UPDATE: David Einhorn Essentially Confirms Herbalife (HLF) Short
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(Updated - January 23, 2013 12:44 PM EST)
David Einhorn Greenlight Capital may have just confirmed he is short Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF).
In his Q4 letter, while not mentioning Herbalife by name, he comments "Our coffee was too hot, our apple was bruised, and our iron supplements didn't go down smoothly."
The "coffee" refers to his short on Green Mountain (Nasdaq: GMCR), "apple" is of course Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The "iron supplements" "down" comments seem to suggest a confirmation of a short on Herbalife.
In May, Einhorn made waves after questioning Herbalife management on a conference call. At the same time, fellow hedge fund investor Bill Ackman was investigating the company and has since built a massive short position and went public with his short, calling the company a "pyramid scheme."
Shares of HLF are down 2% intra-day to $43.22.
UPDATE: In addition to a possible HLF short confirmation, the "iron supplements didn't go down smoothly" comments from Einhorn's Q4 letter is more likely related to his new bearish thesis on iron ore. Einhorn said he has shorted a number of stocks in the sector. "Our view is that after a decade-long bull market, supply is now exceeding demand," he said.
UPDATE 2: According to afternoon reports from Dow Jones, David Einhorn was short HLF in 2012 but no longer has bet.
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David Einhorn Greenlight Capital may have just confirmed he is short Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF).
In his Q4 letter, while not mentioning Herbalife by name, he comments "Our coffee was too hot, our apple was bruised, and our iron supplements didn't go down smoothly."
The "coffee" refers to his short on Green Mountain (Nasdaq: GMCR), "apple" is of course Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The "iron supplements" "down" comments seem to suggest a confirmation of a short on Herbalife.
In May, Einhorn made waves after questioning Herbalife management on a conference call. At the same time, fellow hedge fund investor Bill Ackman was investigating the company and has since built a massive short position and went public with his short, calling the company a "pyramid scheme."
Shares of HLF are down 2% intra-day to $43.22.
UPDATE: In addition to a possible HLF short confirmation, the "iron supplements didn't go down smoothly" comments from Einhorn's Q4 letter is more likely related to his new bearish thesis on iron ore. Einhorn said he has shorted a number of stocks in the sector. "Our view is that after a decade-long bull market, supply is now exceeding demand," he said.
UPDATE 2: According to afternoon reports from Dow Jones, David Einhorn was short HLF in 2012 but no longer has bet.
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William Ackman, Greenlight Capital, David Einhorn, Hedge FundsComments
Horrible
I love how someone can put an article out like this with no facts or proof just to drive the stock down.
Your subject line is not right
Your subject line states that Einhorn has short position, but in details you don't say the same. This subject and article is misleading. There is no confirmation that Einhorn is short..he might have already covered too.
Iron
Herbalife doesn't sell any iron supplements so i really don't think that's what he's talking about.
Einhorn
I think he means his iron ore shorts you yahoo - BHP, CLF etc all rallied big in Q4
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HLF
OK on Jan 30, 2013 01:02 PMMark as Spam | Reply to this comment
Whoever wrote this article didn't bother to read the entire letter or didn't bother to understand it. Einhorn meant his Iron Ore companies. He held HLF in 2012 but covered it.