The Ira Sohn conference -- one of the most closely-watched
investor conferences of the year -- kicks off Monday afternoon.
Some of the biggest names in the hedge-fund world -- Greenlight
Capital's David Einhorn, Omega Advisors' Leon Cooperman, Pershing
Square Capital Management's William Ackman, and many more -- will
take the stage to deliver a mix of stock picks, companies they're
betting against, and macro investment ideas. All of this is for the
benefit of the Ira Sohn foundation, which finances initiatives to
cure and treat pediatric cancer.
Stock prices will rise and fall as these investors state their
opinions. MoneyBeat will bring you all the presentations live from
Lincoln Center.
2:03 pm | Just a Little Break | by David Benoit
We're in a brief intermission here, and coming back in a few
minutes will be Larry Robbins, of Glenview. He's one of the more
successful hedge fund managers in recent years.
1:47 pm | Cooperman: Here Are His Stock Picks | by Maureen
Farrell
Leon Cooperman's first pick is Actavis. He's not worried that a
lot of hedge funds own it. Aercap Holdings, the aircraft leasing
company, is number two. He still likes Citigroup. The others are
Dow Chemical, General Motors, Google, Gulf Coast Ultra Deep Royalty
Trust and Priceline. Quite a mix there. He calls stock picking
something akin to going to a supermarket to shop. He appears to be
hitting a lot of aisles.
1:47 pm | Cooperman: Here Are His Stock Picks | by Maureen
Farrell
Leon Cooperman's first pick is Actavis. He's not worried that a
lot of hedge funds own it. Aercap Holdings, the aircraft leasing
company, is number two. He still likes Citigroup. The others are
Dow Chemical, General Motors, Google, Gulf Coast Ultra Deep Royalty
Trust and Priceline. Quite a mix there. He calls stock picking
something akin to going to a supermarket to shop. He appears to be
hitting a lot of aisles.
1:40 pm | Cooperman Has Lots of Ideas to Share | by Maureen
Farrell
Leon Cooperman continues to explain why bonds are overvalued.
"There's no cushion in bonds," he says. This is his first idea
among the "five or six" he plans to share Monday. If you have
questions on what he has to say, Mr. Cooperman tells the audience
to call up one of his analysts. He's sharing a mix of their
ideas.
1:39 pm | Cooperman Says There Could Be a Bubble in Fixed Income
| by Maureen Farrell
If there's a bubble out there, it's not in the stock market, he
says. If it's anywhere, it's in the fixed income market.
1:37 pm | Cooperman Isn't Worried About Fed Tightening | by
Maureen Farrell
Mr. Cooperman isn't worried about the Fed tightening. The
market, he said, isn't thinking that nearly negative yields will
continue long term. The market could sell off initially but longer
term it won't be a big deal. He said he'd be more worried if the
Fed never tightened.
1:35 pm | Cooperman: Only a Geopolitical Event Could Cause a
Bear Market | by Maureen Farrell
Mr. Cooperman outlines four things that could cause a bear
market. They don't emerge out of "immaculate conception," he said.
Three of the four factors aren't there. The only thing that could
cause a recession or bear market that he can't foresee is a
negative geopolitical event. That no one can predict. Otherwise the
signs are looking good, he says.
1:33 pm | Cooperman: Japan Is Still Attractive | by Maureen
Farrell
He's negative on most areas of the fixed-income market. Europe
has caught up and is not that much more attractive than the U.S.
Japan is still quite attractive for investments, he says.
1:32 pm | Overlap | by Rob Copeland
There was no crunchwrap summit between hedge funders Dan Loeb
and Keith Meister over Yum. Meister says in a post-presentation
interview on CNBC he has "never spoken" with rival Loeb about their
overlapping positions in the Taco Bell owner. In the interview,
Meister also declines to comment his exact Yum stake, saying only
that he has around 15 million shares and is a top five owner.
1:32 pm | Cooperman: Buy Stocks Not Bonds | by Maureen
Farrell
Mr. Cooperman said thinks the equity market will rise 7% to 9%
in 2015 and is fairly valued overall. Buying bonds, he said, is not
adviseable
1:30 pm | It's Leon Cooperman Time! | by Maureen Farrell
Mr. Cooperman jokes why bother presenting after the last
presenter terrifying all of the attendees.
1:28 pm | Toothbrushes | by David Benoit
"There are more mobile phones in the world then there are
toothbrushes."
Out of context, anyone know if that's true?
In context, this man says mobile phones will spread the panic.
Got that Twitter? Cut it out.
1:20 pm | Markets? | by David Benoit
I think he's going to bring this talk to being prepared for
anything in the markets. We're still waiting though.
1:18 pm | Wish we knew | by David Benoit
We're not really sure where this is going with this. Now he's
got a smaller drone. He isn't flying them. But he sure is spooking
people.
1:17 pm | Less Than Cheerful | by David Benoit
Speaking now is the founder of Priceline.com and serial
entrepreneur Jay Walker, and he's a bit of a scary dude.
He's warning that cheap bioweapons, plus cheap drones, times
social media can literally cause world-wide panic and destroy the
markets.
He has a drone on stage. And he's hypothesizing it's a
bioweapon.
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