Bill Ackman released the 13-F for his hedge fund today. Here are the current holdings. Missing is Ambac…
Holdings (in $ millions)
Target (TGT)= $1,215.9
Target (TGT)= $133 (calls)
Sears Holdings (SHLD)= $794.3
Barnes and Nobel (BKS)= $200.4
Borders (BGP)= $62.1
MBIA (MBI)= -$74 (puts)
Greenlight Capital (GLRE)= $4.5
Wendy’s (WEN)= $164.6
Cadbury Schwepps (CBY)= $1.6
Some big news as there is a a $150 million increase in Sears Holdings and Ackman is no longer short Ambac (ABK). He also reduced his MBIA short from over $500 million as of 12/31 to its current level.
Disclosure (“none” means no position):Long SHLD, BGP, None
9 replies on “Pershing Releases 13-F: More Sears, No Longer Short Ambac”
Over 75% of the portfolio in 2 stocks…wow…
I believe only long positions (including puts) show up on 13Fs – an external observer wouldn’t see what his short positions are or are not.
anon,
the position was listed on the last 13-f
he was short through a combo of sales and put, both of which would show up
I hate to be a pain here, but I am not seeing the short position in the previous filing (I do see the puts).
Short positions tend to be more highly guarded by managers (MBIA/Ambac is an exception in Mr Ackman’s case), since (I thought) the world didn’t know what those positions were.
If you are saying that anybody with access to 13Fs can find out what HF managers are short, that would be fairly significant news (to me, anyway).
Could you please point to the specific filing to which you are referring (ie, what CIK number on sec.gov)? Thanks.
anon,
I do not believe Ackman was ever actually “short shares”. I believe his equity short was through the puts and and he bet against their CDS’s.
I see – I thought short meant short. guess not
?????
owning puts is being short….
do you consider owning calls “not being long”?
You wrote “he was short through a combo of sales and put, both of which would show up.” I don’t know how one could read that and conclude that “sales” meant anything other than short selling (borrow the stock, sell it, buy back later to cover). So when you then said that he had not shorted Ambac (the evidence for which is unknown), I was confused.
I am simply pointing out for the benefit of your readers that the absence of puts on the 13F (the evidence you cite) does not necessarily indicate that he is no longer short (the conclusion you drew), because selling the stock short (the specific process outlined above that is distinct from being long puts or long protection via CDS) are not subject to SEC disclosure requirements (to the best of my knowledge).
Todd,
It sounds like nitpicking on Anon’s part, but it can be important for investors structuring synthetic positions, i.e. short the stock and long the call to create a synthetic put. While I think it is rather clear here that Ackman’s directional bet against the bond insurers puts him in the short camp, it’s worth considering that more could be happening behind the scenes given that short positions don’t need to be reported.