Most Tiger-related funds lost money in February. However, they not only remained in the black for the year but continued to outperform the major stock indices.
The question, though, is whether they can expand their gains in March, which thus far has been one of the most volatile months in recent memory. This especially holds true for funds heavily exposed to the Magnificent Seven stocks and other big-name, high-profile tech-related stocks.
The two Tiger Cubs or Grandcubs that were in the black last month were each up by less than 1 percent.
Viking Global Investors gained about 80 basis points and rose 2.8 percent for the year through February. In the fourth quarter, the hedge fund firm headed by O. Andreas Halvorsen boosted its bets on financial services companies: It doubled its position in banking giant JPMorgan Chase, now its largest U.S. long, and increased its stake in financial services giant Charges Schwab by more than 500 percent, making it the fifth-largest long. As a result, its five largest U.S.-listed longs were financial services or payments companies: JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bancorp, Visa, Bank of America, and Schwab.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase were down slightly in February but jumped more than 10 percent over the first two months of the year. Payments giant Visa surged about 14.6 percent for the two-month period. U.S. Bancorp was off less than 2 percent in that period.
Maverick Capital’s long-short fund climbed 50 basis points last month and was up about 5 percent for the year through February. On the other hand, its two long-only funds lost money last month. Maverick Long dropped about 1.2 percent but still was up 4.8 percent for the first two months. Maverick Long Enhanced declined by 1 percent in February but gained about 6 percent for the two months.
The performance disparity suggests that Maverick, headed by Lee Ainslie III, was helped by its shorts but hurt a bit by its longs. At year-end, three Magnificent Seven stocks — Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft — were the Tiger Cub’s largest U.S. longs, combining to account for about 18 percent of U.S. assets. Last month, Amazon fell approximately 10.5 percent; Nvidia, whose stock chart resembles a healthy EKG, was up about 4 percent; and Microsoft dropped more than 4 percent.
Dan Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners was flat last month yet remained up 7.72 percent for the year, better than the other Tiger-related funds.
The rest of this group lost money.
Stephen Mandel Jr.’s Lone Pine Capital declined by 3.2 percent in February, cutting its gain for the year to 4.3 percent. Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Amazon were its two largest U.S.-listed longs at year-end, responsible for about 15 percent of the U.S. portfolio. Meta dropped 3 percent in February.
Coatue Management, for its part, lost 2.2 percent in February and is up 2 percent for the year. Amazon, Meta, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Microsoft were the largest U.S. longs at year-end. The four stocks combined accounted for more than one-quarter of the hedge fund firm’s U.S. longs.
Tiger Global Management declined by just 40 basis points in February and is up a solid 5.8 percent for the year. The firm headed by Chase Coleman stuck to its convictions in the fourth quarter and did not buy or sell shares in seven of its eight largest U.S. longs. (It slightly trimmed the other top-eight stock.) Meta and Microsoft were its two largest longs, together making up nearly one-quarter of U.S. common stock long assets.
Institutional Investor previously reported that Discovery Capital Management fell 4.35 percent in February and was down 1.39 percent over the first two months. In a monthly report, Robert Citrone said February’s losses were driven mostly by equity long positions in the U.S. and Argentina and exposure to Latin American currencies, particularly in Argentina and Brazil. The biggest winners for the month were short positions in Japanese equities and long positions in Nigeria and Venezuela.
U.S. Stephen Mandel Jr. Lee Ainslie III Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Coatue Management
