Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners joined the growing list of hedge fund losers last year. Its main fund fell 8.1 percent in 2018, and its levered Nirvana fund finished down 14.3 percent, according to an investor report.
The average hedge fund fell 6.7 percent, according to the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index.
Still, JANA outperformed two big name peers: Dan Loeb’s Third Point, which fell 11.1 percent, and David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, which was down 34 percent for the year.
The S&P 500 fell 4.4 percent, including reinvested dividends.
JANA posted losses in the last three months of 2018 — including a 10 percent decline in December — to give the hedge fund its worst annual return since 2008. It also posted a small loss in 2011 and 2015 — two other tough years in the stock market.
[II Deep Dive: JANA Partners Suffers Sharp Loss in October]
Last year, JANA engaged in two activist plays, with mixed results.
Rosenstein’s investment in Jack in the Box so far hasn’t worked out. It was down 15 percent for the year on JANA’s average purchase price of $91.32, revealed in a 13D filing on Feb. 15. It had first disclosed an investment in the stock in November of 2017, when the stock was trading around $100.
In December, the fast food franchise said it was exploring “strategic alternatives” and had been in talks with potential buyers. JANA has entered into a confidentiality and standstill agreement the company.
Last year, Rosenstein had something of a pyrrhic victory in Pinnacle Foods, in which JANA took a 9.5 percent stake in March, leading to a sale of the company to Conagra in late October. By that time JANA had made an almost 20 percent gain on the position.
Conqgra, an earlier JANA activist target, hasn’t done so well. It is still one of JANA’s biggest positions, and the stock fell of a cliff after buying Pinnacle, ending the year down 42 percent.
JANA’s largest equity position, according to its latest quarterly 13F filing, is Zimmer Biomet Holdings, which makes orthopedic and dental implants. It fell about 14 percent last year.
