Saturday Showdown: Einhorn, Berkowitz, and Japanese Idols
It’s a rare event when 2 big names in finance square off over a stock, and even rarer still that they take the battle public.
And that’s what’s been going on lately when Fairholme Capital Management’s Bruce Berkowitz took on Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn in an epic struggle I now call:
The St. Joe Stockpicker Slugfest
Here’s the Tale of the tape:
| Bruce Berkowitz | David Einhorn | |
|---|---|---|
| Age: | N/A | 42 |
| Education: | UMass Amherst - cum laude | Cornell - summa cum laude | Investment Style: | Value | Value |
| Rough Annualized Returns: | 13%: 1999-2009 | 29%: 1996-2006 |
| Known for: | Gordon Gekko hairdo, keeping things on the down low | Lehman short and WSOP vet |
Einhorn originally invited the Mutual Fund Manager for a debate on St. Joe Company at the Value Investors Conference but with Berkowitz failing to reply, he proceeded to drop bombs on it and sent the stock down 10% just hours after his presentation.
Round 1 Einhorn.
Berkowitz fired back by adding to his stake in JOE and then commenting to Reuters:
“I’d buy the whole company if I could… I want to send him a box of chocolates… This is the kind of advertising you just can’t buy. The company should hold a David Einhorn Memorial Investment Week.”
With that sugary bluff, St. Joe went up 4%.
Round 2 Berkowitz.
So which side are you on?
The poker-playing short seller or Morningstar’s domestic-stock fund manager of the decade?
And because a proper fight needs sexy round girls…
| Maria Ozawa | Reon Kadena | |
|---|---|---|
| Age: | 24 | 24 |
| Height: | 5'4" | 5'5.5" | Measurements: | 35-23-34 | 35-23-34 |
| Eyes: | Brown | Brown |
| Ethnicity: | Japanese-Canadian | Japanese |
Enjoy the enjoy the rest of the weekend guys, have a good one...
Great post! These are two HEAVY hitters. I look forward to watching this play out.. These guys vehemently disagree about the financial sector. Bruce is heavily invested in banks right now and EInhorn still thinks shuns them for the most part.
It's amazing that two highly intelligent and successful investors can analyze the same stocks and sectors and take such disparate views.
looks like elnhorn si winning
Not to mention these guys have such similar strategies, this'll be interesting for sure and I think we all could learn from this.
Yeah I think so too, his presentation was just devastating and IMHO, a lot more convincing than Berkowitz's (who didn't really put much detail in his, not like he meant to)
Had a thought, Einhorn is definitely in a position to call up banks a few days before his presentation and have them make some crazy puts on JOE with a strike timed for or maybe a day after it, thereby making himself some $$$ on the 10 % drop.
Reverse pump and dump style.
While I doubt that he has that big of an ego or even did that sort of thing what are the rules on this?
Holy moly
Holy moly
The asian on the right.
Ozawa for sure who doesn't want the best of both color
I have to say it's a great post and would like to see who's view I take after; not only that but also this kind of behavior is a great example as to how people bring balance to the markets from a qualitatative point of view.
Greenlight/Einhorn have been called out before for talking their book, especially on shorts (Allied Capital and LEH spring to mind.) In the case of Allied, company management tried to get the SEC to pursue a case against Greenlight but ended up getting dinged themselves for their financial reporting. I doubt that they put their short on or altered their position right before the conference though.
Cool, I didn't know that happened with Allied. It's kinda weird though, in situations like these when do you put on your position? You're pretty much set in doing it anyway and you know it could fall as you present it but then again...
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