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Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
Yes Motorola! In our regular updates of the most overbought and oversold stocks in the S&P 500, it was surprising to see that seemingly ne'er-do-well Motorola (MOT) tops the list. With the stock currently trading more than three standard deviations above its 50-day moving average, MOT is by far the most overbought stock in the S&P 500, and one of only two Technology sector stocks to make the list of the top twenty. Motorola leading the market higher? It's been a while since anyone has said that.Complete Story »

Market Folly submits:John Burbank's hedge fund firm Passport Capital is out with its May performance update and first quarter investor letter. Per the documents, we see that Passport now manages $3 billion and its Global Strategy Fund was up 0.6% for May in a month where the market indices tumbled 8%. Overall, the hedge fund fared much better than other hedge funds who were down big. Year to date for 2010, Passport is up 5.1%. Since inception, Burbank's fund has returned an impressive 23.6% annualized. Those returns, however, do come with some wild volatility. Passport Global was up 219.7% in 2007 and down 50.9% in 2008. Still though, if you can stomach the ride, the cumulative body of work is hard to argue with. Note that John Burbank will be presenting investment ideas at the upcoming Value Investing Congress. Turning to Passport's most recent exposure levels, we see it is overall 93% long and -44% short. This gives them 49% net long exposure and it's certainly much higher than what we've seen from other hedge funds. The vast majority of funds have had very low net long exposure. This is even more surprising when you consider that Passport had high exposure yet still managed to generate a positive return in a month where the markets were down severely. Burbank did note that this increase in exposure is not a shift in their market outlook, but rather due to appreciation of their basic materials positions.Complete Story »

Hao Jin submits:The fact about momentum is there are price reversals at very short horizons and then positive momentum for 6 to 12 months, according to Owen Lamont, a hedge fund manager and a former professor at the Yale School of Management. The following are the top 10 stocks owned by an overwhelming majority of hedge funds. Data is compiled by MarketFolly from the most recent SEC 13F filings:Complete Story »

optionMONSTER submits: By Bryan McCormick US stock index futures are down after a weak session in Asia and moderately lower trading so far in eurozone and UK markets. Much of the weakness overnight appears to relate to a currency spat between the US and China.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe major averages opened higher on better-than-expected retail sales data, but then slipped in morning action and are flat heading into the final hour. The table was set for early gains after the Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose .3 percent last month, which was better than the .2 percent decline that had been predicted by economists.However, the early gains faded fast when the University of Michigan reported, about 25 minutes into trading, that their index of consumer attitudes slumped to 72.5 in March, down from 73.6 in late Feb and also below economist expectations of 74.0. The major averages slipped on the news and, from that point forward, it's been choppy action sideways.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe stock market averages opened higher and are holding gains late Friday on better-than-expected jobs data. Stock index futures moved higher before the opening bell after the Labor Department said the US economy lost 36,000 jobs in February, which was significantly better than the 68,000 drop that economists had predicted. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent and average hourly earnings rose .1 percent. Economists were looking for an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent and a .2 percent increase in hourly earnings.Complete Story »

The Mole submits: US stocks rallied Monday erasing the 2010 loss for the S&P 500, after consumer spending topped economists’ estimates and AIG (AIG) sold its Asian unit to Prudential (PRU) for $35.5 billion. AIG climbed 4.1%. Millipore (MIL) and OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) surged on takeover offers. Walt Disney (DIS) paced gains in consumer companies after the Commerce Department said personal spending increased for a fourth straight month, while Intel (INTC) helped lead technology shares higher after global chip sales rose Companies on the move today included silver miner Fresnillo (FNLPF.PK), which is up 3.3% after it said that 2009 net profit more than doubled to $322 million from $127.9 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 18% to $849.9 million. The company said attributable silver production rose 9% to a record 37.9 million ounces and gold production increased 5% to 276,584 ounces. Shares of homebuilder Persimmon rose 6% after it swung to a net profit of £74.1 million in 2009, from a loss of £625 million a year earlier when the group was hit by impairment charges. Blacks Leisure Group leapt 15.2% after rival Sports Direct said that it’s evaluating a possible cash offer for the firm. Blacks Leisure said that it does not intend to continue to pursue its fundraising plans. It was in talks with Sports Direct, “with a view to seeking its support to the proposed placing and open offer and firm placing.” British Airways (BAIRY.PK) is up 3.7% today on the back of news that Lufthansa (DLAKY.PK), Europe’s second-biggest airline, posted a net loss of €112 million compared with the €273 million average loss estimate of seven analysts. Lufthansa shares rose 3.1% in Germany.Complete Story »

Roger Nusbaum submits: Another assist today from Market Folly as they review an agricultural fund [James Cunningham and Ejnar Knudsen's Agriculture Fund] from Passport Capital. In the report that Market Folly published, Passport disclosed being up 10.3% in the period reported versus 66.6% for Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO). I recently added this ETF to client accounts.Complete Story »

Market Folly submits:Below is the latest investor letter out of John Burbank's hedge fund firm Passport Capital. We'll be taking a look at James Cunningham and Ejnar Knudsen's Agriculture Fund. Since inception on March 1st, 2009, the fund is up 10.3%. They run a concentrated portfolio and some of their fund's largest positions include Imperial Sugar (IPSU) (12% of the fund's NAV), Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) (5%), CF Industries (CF) (10%), and Makhteshim-Agan Industries (MAIXY.PK) (8%). The fund ended 2009 with $63 million in assets under management (AUM). Passport Capital's agriculture fund takes a long bias and focus on fundamentally attractive businesses in the agriculture space. In the investor letter you'll find their commentary on the fund's specifics and their take on the various trends in the agriculture industry. In the past, we've posted Passport Capital's case for agriculture, a definite must-read presentation if you're interested in investment in this sector. And many well known investors insist you should be. Jim Rogers has long been bullish on agriculture for the long-term and market strategist Don Coxe likes the sector as well.Complete Story »

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF)
Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
February 16, 2010 10:00 am ETComplete Story »