| Barry Rosenstein (Bloomberg) |
Barry Rosenstein’s hedge fund firm, Jana Partners, picked up in January where it left off last year. The New York firm posted a 3.9 percent loss in January in its main funds, including the Jana Partners Fund.
Jana Nirvana Fund, which invests similarly to the Jana Partners Fund but with greater gross and net exposures and higher concentration levels, lost 5.9 percent for the month.
This compares with about a 5 percent loss for the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index in the first month of the year.
Last year the Jana Partners Fund posted a 5.4 percent loss for the year, while Jana Nirvana lost 7.9 percent — 8.4 percent for the offshore version.
It is not known what Jana’s portfolio looked like at the end of the fourth quarter. The firm’s filing detailing its U.S. stock holdings as of year-end probably won’t be publicly available for another two weeks.
However, four of Jana’s five largest holdings at the end of the third quarter fell significantly in January.
For example, Jana was most likely hurt badly by chip maker Qualcomm, which was the firm’s largest holding for most of last year and a major activist target. Qualcomm shares fell more than 9 percent in January, suffering most of that loss last Thursday after the company reported its quarterly results. Qualcomm said earnings skidded 24 percent, and it issued guidance for the current quarter that is lower than Wall Street analysts were expecting.
Qualcomm’s stock tumbled 33 percent last year even though in July the company agreed to add two Jana-approved directors to its board and promised to add a third selected by the company and approved by Jana. In mid-December, Qualcomm announced that a review conducted by a board special committee decided the company would be best off by not putting itself up for sale or breaking itself up.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Jana’s No. 3 holding at the end of the third quarter and a longtime favorite of the hedge fund firm, lost about 6.4 percent in January.
Shares of car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings plummeted 36 percent in January alone. The stock was Jana’s fourth-largest position at the end of the third quarter.
However, in December, Jana cut the stake to 4.9 percent. It’s not known whether Jana liquidated the position subsequently or retained a position in January once its stake fell below 5 percent of the shares outstanding (at that point, the firm no longer had to update the public on further sales). We’ll know for sure when Jana files its report detailing its fourth-quarter holdings no later than February 16.
Even shares of Allergan, Jana’s fifth-largest holding at the end of the third quarter, plunged 9 percent last month. The stock rose 21 percent last year.
Meanwhile, Baxter International, a new position for Jana in the third quarter, lost 4 percent in January after surging 16 percent in the final three months of last year.
