Andrew Sandler is the Managing Director of Sandler Capital Management. Sandler runs a long/short equity strategy, and several hedge funds. Total assets under management are above the $2billion market. The fund recently hired RJ Moulton of Zweig-DiMenna Associates as an assistant trader. RJ Moulton was a trading assistant at Zweig-DiMenna Associates, a $4 billion hedge fund.
The flagship hedge fund, Sandler Plus Offshore Fund’s net returns suffered in the Q2 due to high volatility in the market, the fund was down 1.46% in July, lowering the year to date return to a positive 3.8%. The gross performance attributable to short investments was up 8.4 percent while the fund lost 9.4 percent on the long side.
Performance on a sector basis
Until the end of June, the fund had the most exposure in Industrials (36 percent in long and 17 percent in short) with Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary coming at second and third by exposure in portfolio composition.
Purchases and Sales
The fund bought common stock of Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) in this quarter. The purchase of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock was made pre-IPO in April. The hedge fund has a six month lock up on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares, but it only makes up 2% of the portfolio. The fund is very concerned about the ability of the IT company to build a standing in the mobile market and the mounting pressure that is causing the share price to plummet.
The fund likes Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK), a medical tech company, as its market share is increasing and product demand is expected to grow.
In past few quarters, the fund has reduced its position in Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) due to the slow down in the coal market, but repurchased stock in this quarter owing to the strong pricing and increase in flow of products
The largest sales on longside were made in the stocks of Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH), EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), and Spectris plc (LON:SXS) Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH) was sold as the share price met pricing expectations and the fund felt that the prices would be vulnerable in proceeding quarters due to a sharp decline in oil and natural gas prices.
EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), which is doing well with software acquisitions, was sold as the fund sought to reduce IT exposure. Spectris plc (LON:SXS) , the largest single investment in fund’s portfolio, was reduced after the price had appreciated about 40 percent. Spectris plc (LON:SXS) still has a lot of potential to expand in metals & mining, biotech, and aerospace but is vulnerable to a slow down in China and European markets.
