Today one of the most anticipated investment conferences took place. The Sohn Investment Conference brings together every year the most vocal Hedge Funds managers who share their views on markets and some of their investment bets.

The event makes for great theatre and some interesting tidbits of information.  One caveat: these are very smart traders and they certainly do not give up their trades before having exposure and some profits in the bag.  To put things in perspective, their top pics last year did not impress when their performance was calculated from the day of the conference until now.  

In any case, some of the highlights were of interest. Larry Robbins spoke up about Humana (HUM) which we own in some of our ValueX strategy portfolios.  Robbins highlighted favorably the health care industry based on demographics and changes to the industry brought on by the Obamacare legislation.

Zac Schreiber received a strong endorsement from legendary Stan Druckenmiller; Schreiber was bearish on WTI quoting increased supply coming from the US and a reluctance of US drillers to slow down production until crude falls below $80 a barrel. 

Staying with the energy theme, Jim Grant, writer of the investment newsletter Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, touted Gazprom. Stressing the contrarian tone of the recommendation he called Gazprom: “Donald Sterling with a London ticker.” J

Bill Ackman, the most vocal activist manager (along with Carl Icahn with whom he spars regularly), spent a good amount of time talking up Fannie and Freddie. He called them essential to preserving the housing market. Fannie stock jumped over 6% after his words.

Of course a hedge fund conference would not be relevant without poker face David Einhorn of Greenlight fame.  Einhorn is usually famous for his short picks; today he questioned Athenhealth Inc.,  which promptly fell 7% on the day.