All eyes will be on the shares of Apple on Wednesday morning after the most popular hedge fund holding reported fiscal first-quarter revenues and earnings that were much better than analysts were expecting. It also reported especially strong results for the iPhone, the Mac computer and its services segment.
“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way,” said chief executive officer Tim Cook in a press release. “We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch.” At the end of the third quarter, 234 hedge funds held a position in Apple, more than any other stock. The stock jumped nearly 3 percent in after-hours trading.
Meanwhile, Facebook, the second most popular hedge fund stock, reports earnings on Wednesday.
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Another high-profile recent start-up is shutting down. Raveneur Investment Group, launched by Mark Black in September 2014, is closing its distressed securities firm, according to a Reuters report. It launched with $350 million from Blackstone Group and PAAMCO. The wire service says the two investors pulled out their money last year after Raveneur posted losses. It also lost money in its first year and gained just 1.6 percent in 2015. Black earlier worked at Tricadia Capital Management and Eton Park Capital Management.
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Pershing Square Capital Management boosted its stake in Monzelez International to 6.4 percent of the total. This appears to make the activist hedge fund firm the largest shareholder. However, we will know better in two weeks, when fourth-quarter stock holdings are disclosed by all firms.
“We continue to believe that the opportunity for productivity improvements and margin expansion at Mondelez is significant even beyond 2018,” Pershing Square told investors in its January 26 presentation. It said at the time Mondelez accounted for 16 percent of its capital.
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Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, another major Pershing Square investment, rebounded sharply, gaining 3.4 percent to $13.78. It is still down for the year.
