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Friday, July 23, 2010
Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) Designation: Exclusive Discount
The Certified Hedge Fund Professional (CHP) Designation opened for registration a few weeks ago and there are only 185 spots left in the program. Market Folly readers receive an exclusive $50 discount to the CHP, so take advantage of it while you can. Once those spaces are gone, registration will close until Spring 2011.

The CHP is a designation like the CFA or CAIA, except it is targeted specifically at the hedge fund industry and can be completed 100% online within 6-12 months. Once you complete the program, you will have boosted your credibility/resume, enhanced your knowledge of the industry, and will gain access to a huge networking group of professionals. Not to mention, you can use their job placement services and recruiting connections. Additionally, you'll have lifetime access to HedgeFundPremium.com, as well as the webinars, study guides, and guidebooks. You can learn more about the CHP designation here.

Here are some testimonials from readers who have completed the CHP designation:

Andy R., Hedge Fund Manager: "As a former hedge fund manager looking to launch a new fund in the next year, I was intrigued by the prospect of increasing my knowledge and understanding of a variety of platforms, strategies, and new regulations that are likely to come through the CHP. I believe that this designation is long overdue way to separate the wheat from the chaff in an industry that, while currently in a down cycle, will remain as an integral component for financial planning and asset allocation in the future."

Sumeer Kapila, Technical Analyst: "(The) CHP Designation is a focused program, a program which details and provides inside information of the hedge fund industry's standards and strategies. The study guide provides you with the rules of the game, keeping you informed about the legal and regulatory perspective. This program helps you to keep the integrity of the market by raising industry standards."

Dominic Di Bernardo, Student: "I've taken this hedge fund certification program to expand my knowledge base of the hedge fund industry (there is little learned in school about this industry). I also believe that this designation will give me an edge over others trying to enter the industry. And lastly, I believe that I will be able to gain valuable contacts through this program, other designation candidates, and anyone else that stands behind this designation."


Keep in mind that the program comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee or they will give you your money back. Click here to learn more about the CHP program & to receive the exclusive discount.



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Posted by market folly at 10:00 AM 0 Comments and 1 Reaction Links to this post
Labels: certified hedge fund professional, chp, chp designation, hedge fund certification
David Einhorn & Greenlight Capital: Long Apple, Ensco, NCR (Q2 Letter)
Dealbreaker posted up hedge fund Greenlight Capital's second quarter 2010 letter and we wanted to highlight the latest portfolio moves from David Einhorn's camp. Year to date for 2010, Greenlight's funds are up 1.6%, 2.2% and 0.8% respectively. Some of their portfolio gains as of late can be attributed to their long position in physical gold as well as their short of Moody's (MCO). It sounds as though Greenlight will maintain this short position as well, writing "we believe that an eventual, but likely, legal loss will have a significant impact on MCO shares."

While David Einhorn will be presenting investment ideas in October at the upcoming Value Investing Congress (special discount here), we still get an intermediate update on his current portfolio. The main talking point in the hedge fund's letter is their revelation of various new positions. Firstly, they revealed they are long Apple (AAPL) at an average purchase price of $248.09 per share. Greenlight highlights the company's more than $40 per share in cash and thinks that while growth in the next few years will be slower than recent times, the company still has not fully penetrated its various markets. We've highlighted numerous times how AAPL is one of the most popular hedge fund holdings.

Secondly, Greenlight took a new position in African Barrick Gold (LON: ABG). They like that it trades "at less than 6x 2010 EBITDA, a 10% free cash flow yield and $200 per ounce of reserves." Einhorn previously talked about this new stake in his Ira Sohn Investment Conference presentation.

Thirdly, Einhorn touches on their new stake in Ensco plc (ESV). While we revealed Greenlight's ESV stake last week, we now get some color on their thesis. They point out the company's $7 per share in net cash and tangible book value of $37.50. They feel shares of ESV were unjustly sold off as it was not involved in the oil spill and the drilling moratorium should not affect the company's long-term potential. Greenlight's average purchase price of Ensco was $39.41.

Lastly, Greenlight Capital purchased a stake in NCR (NCR) in the second quarter as the stock sold off due to accounting losses on pension obligations, among other reasons. Einhorn points to NCR's strong cash flow generating business and strong net cash balance sheet position. Greenlight purchased NCR at $13.58 per share and MarketFolly actually revealed this stake back in May when Greenlight acquired it.

In terms of positions the hedge fund sold completely out of, we see that they have finally exited their short of Allied Capital (AFC). Their commentary next to this position jokingly says, "So much to say we could write a book about it." If you're unfamiliar, David Einhorn did write a book on this very short-selling battle entitled, Fooling Some of the People All of the Time.

Embedded below is the entire second quarter letter from hedge fund Greenlight Capital:



You can download a .pdf copy here.

Greenlight's top five largest disclosed long positions are: CIT Group (CIT), Ensco (ESV), gold, Pfizer (PFE), and Vodafone Group (VOD). While shares of Pfizer (PFE) continue to trade lower and lower, Greenlight still owns their stake as they feel the company deserves to be trading at a higher earnings multiple than current levels. Remember that you can hear David Einhorn's newest investment ideas at the upcoming Value Investing Congress (special discount here) where he and other top hedge fund managers will be presenting in October.



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Posted by market folly at 9:00 AM 0 Comments and 3 Reactions Links to this post
Labels: aapl, AFC, cit, david einhorn, ESV, greenlight capital, hedge fund portfolios, investor letters, MCO, NCR, pfe, VOD
Market Strategist Jeff Saut on Risk Management Principles
Market strategist Jeff Saut is out with his latest investment commentary entitled, "Don't bet the farm." In it, he lays out some basic risk management principles. The first of which, obviously, is to not bet the proverbial farm on any one scenario, no matter how good it looks. Managing downside risk is the key to success in markets. Louis Bacon, famed hedge fund manager at Moore Capital, will be the first to tell you that. Saut also believes that portfolio rebalancing is one of the tenets of successful investing. This whole conversation is an extension of his commentary last week where proclaimed risk adjusted stock selection is a key to portfolio success.

You can read his entire investment strategy for the rest of his thoughts on risk management but we wanted to touch on his latest market thoughts as well. Saut highlights an excerpt from Lowry's Selling Pressure Index, who writes, "When selling pressure begins to consistently contract, despite new los in the major indexes, such a divergence usually indicates the desire to sell has been largely exhausted; and, the end of the decline may be near at hand." That would certainly prove to be the case (at least in the near-term), given that the market rallied 200 points on Thursday.

The Raymond James Chief Investment Strategist continues to watch the S&P 500's 200 day moving average with a watchful eye. Saut feels that until a breakout to the upside of this level occurs(around 1,112 on the S&P), he is quite happy to remain flat in trading accounts and to position favorable stocks in investment accounts. He continues to pound the table on large cap blue chips such as Walmart (WMT), Intel (INTC), Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), Allstate (ALL) and Microsoft (MSFT). One thing's for certain: many smart investment firms advocate buying high quality stocks as of late.





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