Showing posts with label William Ackman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Ackman. Show all posts
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Columbia Business School's Graham and Doddsville Newsletter Summer/Fall 2008
Investors featured in this newsletter include Mohnish Pabrai, Joel Greenblatt, Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman, Bruce Greenwald, etc. A detailed analysis of NutriSystem Inc. by a Columbia studend is also inclued.
Read the newsletter
Read the newsletter
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Ackman:Wachovia Should Sell Businesses Separately
Activist investor Bill Ackman said Monday that Wachovia Corp. (WB) would be best off selling off its banking and brokerage businesses separately, and that he expects the bidding war for the bank to be resolved in weeks rather than months.
Speaking at the fourth annual Value Investing Congress at Lincoln Center in New York, Ackman said his hedge fund has piled into Wachovia shares because he sees it as "one of the more fascinating investment opportunities" he's seen in recent times. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management now owns more than 7% of Wachovia's stock, said he started "aggressively" buying shares of the bank at $1.84 on the afternoon of Sept. 29, after Wachovia said it was being acquired by Citigroup Inc. (C). He then sold 9.5 million shares after Wells Fargo Corp. (WFC) came in with a rival bid last Friday, and then bought again when Citi challenged the Wells Fargo transaction.
The company is best sold off in two pieces because of the tax benefits of such a transaction, said Ackman, who acknowledged Wachovia is only his second investment in a financial-services company in the past five years. The other one is a "small" position in American International Group Inc. (AIG), which he took last month. He said Pershing Square is a "top 10 or 12" shareholder in AIG, and that he started buying the insurer's shares when they were trading at about the levels they're trading at now. AIG shares recently traded at $3.78, down 8 cents.
Read the full article
Speaking at the fourth annual Value Investing Congress at Lincoln Center in New York, Ackman said his hedge fund has piled into Wachovia shares because he sees it as "one of the more fascinating investment opportunities" he's seen in recent times. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management now owns more than 7% of Wachovia's stock, said he started "aggressively" buying shares of the bank at $1.84 on the afternoon of Sept. 29, after Wachovia said it was being acquired by Citigroup Inc. (C). He then sold 9.5 million shares after Wells Fargo Corp. (WFC) came in with a rival bid last Friday, and then bought again when Citi challenged the Wells Fargo transaction.
The company is best sold off in two pieces because of the tax benefits of such a transaction, said Ackman, who acknowledged Wachovia is only his second investment in a financial-services company in the past five years. The other one is a "small" position in American International Group Inc. (AIG), which he took last month. He said Pershing Square is a "top 10 or 12" shareholder in AIG, and that he started buying the insurer's shares when they were trading at about the levels they're trading at now. AIG shares recently traded at $3.78, down 8 cents.
Read the full article
Monday, October 6, 2008
Pershing Square's Ackman says short sale ban hurt
Hedge fund manager William Ackman said on Monday that global regulators rattled investor confidence by briefly banning investors' bearish bets on stocks, and that psychology, not fundamentals, is moving markets.
Ackman, who runs New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, said the short-selling ban "did more to destroy investor confidence than anything."
Regulators around the world have put restrictions on hedge funds and other investors that sell stocks short -- a bet that a stock price will go down -- to help stabilize cratering financial stocks.
"Short sellers have been blamed for bringing down the market, but since the ban, the markets have been falling even further, which means 'the longs' are selling now," Ackman told reporters in a question-and-answer session after addressing the Value Investing Congress in New York.
On Monday, the Dow Jones industrials .DJI plummeted 800 points before closing down 370 points, or 3.6 percent, to 9950.50 -- settling below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004.
Many hedge fund managers have complained that the ban prevents them from properly hedging their portfolios and has caused many fund managers to suffer heavy losses.
Ackman, an activist investor who has won changes at companies like Wendy's International Inc (WEN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and McDonald's Corp (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said stock prices are getting "extremely cheap" as the market tumbles lower amid worries about sluggish growth.
Read the full article
Ackman, who runs New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, said the short-selling ban "did more to destroy investor confidence than anything."
Regulators around the world have put restrictions on hedge funds and other investors that sell stocks short -- a bet that a stock price will go down -- to help stabilize cratering financial stocks.
"Short sellers have been blamed for bringing down the market, but since the ban, the markets have been falling even further, which means 'the longs' are selling now," Ackman told reporters in a question-and-answer session after addressing the Value Investing Congress in New York.
On Monday, the Dow Jones industrials .DJI plummeted 800 points before closing down 370 points, or 3.6 percent, to 9950.50 -- settling below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004.
Many hedge fund managers have complained that the ban prevents them from properly hedging their portfolios and has caused many fund managers to suffer heavy losses.
Ackman, an activist investor who has won changes at companies like Wendy's International Inc (WEN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and McDonald's Corp (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said stock prices are getting "extremely cheap" as the market tumbles lower amid worries about sluggish growth.
Read the full article
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
