Greenlight Capital 2009 Annual Letter

We found a copy of Greenlight's 2009 letter floating around online. David Einhorn did extremely well in 2009, up 36.9%, 33.7% or 30.6% depending on the fund. His average annualized return since 1996 is now 22%. One thing we found interesting was that he had average 18% of the fund invested in debt securities throughout the year, which included a huge 30% gain from CIT debt in the 4th quarter. He also continues to have long positions in physical gold. While we feel that there are better ways to hedge inflation given the current gold price (bond options/rate caps/curve caps), only the future can say how that position pans out.

Greenlight Capital - 2009 Annual Letter

Stay Tuned.

Greenlight Capital and Pershing Square Q2 Letters

Here are the Q2 letters from David Einhorn and Bill Ackman, who are actually quite good friends. It is interesting to see how their approaches differ with regard to the structural risks the U.S. is still facing:

Greenlight Capital Q2 Letter to Shareholders

Pershing Square Q2 Letter to Shareholders

Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS)

“DPS was spun off from U.K.-based Cadbury PLC in May 2008. The Partnerships established their position at an average price of $23.84, which represents 12x estimated 2008 earnings. DPS exhibited many of the characteristics we have seen in successful spin-off investments, including favorable management incentives (which were struck while market participants were still wondering how bad the company’s initial outlook might be in the difficult industry environment), systematic selling by U.K. shareholders more interested in the global confectionary business and less so in the U.S. beverage business, and a conservative management posture. DPS is the third largest liquid refreshment beverage company in the Americas, with a portfolio of 50 brands including Dr. Pepper, Canada Dry, 7-Up and Snapple. The company is a combination of a high-margin concentrate business (like Coke and Pepsi, which trade at 17x earnings) and a lower-margin and more capital-intensive bottling and distribution operations (like Coca Cola Enterprises and Pepsi Bottling Group, which trade at 12x earnings). While the market seems to apply a discount for its bottling ownership, we believe that an integrated model affords DPS the opportunity to expand distribution of its underrepresented and newly-launched brands. Over time, DPS has the potential to generate meaningful earnings growth through new product extensions, increased use of its distribution capacity, further cost reduction, and increased exposure to single serve channels, where it is currently underrepresented. DPS shares ended the quarter at $26.48.”

David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital)

Greenlight Capital - 2008 Annual Letter to Shareholders

David Einhorn, manager of Greenlight Capital, has been earning 26% average annual returns for his hedge fund over the past 10 years. He uses a long and short strategy, based on extensive research. I find it interesting to read some of the better managers' letters to shareholders. Here is a link to Greenlight Capital Annual 2008 letter to shareholders.

Greenlight Capital - 2008 Annual Report

SG