day - which translates into $30 million an hour for each of the 6 1/2-hour trading days.

The investor lost about $587 million on Auto Nation, $480 million on AutoZone, $174.7 million on Home Depot and $162.4 million on Citigroup. The group of nine companies fell 39.4 percent over the 26 trading days - compared with a 26.4 percent drop for the Dow Jones industrial average."

Value is dead in this environment.

Source: NY Post

Tudor Investment Corp Discloses 1.2% Stake in Jamba Inc (JMBA) - 13G Filing

In a recent filing with the SEC, hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp has disclosed they own a 1.2% stake in Jamba Inc (JMBA). They now own only 625,000 shares. Their stake has been drastically reduced from the 8,522,951 shares they previously owned back on June 30th as per their most recent 13F filing. This is the second filing in recent weeks that has shown Tudor selling off large chunks of stakes they owned in companies. Just last week they were reducing their position in Plains Exploration (PXP). Tudor Investment Corp is a global macro set of hedge funds ran by Paul Tudor Jones. You can view all of Tudor's portfolio holdings here. And, if you want to hear some thoughts from Paul Tudor Jones himself, check out some of his interviews here and here. Lastly, you can read about the performance of one of Tudor's funds here and the performance numbers of many other hedge funds in our latest performance update.

Taken from Google Finance, Jamba Inc (JMBA) "serves as a holding company for its wholly owned subsidiary, Jamba Juice Company (collectively, Jamba or the Company), which owns and franchises Jamba Juice stores. The Company is engaged in retailing blended-to-order fruit smoothies, squeezed-to-order juices blended beverages and healthy snacks using the Jamba brand."

Jana Partners Hits Rough Patch

Hedge Fund Jana Partners has seen some rough times recently, just like everyone else. Their $4 billion flagship fund has fallen 14.7% year-to-date as of September 30th. And, if they can't turn things around in the next few months, Jana is on track for its first yearly loss ever. That scenario looks highly likely, given that Hedge Funds as a whole are headed for their worst year since 1990. Jana has "survived" thus far by not employing leverage and positioning their portfolios in a defensive manner. However, they were not able to fend off the massive drop in the price of crude oil, which slammed Jana's energy positions, which happen to be some of their top holdings. Additionally, Jana owns a 9/1% stake in MF Global (MF) which has caused them pain, as shares have dropped 90%. In a letter to shareholders, Jana said that, "This stock has been an utter disaster so far and is headed for the Jana hall of shame."

Jana's Piranha fund is down 3.1% year to date. This fund targets companies with market caps of $2 billion or less. Additionally, Jana's Nirvana fund is down 8.9% year to date. This fund focuses on Jana's best investment ideas and returned 17% since it was started in April of 2007.

Managed by Barry Rosenstein, Jana was founded in 2001 and typically employs activist, market neutral, and long/short equity strategies in public equity markets. Rosenstein received his BS from Lehigh University and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Jana has returned 20.9% each year annualized from 2001 til 2007. Rosenstein sees Jana's future in a strategy that uses management adjustments to strike changes in companies, which in turn can send shares higher. Alpha magazine ranks Jana #79 in their hedge fund rankings. Jana Partners was -9% for the month of September, and find themselves -14.7% for the year, as I noted in my hedge fund performance update.

Taken from Bloomberg,

"Activism Jana-style is disciplined value investing -- with attitude. The firm relies on deep-diving research by its more than 20 analysts to pick companies whose stock is undervalued. Jana Master devotes as much as 15 percent of its portfolio to activist investing.

Rosenstein says Jana is always on the lookout for a catalyst -- say, a possible merger -- that will lift a beaten-down stock. When he buys, he looks for what Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, called a margin of safety -- that is, a fat discount to an investment's fair market value.

Rosenstein says the market crash didn't affect his method of finding fair value: by looking at fundamentals and discounting future cash flows. He accumulates his stakes in target companies over time, so buying shares in those companies got cheaper in September. Finding a catalyst to drive up the price, he says, is just as important as ever."

Also, as we've detailed here on Market Folly, Jana Partners recently disclosed a 13.52% stake in Convergys (CVG) and also disclosed a 5.7% stake in Hayes Lemmerz (HAYZ).



Source: Bloomberg

Boone Pickens' BP Capital Investors Withdraw Money

In what seems like an endless cycle of hedge fund withdrawals and redemptions, it should come as no surprise that investors in Boone Pickens' BP Capital hedge funds are seeking their money back. Let the redemption bloodbath begin. And, it seems as if BP Capital is partly responsible for the massive sell-off in energy equities.

We first got word of Boone's poor performance towards the end of September, when we noted that his equities fund was -30% through august, and his commodities fund was -84% through the same period. In his recent appearance on "60 Minutes," Boone noted that he and his firm had lost around $2 billion since the peak in June. And, in a recent WSJ article, they note that nearly 50% of investors are withdrawing their money from the fund, which has seen losses of nearly 60% now. They also note that Boone moved nearly everything into cash a few weeks ago, to protect from further downside risk.

So, its clear that Boone was one (of I'm sure many) hedge funds who were selling off entire positions over the past few weeks. As we detailed in our most recent look at BP's portfolio holdings, Boone runs an energy-centric equities fund. So, some of his holdings such as Transocean (RIG), Suncor (SU), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton (HAL), Chesapeake (CHK), and many more listed here have undoubtedly seen selling over the past few weeks due to Boone moving to cash. Obviously Boone wasn't solely responsible for the drop-off, but it looks like he was definitely one of the culprits. We won't know for sure which, if any, of his positions he is still holding until the next 13F filing is released in the coming weeks. But, it sounds as if he has hardly any positions right now as he prepares to meet investor redemptions/withdrawals.

The cycle of hedge fund redemptions/withdrawals undoubtedly will provide ample opportunities, which I recently detailed here. But, they will require patience and discipline to scale into the names as there is absolutely no way to gauge when the carnage will pass. Energy equities are by far some of the biggest casualties of the sell-off and are thus some of the most attractive for longer term investors. And, for once, I actually agree with the analyst community, who point out attractive opportunities in the energy sector. But, then again, those opportunities could get even more attractive as we undoubtedly face strong waves of continued forced selling.

Paulson & Co Discloses 14.6% Stake in Cheniere Energy (LNG) - 13D Filing

In a filing made with the SEC yesterday, hedge fund Paulson & Co has disclosed they now own a 14.6% stake in Cheniere Energy (LNG). They now own 7,400,000 shares. This is an increase from their previous 13F filing at the end of June, when they held 4,700,000 shares. Paulson & Co is famous for making a fortune by betting against sub-prime when this whole mess began to unfold. And, it appears as if Paulson is still up to his fortune-making ways. One of his funds has generated a 589% return, which could easily be up there amongst the largest returns by a single hedge fund in a year. Paulson's Advantage Plus fund has returned 19.44% year-to-date as of the end of August. This is the same fund that gained 158% the year prior and has grown to almost $9 billion. You can view more of their (and other hedge fund's) numbers in our most recent hedge fund performance update. Also, we recently saw that Paulson & Co was shorting UK banks.

Taken from Google Finance, Cheniere Energy (LNG) "through its subsidiaries, is engaged primarily in the business of developing and constructing, and then owning and operating, a network of three onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals and natural gas pipelines. The Company is developing a business to market LNG and natural gas primarily through its wholly owned subsidiary, Cheniere Marketing, Inc. (Cheniere Marketing). To a limited extent, Cheniere is also engaged in oil and natural gas exploration and development activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The Company has four business segments: LNG receiving terminal business, natural gas pipeline business, LNG and natural gas marketing business, and oil and gas exploration and development business."

Charts Galore

Okay, since things have been pretty choppy in the markets lately, I figured we should point out a few charts. Firstly, Steve Puri, as always, has an intriguing chart up of the markets which shows a descending triangle and very bearish implications. We should rally off a test of the recent lows, but the assumption would be that the ensuing rally would fail and make lower highs, setting us up for a big drop. This of course will have to be monitored on a daily basis, but overall the pattern truly is taking shape. You can play a directional breakout of the pattern to either direction should we get one.

(click to enlarge)

Secondly, Kevin has posted up a chart showing the unbelievable strength in the Japanese Yen (FXY). I have been long the yen for the past few weeks now and it has really exploded as of late. As deleveraging continues, I expect the yen to continue higher as it has recently broken out to multi-year highs. I will be taking profits at each major gap down in the markets, as the yen is trading inversely to the markets currently.

(click to enlarge)

Lastly, Blain over at Stock Trading To Go has 12 bearish continuation patterns laid out for us in the charts. Here are my three favorites: LDK really has broken down, hitting new all time lows and the pattern as you can see is a sharp descending triangle almost.

(click to enlarge)

ANR has a channel between $30 and $45, and you can play a breakout in either direction (my guess would obviously be to the downside).

(click to enlarge)

JRCC has a very similar setup (as do many of the coal names) in that you can play the channel pattern here of $15 to $23. Short on closes below $15 and get long on breakouts above $23.

(click to enlarge)

Check out the other 9 bearish continuation patterns in FSLR, GOOG, BIDU, MOS, AAPL, YHOO, MEE, NYX, and DRYS that he has laid out here.

Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy & Sell Updates

Late last week, Goldman Sachs made some changes to their coveted Conviction Buy and Sell lists. They were very active in the steel sector, adding Steel Dynamics (STLD) to the conviction buy list and then putting US Steel (X) on their conviction sell list. Lastly, Goldman also removed Alcatel Lucent (ALU) from the conviction buy list, but still rates the company as a normal 'buy.'

Goldman has been very busy the last few weeks adding and subtracting names from their lists as the volatility picks up and the market landscape changes. We have detailed more of Goldman's moves here and more additions to their conviction buy list here.

D.E. Shaw & Co

Just got forwarded an interesting video from hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co that talks about the firm and who they are looking for in terms of hiring. Whether you are in the job market or not, it's an interesting video to watch, as you can learn what separates them from others in the industry.

D.E. Shaw Video

Ag Stocks Dropping Further?

That's what our buddy UpsideTrader thinks. He recently posted up two charts of Potash (POT) and Monsanto (MON). On POT, he predicts that it will fill the gap all the way down to $40 or so. And, on MON, he has drawn a line in the sand at around $68 and says to get short if the stock breaks down below that level on significant volume.

(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)

Wall Street Warriors

If you want some weekend entertainment that is market related, then you can check out the tv series, Wall Street Warriors. The series follows various people involved with the markets and so far there have been two seasons, with a third one supposedly in the works. You can watch episodes from the first 2 seasons online for free here.

George Soros Interview

Great interview of George Soros by Fareed Zakaria; always love to hear what's on Soros' mind. Here are all the clips (hat tip to 1440 Wall Street). Feed/email readers, you will have to come to the site to see the embedded videos.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

More Hedge Fund Investor Letters

Courtesy of Dealbreaker, we've got even more hedge fund investor letters for September. Click the links to open up the respective .pdf files.

• Richard Perry's Perry Partners
• Tosca Asset Management
  

Eric Bolling Still in Cash

Well known trader Eric Bolling just posted up another update over at TheStreet.com and basically, he's not doing much of anything. Here's an excerpt,

"In the meantime, I have been careful in my own portfolio. I have been tempted to add to an already razor-thin risk portfolio. As you know, I am heavily in Treasury bills. I am also in New Jersey state bonds and cash. Less than 5% is at risk in equities and being a trader I am looking for trades. There have been some that looked enticing as "cheap" but I have held off as the market continues to act irrationally. Good, cheap stocks are getting hit hard or harder than high-risk stocks. My gut is telling me that the day to implement cash is approaching but I would rather miss the first leg up than to catch another leg down in a bad position."

You can read the rest of his article here (although it doesn't have a whole lot to do with the markets).

Hedge Fund Forced Selling Equals Potential Opportunities

Through this mess, numerous opportunities will arise. As the saying goes, "buy when there is blood in the streets." Well, the streets are flooded and Warren Buffett has already begun buying, getting ridiculously good deals for himself that retail investors could only dream of. But, the point of all this is that there are indeed opportunities. The main caveat with these opportunities is time frame. More likely than not, investors will need a very long-term investment outlook in order to see stocks appreciate given the volatile market we are in and will continue to be in.

Veteran hedge fund manager Jeff Matthews of Ram Partners had recently said that numerous hedge funds had overly concentrated portfolios which ultimately led to their problems. Also, he notes that numerous shops were mainly long, or mainly short, instead of being truly hedged as a hedge fund is supposed to be by definition. You can see Jeff's commentary on a recent Tech Ticker video here.

It's easy to see where numerous hedge funds had stacked their bets. Energy and natural resources plays have just been absolutely hammered week after week. Some of these equities are already priced for global recession and the apocalypse. Yes, a slow down is imminent. But, a global recession, I'm not so sure. In any event, the caveat once again comes down to time frame. We have no idea of knowing how long it will take the market to deleverage, how long it will take the hedge funds to liquidiate, and how many more investor redemptions there might be.

But, we do know that names hedge funds typically favored have since been put on fire-sale due to forced selling. Some of these names include Potash (POT), Cleveland Cliffs (CLF), Freeport McMoran (FCX), and many other energy names. Hedge funds also favored tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG). Many hedge funds we track here on Market Folly have held large positions in those very names. You can view Boone Pickens' BP Capital portfolio here, Atticus Capital's portfolio here, Harbinger Capital's portfolio here, Lone Pine Capital's portfolio here, & many more hedge funds at Market Folly by simply searching the blog.

Hedge Fund Panel: Tiger Management / Tiger Cubs

Buck Woodford, author of ManyPeaks and Portfolio Manager of Teewinot Asset Management recently attended a discussion at the University of Virginia entitled "Investment Strategies in Turbulent Times," which consisted of a panel of five very prominent and successful hedge fund managers. The panel featured many ex-Tiger Management greats, including founder Julian Robertson. Also on board were some of his "Tiger Cubs," Paul Touradji, Chris Shumway, Rick Gerson (Blue Ridge Capital), and John Griffin (Blue Ridge). In the discussion, each was asked to present their best current investment thesis.

Here are their ideas as written by Buck,

"Chris Shumway said that buying stocks that were down huge primarily based mostly on hedge fund liquidations would be a long-term winning strategy. It’s always debatable why a stock is down, but this does make fundamental sense.

Paul Touradji layed out a thesis for shorting copper. He believes that base metals are priced based on the “velocity of money” - a measurement that’s likely to drop as the world generally de-leverages. Fair enough.

Julian - believe it or not - was bullish on a particular derivative bet. He believes the interest rate yield curve will steepen significantly, and discussed “steepener swaps” as his favorite investment right now. While chuckling, Griffin said that when Julian called to tell him about the idea, Julian joked that in his family this Christmas there would be “a steepener in every stocking.” Us finance people are really easily entertained.

Rick Gerson made a good point that United States corporations had really gone down the road of “professional” management — he compared it to outsourcing. Naming a few middle eastern companies that he deemed good investments, Rick made the case that in these frontier markets there are still plenty of “owner/operator” public companies in which the people running the show retain 70-80% ownership. He presumably has some of Blue Ridge’s money allocated to these situations.

John Griffin did not share any specific security that he liked, but ruminated that what he’d really like is the ability to “arbitrage time.” Basically that in a world dominated by short-term thinking, it’s hard to take a stand on a company or stock because even if you’re eventually right, the losses you may sit on during the interim can cause both your investors and employees to get hot & bothered. I hear what he’s saying, but that’s just the fact of life with public/listed company investing. If you don’t want a daily price quote, you’ve just got to get big enough (or partner with other funds) to buy the whole company and take it private. The practice of not marking to market is a different game."

Big thanks to Buck for his coverage of the event. If you are unfamiliar with some of the men mentioned above, or were just wanted more background on them, here are their biographies.

And, if you've missed them, we track numerous "Tiger Cub" hedge fund portfolios on the blog, including John Griffin's Blue Ridge Capital here, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital here, and Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital here. Additionally, we noted that Julian Robertson recently made a media appearance in which he detailed some of his recent purchases.

Tiger Managment / Tiger Cub Biographies

This post is a supplement to our recent post on the Hedge Fund Panel, featuring numerous ex-Tiger Management and "Tiger Cub" fund managers. Here are their biographies as taken from the event announcement:

Rick Gerson

Rick Gerson is a Managing Director of Blue Ridge Capital. He was a founding member of the firm, which has been in operation since 1996. Mr. Gerson has been an integral part of the firm's investments since its inception in a wide variety of securities globally. Mr. Gerson is a Co-Founder of Blue Ridge China, a private equity firm that focuses on investments in China. He is a board member of Orascom Housing Communities, an Egypt-based homebuilder. Mr. Gerson has a B.S. from the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.

John Griffin

Education

• M.B.A., Stanford University Graduate School of Business (1990)
• B.S. in Finance, University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce (1985)

Professional

• President and Founder of Blue Ridge Capital
• President of Tiger Management (1993 – 1996)
• Portfolio Manager, Tiger Management (1994 – 1996)
• Analyst, Tiger Management (1987 – 1994)
• Financial Analyst, Morgan Stanley Merchant Banking Group (1985 – 1987)

Academic, Philanthropic, and Community Activities

• Visiting Professor, University of Virginia, 1999-present. Classes taught include Securities Analysis and Idea Generation; Practical Behavioral Finance and The Analyst’s Edge
• Adjunct Professor of Finance, Columbia Business School, 1998-present. Class: Seminar in Advanced Investment Research: The Analyst’s Edge
• Member, Board of Directors, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
• Founder of iMentor.org, a nonprofit online mentoring organization
• Founder of the Blue Ridge Foundation, which funds start-up, nonprofits
• Chairman of the Tiger Foundation 1992-1995, board member 1990 – present
• Chairman of the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce Foundation
• Member of Board of Trustees, Monticello (Charlottesville, Va.)

Julian Robertson

Julian H. Robertson Jr. is an investor, environmentalist, and philanthropist.

Mr. Robertson was born in Salisbury, N.C., in 1932. After graduating from the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., in 1951 and the University of North Carolina in 1955, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

Prior to co-founding Tiger in 1980, Mr. Robertson enjoyed a two-decade career with Kidder Peabody and Company, beginning as a sales trainee and rising to become CEO of Webster Management Corporation, Kidder Peabody’s investment advisory subsidiary.

From initial capital of $8 million, Mr. Robertson built Tiger into the world’s largest hedge fund, with capital of more than $23 billion. Tiger compounded at a gross rate of 31.5% between its founding in 1980 and its closing in 2000.

Mr. Robertson also trained and developed a generation of “Tiger Cubs,” a cadre of analysts and portfolio managers who became some of today’s most successful hedge fund managers. Today, Mr. Robertson maintains Tiger to manage his own investments and to seed independent hedge funds, run by high-achieving young managers.

Chris Shumway

Chris Shumway is the Founding Partner of Shumway Capital Partners (“SCP”), an investment management firm founded in 2001. SCP, which manages a multibillion dollar group of private investment funds, uses a private equity-like research model for public market investment on a global basis. Prior to forming SCP, Mr. Shumway was a Senior Managing Director at Tiger Management (1992-1999), an Analyst at Brentwood Associates (1990-1991), and an Analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co. (1988-1990). He received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (1993) and a B.S. from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia (1988). Mr. Shumway is a member of the boards of the McIntire School of Commerce Foundation (University of Virginia), Teach for America-Connecticut (Fairfield County), and The Shumway Capital Foundation.

Paul Touradji

Paul Touradji is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Touradji Capital Management LP, a New York-based hedge fund specializing in fundamental research and active investment in commodities and related assets. The firm manages approximately $3.5 billion and invests in both the public and private markets. Mr. Touradji has well over a decade of experience investing in the commodity, equity, and macro markets. Mr. Touradji began his commodities career at Tiger Management in the mid '90s, where he managed the commodities team; it was at Tiger that he developed his fundamental approach to analysis and investment in commodities. Prior to Tiger, Mr. Touradji’s specialty was quantitative arbitrage, principally with O’Connor Partners. Mr. Touradji is a 1993 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and a Certified Financial Analyst.