Ken Heebner is out with his 2012 shareholder letter. He slightly beat the market for the year, but would have done much better if not for one stock, Herbalife. Ken Heebner issues a veiled criticism of Bill Ackman and believes that claims about Herbalife are ‘unwarranted.’ Heebner has a massive short position in treasuries, which we noted earlier. Below is a brief excerpt on Herbalife and his biggest holdings followed by the full letter in scribd.
The Fund’s performance in the fourth quarter was adversely affected by its investment in Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), a company that sells nutrition, weight management, and personal care products. While Herbalife’s operations performed well in 2012, the price of its shares declined following criticism of its operations by some market participants. We believe this criticism was unwarranted, and the Fund continued to hold the stock at year-end.
The fixed income section of the portfolio fluctuated between 25% and 28% of total Fund assets during the year ended December 31, 2012. It was predominately invested in shortterm U.S. Treasury notes reflecting concerns that interest rates would rise. The one long-term bond was sold in the fourth quarter of the year. On December 31, 2012, CGM Mutual Fund’s three largest industry positions in the equity portion of the portfolio were in money center banks, housing and building materials and airlines. The Fund’s three largest equity holdings were Citigroup Inc. (C), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America Corporation (BAC). The Fund was 27.5% invested in short-term U.S. Treasury securities.
2012 12 31 Mutual Annual Ken Heebner
