Big Guys Duke It Out

I guess in the Billionaire Club, there is a pecking order just like anywhere else.  And occasionally, you get an all-out mud-wrestling bout.  That is going on now over HLF, an MFI stock for a few months.  Bill Ackman's Pershing Square shorted the stock and published a 300 page power point (Hedge-Fund Manager Presses Case Against Herbalife ) on why it was a company worth zero.

I get the feeling that a lot of the other guys in the "club" do not like Ackman.  ZeroHedge bashes him (Bill Ackman's loss on JCP today: $106 million : zerohedge) daily. Carl Icahn called him a cry-baby (Ackman, Icahn Hurl Accusations, Insults).

I have thought about buying HLF several times, but listening to these guys it is worth either $80 a share or $0.  Not sure I wanted to dance.

This week, all hedge funds have to disclose their stock holdings.  We found out last night that Icahn has taken a whopping 13% stake in HLF (Icahn Reports 13% Stake in Herbalife, Plans to Seek Talks).  He now is trying to do a LBO.  To me, he wants to crush Ackman, it has gotten personal.  The stock closed yesterday at 38.27 (and it was under $36 at the start of the week). In per-market trading, it is over $47!  Nice way to make 25% in a day.

Here is where my dividend portfolio stands.  I did buy ABR earlier this week, can not remember if I mentioned that.  They have promptly gone up 3%, so so far so good.

Stock	Shares	Avg Cost	Current Price	Dividends Received	Pct Change	R3K Change	Diff
AAPL	151	527.49	466.59	397.50	-11.0%	7.8%	-18.8%
ABR	4,500	7.18	7.41	-	3.2%	0.3%	2.9%
AOD	10,000	3.90	4.01	-	2.9%	2.4%	0.5%
BHK	2,270	12.79	15.00	3,118	28.0%	13.3%	14.7%
CIM	20,000	2.77	3.07	-	10.7%	3.3%	7.4%
CSCO	4,292	17.22	20.99	2,014	24.6%	14.9%	9.7%
CSQ	5,519	8.29	10.42	6,001	38.8%	30.7%	8.1%
FCX	1,110	32.19	35.53	344	11.3%	8.4%	2.9%
HFC	904	36.03	56.56	1,960	63.0%	11.8%	51.2%
INTC	1,995	21.00	21.23	2,443	6.9%	24.1%	-17.1%
JPM	1,684	35.29	49.22	1,494	42.0%	14.8%	27.2%
JQC	4,251	9.12	10.11	5,256	24.3%	14.2%	10.1%
KMF	1,873	22.08	33.58	4,454	62.8%	26.9%	35.9%
MPC	382	44.01	83.16	356	91.1%	12.3%	78.8%
O	560	19.51	44.29	7,564	196.1%	79.2%	116.9%
OIBAX	3,948	4.94	6.57	6,821	67.9%	80.0%	-12.1%
PGR	2,118	20.56	24.00	2,596	22.7%	12.9%	9.8%
PRE	540	67.57	86.00	1,629	31.7%	13.1%	18.6%
PVD	427	65.11	102.01	3,788	70.3%	27.3%	43.0%
SAI	4,726	12.83	12.07	1,938	-2.7%	8.5%	-11.2%
STO	1,040	23.82	26.01	1,121	13.7%	29.8%	-16.1%
Total Open				53,294	25.9%	16.2%	9.7%
Closed					12.3%	9.8%	2.5%
Combined					15.9%	11.6%	4.4%
Annualized IRR Since 12/31/10					17.5%
2013 Gain					7.3%