Technology stocks that seemed to have an inexhaustible capacity to rocket up their charts finally corrected in March, and with a vengeance.
The big losers were: Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) (-21 %); Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) (-18.9%); Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) (-15 %); Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) (-12 %); Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) (-11.6 %); Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) (-10.7 %); LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) (-9.3 %); Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (-8.3 %); Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) (-7.1 %) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) (-7.1 %).
Tiger Cubs were riding a momentum tiger
And a pack of funds, loosely known as the Tiger Cub funds, which were heavily invested in technology stocks, were a major casualty of the sharp fall. These funds were run by ‘Tiger Cubs’ – crack traders tutored by the legendary Julian Robertson.
Some of these funds, such as Viking Global Investors (AUM of $28 billion), Coatue Management, Lone Pine Capital and Blue Ridge Capital rank in the who’s who of the hedge fund industry, but nonetheless suffered sharp losses in March.
Coatue Management was one of the worst hit, and apparently lost both on the swings as well as the roundabouts in its long-short trades. The fund, which has assets of $9 billion, is contemplating the return of $2 billion to investors reportedly on the grounds that it has grown too large for its management team to handle.
A Morgan Stanley report recently estimated that technology and media focused hedge funds probably lost nearly 4% on average during the month of March.
Looking at Tiger Cub funds’ exposure to the tech majors
Novus.com’s overlap matrix is a unique way to study the exposure of the Tiger Cubs to stocks, giving an instant view of holdings and value.
Here’s a look at their holdings in the top-loser tech stocks listed at the top of this article.
Netflix
Pandora Media
Priceline.com
