David Einhorn has kept himself busy with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and has since stayed quite for the most part. He has not einhorned any stock lately by mentioning it as a short or by failing to mention it. So for a change of scene we have some news from Einhorn.
We have talked about how hedgers can contribute meaningfully to a charity through a fun game, Portfolios With Purpose, in which famous names like David Einhorn, Dan Loeb, Leon Cooperman and James Dinan are playing. While giving an interview to PwP, Einhorn mentioned his stockpicks that he would be betting on and against to raise money to donate to charity, “Not In Our Town”. He said,
“On the long side, we chose Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD) (LON:VOD), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) and Osisko Mining Corp. (TSE:OSK). On the short side, we chose United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) and Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L).”
While these are informal picks, chosen for a game, there are a couple of names that Einhorn or Greenlight Capital have never been known to have a position in. Osisko Mining Corp. (TSE:OSK), a Toronto based company involved in acquiring and exploring such lands that are known to contain gold and other precious metals.
This hypothetical long in Osisko Mining ties into Einhorn’s standing long position in gold, which is one of the major holdings of Greenlight Capital. Although the fund has lost on its investment when gold declined in the last quarter, the hedge fund titan seems undeterred in his thesis even while he is not doing strict business. Osisko Mining is down almost 23 percent YTD, so Einhorn is not winning for his charity on this one.
Einhorn’s pick for his PwP short book, Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) is a Canadian multi-sector player with operations in food retail, apparels, drugstore merchandise, personal banking, insurance and credit card services. Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) is up 1 percent YTD. Perhaps Einhorn’s team believes that the company is just too branched out to show fundamental growth.
Greenlight Capital has held a long position in Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD) (LON:VOD) and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) in reality and David Einhorn has done well in his short in United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) last year. So these three are actual long and short positions as well. As for Loblaw Companies Limited (TSE:L) and Osisko Mining Corp. (TSE:OSK), we can only speculate.
There is a possibility that these are also actual holdings, especially in the case of Osisko, based on Einhorn’s long position in gold. Einhorn is not known to discuss his long and short views in foreign companies frequently so mentioning the two Canadian companies is rare for him.
The participation in PwP starts with choosing one of the three levels of classes, novice, professional, and master. After that the competitor has to choose five global equities and then choose their charity. The players in the PwP competition compete to maximize total return (share price plus dividends) on their chosen stocks.
The positions are hypothetical and the stock is not purchased in actual. Those with maximum returns on their portfolios get top positions and the organization distributes the money to the winner’s chosen charity from registration fees.
