One stock helped decimate Bill Ackman's hedge fund performance (VRX)

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One stock helped decimate Bill Ackman's hedge fund performance (VRX)

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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Bill Ackman just announced that he has sold out of his hedge fund's Valeant stock holding, a position that has cost the fund dearly.

Ackman's firm, Pershing Square Capital, invested in Valeant two years ago. Later that year, the drugmaker started to run into a spate of problems that wiped more than 90% off of its market value. Reuters estimated that the investment caused Ackman to suffer roughly $3 billion in losses. 

Pershing Square isn't the only hedge fund that had made a big bet on the stock. Jeff Ubben's ValueAct and John Paulson also have big stakes. Ackman has been the most outspoken of the hedge fund managers, though.

Here's how Pershing Square has done in the years since investing in Valeant, based on data from the firm's publicly traded vehicle, which serves as a proxy for its flagship hedge fund:

• YTD 2017 through March 7: -1.5%
• 2016: -13.5%
• 2015: -20.5%

Here's Valeant's performance:  

• YTD 2017 through March 7:  -19%
• 2016: -85.7%
• 2015:  -29%

Meanwhile, over the past several months, the S&P 500 has been ripping higher:

• YTD 2017 through March 7:  6%
• 2016:  9.5%
• 2015:  -0.73%

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See Also:

• What it's like to be a woman in the hedge fund business
• David Tepper is long the market up to his eyeballs
• The founder of the world's biggest hedge fund just railed at the New York Times — at one of the paper's own events

SEE ALSO: Bill Ackman is selling his entire stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals

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via Business Insider http://ift.tt/eKERsB

March 13, 2017 at 11:00AM