Lemelson Capital Management, a private investment management firm, today announced that BarclayHedge, a global leader in fund performance ranking and assessment, has ranked The Amvona Fund as the world’s top-performing “long bias” fund for August 2014.
The Amvona Fund returned 9.7% net of all fees and expenses
For August 2014, BarclayHedge reports, The Amvona Fund returned 9.7 percent net of all fees and expenses, making it the best-performing long biased fund in the world for the period. Among the top ten funds ranked in this category, The Amvona Fund also ranked as the top-performing on a year-to-date basis, returning 35.14 percent net of all fees and expenses through August 31, 2014.
Managed by Emmanuel Lemelson, The Amvona Fund has garnered substantial attention in 2014 for several of its long and short activist positions in publicly-traded stocks.
One of The Amvona Fund’s best-performing investments year-to-date has been a short position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:LGND), a biopharmaceutical company, which the fund first announced on June 16, 2014. Lemelson Capital Management, the sole sponsor and general partner of The Amvona Fund, released a report (and has since reiterated this position) that Ligand has no intrinsic value and faces a substantial going concern and bankruptcy risk. The Amvona Fund continues to maintain a substantial short position in Ligand.
The Amvona Fund’s long positions
The Amvona Fund’s leading performance in August 2014 was driven by several long positions that the fund continues to hold, including American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE).
The Amvona Fund announced a short position in World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) on March 17, 2014. Two months later, on May 16, 2014, the fund announced that it had covered its short position in WWE and adopted a long position in the stock, which it continues to hold. WWE stock appreciated 11.59 percent in August 2014.
On April 22, 2014, the fund announced a long position in Kulicke & Soffa Industries (NASDAQ: KLIC), a global leader in the design and manufacture of semiconductor and light-emitting diodes (LED) equipment, which it continues to hold. Kulicke & Soffa stock appreciated 6.06 percent in August 2014.
Also driving The Amvona Fund’s top-ranking August 2014 performance was its long position in American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO), which the fund acquired between August 2013 and May 2014 at an average purchase price of $11.66 per share. American Eagle stock appreciated 35.91 percent in August 2014 alone. The Amvona Fund’s long position in Apple Inc., which grew 6.63 percent in August, also contributed to its leading performance.
The Amvona Fund fund emerges from the worst-performing to the top-performing
BarclayHedge’s ranking of The Amvona Fund as the top-performing in its category for August 2014 follows multiple other recognitions of the fund’s top-ranking performance. On three occasions since The Amvona Fund’s September 2012 inception, Barron’s, one of the world’s leading financial media outlets, has ranked The Amvona Fund among the world’s top-performing hedge funds. In July and October 2013, Barron’s ranked The Amvona Fund the world’s singular top-performing hedge fund. In April 2014, it was ranked the world’s second best-performing hedge fund by Barron’s. The data and financial intelligence firm Preqin has named The Amvona Fund one of the world’s top-performing funds for 2013.
Disclosure: Lemelson Capital is long shares of AAPL, AEO, KLIC and WWE and short shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:LGND) for its clients.
