{"id":106726,"date":"2021-02-11T02:37:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T02:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=106726"},"modified":"2021-02-11T02:37:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T02:37:29","slug":"loebs-third-point-praises-intel-avoids-crowded-short-positions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/loebs-third-point-praises-intel-avoids-crowded-short-positions\/","title":{"rendered":"Loeb's Third Point praises Intel, avoids crowded short positions"},"content":{"rendered":"
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb called Intel\u2019s resources \u201cunmatched\u201d in the semiconductor industry and said his firm, Third Point, is \u201cexcited\u201d to be a long-term investor.<\/p> Loeb updated Third Point\u2019s clients on progress at Intel in a letter seen by Reuters. Less than eight weeks ago he pushed the company to attract fresh talent, keep its best people, and explore deal options.<\/p>\n Last month the company said Pat Gelsinger, who had worked at Intel decades ago, would return as Chief Executive after running VMware.<\/p>\n Loeb heaped fresh praise on the new CEO in the letter after having tweeted about it last month.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is hard to think of a better person to motivate and inspire the best of Intel\u2019s thousands of brilliant employees who will help build the company\u2019s future,\u201d he wrote about Gelsinger on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Gelsinger will have to align the company\u2019s human, financial and intellectual property resources, which will put Intel in line to \u201ccapture the full unbounded growth of this market opportunity,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n Loeb was similarly enthusiastic about insurer Prudential Plc, saying the Asia franchise is \u201csubstantially undervalued\u201d but praising two leaders for making positive changes.<\/p>\n Loeb staged a dramatic rebound in returns last year, when his Third Point Offshore Fund ended 2020 with a 20.5% gain.<\/p>\n He managed to sidestep much of January\u2019s market volatility with a 1.9% gain. His firm employs a wide variety of investment styles including investing in stocks and debt and activism.<\/p>\n Loeb said he sidesteps positions where many investors are already betting against the future of a company.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have mostly avoided taking short stakes in companies with modest liquidity and large short interest,\u201d he wrote only a few days after millions of small investors sent retailer GameStop\u2019s stock surging 1,700%, hurting a number of prominent hedge funds that had bet the stock would fall.<\/p>\n