Third Point was solidly in the red for the first quarter after suffering a 3.9 percent loss in March, according to its latest monthly report, seen by Institutional Investor.
The hedge fund headed by Dan Loeb was down 3.2 percent for the first three months of the year, the report says. But this was still better than the S&P 500’s 5.6 percent decline.
Third Point likely fell less than the market because it cut its net exposure from 71.2 percent at the end of January to 46 percent by the end of March, according to monthly reports. The repositioning came before President Trump’s so far market-mauling tariffs.
Third Point’s sharp March drop was driven mostly by long positions in the fundamental and event strategy in the equity book. Altogether, equity long positions cost the fund 5.8 percentage points of performance for the month, even though this was offset by gains of 2 percent in equity shorts.
The biggest loser in March was online used-auto retailer Carvana. It was also the firm’s third-biggest detractor for the quarter. This was a surprising development. Third Point had not reported owning a stake in the company in its fourth-quarter 13F filing, so it presumably established the position in the first quarter as the stock was peaking. Bad timing: From mid-February to the end of March, Carvana slumped about 27 percent. But from the last week in December of 2022 to mid-February 2025, it had swelled an astounding 70 times, so Third Point did get in in time for the correction.
Third Point’s next four long positions that declined the most in March were online betting and gaming company Flutter Entertainment, the tenth-largest at year-end; Amazon, the second-largest; Irish diversified building materials company CRH, the ninth-largest; and chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the fifth-largest.
TSMC, Carvana, and Amazon were also three of Third Point’s five biggest losers for the quarter, along with California utility Pacific Gas & Electric — the largest long position, accounting for more than 13 percent of year-end assets — and life sciences and diagnostics company Danaher.
Third Point’s biggest winners for the first three months were Facebook parent Meta Systems, Rolls Royce Holdings, Intercontinental Exchange, British insurer Phoenix Group, and telecom services company Telephone and Data Systems.
Heading into the second quarter, Third Point’s five largest equity long positions were PG&E, Amazon, TSMC, industrial technology conglomerate Fortive, and Siemens.
Third Point’s other strategies played muted roles in the first quarter. Credit kicked in 20 basis points to net gains, and privates detracted by 10 basis points.
