It’s been an extraordinarily good year for guru Bill Ackman, and it isn’t over yet with more than seven weeks left.
Bloomberg.com reported last week that, although it was a volatile month, Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square International Ltd., gained 0.7% in October, which brought the fund’s annual gains to 33%. A glance at Ackman’s portfolio indicates that this growth has been accomplished with holdings in six companies – Allergan (AGN, Financial), Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC, Financial), Platform Specialty Products Corp. (PAH, Financial), Burger King Worldwide Inc. (BKW, Financial), Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APD, Financial) and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP, Financial).
Eleven of the gurus we follow at GuruFocus traded in Allergan, a California-based pharmaceutical company, at the end of June. Richard Perry (Trades, Portfolio), John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Chanos (Trades, Portfolio), Eric Mindich (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Singer (Trades, Portfolio), Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Jean-Marie Eveillard (Trades, Portfolio) bought the stock. Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio) sold their shares.
Gurus weren’t as active in Howard Hughes Corp., a Dallas-based real estate company. Four traded in the stock at the end of June, but only Caxton Associates (Trades, Portfolio) added to its stake. Whitney Tilson (Trades, Portfolio), Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio) and Simons either reduced their stakes or sold out entirely.
Seven gurus actively traded in Platform Specialty Products, a company that deals in specialty chemicals. John Griffin (Trades, Portfolio), Jones and Stahl all invested in the company. Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio), Tilson and Bacon sold part or all of their holdings.
Burger King Worldwide made news a couple of months ago with plans to acquire the Canada-based Tim Hortons (THI, Financial) coffee-and-doughnuts chain, but only two gurus traded in it at the end of June. Simons bought the stock; Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio) sold it.
Detroit-based Air Products & Chemicals Inc., which sells chemicals and similar products for industrial use, has received a lot of attention from gurus. Tilson was the only guru who traded in the stock at the end of September, when he sold a portion of his stake. He was one of three gurus who bought the stock at the end of June; the other two were Jones and Bacon. Six gurus sold all or part of their holdings – Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio), Tom Gayner (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Mindich and Simons.
In addition to Ackman, 11 gurus traded in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. at the end of June. Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio), Stanley Druckenmiller (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) and Bacon bought the stock. Ackman reduced his stake in Canadian Pacific Railway as did Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio), Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Heebner (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), Halvorsen, Jones and Simons.
