BREAKING: What I Heard From Ackman In New York…

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Pack your suitcase, grab a notebook, and reserve your ticket to a Broadway show.

Because today, we’re headed to the Big Apple for one of the biggest investment conferences around.

This week, the most notorious hedge fund investors are presenting their favorite investment ideas at the annual Sohn Investment Conference. The event is held at New York’s Lincoln Center and is expected to draw a crowd of 3,000 investors.

This investment conference is one of the can’t-miss hedge fund events of the year, and today we’re going to check out a few of the best ideas legendary investors have on their radar…

Let’s not waste any time getting to the good stuff!

Bill Ackman: Buy Howard Hughes

Bill Ackman is one of the most controversial hedge fund managers out there. From a public feud with Carl Icahn to a concentrated bet on Herbalife (HLF), Ackman seems to be in the headlines quarter after quarter.

As the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, Ackman is in charge of $11 billion in investor funds.¹ Ackman’s personal net worth is estimated at $1.4 billion. With such a large war chest of capital at his disposal, Ackman can move the market both by putting his money to work, or even by simply talking about one of his investment ideas.

Case in point…

On Monday, Ackman recommended investing in real estate company Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC). The stock jumped 3.8% higher to $126.70 on the news, with the highest number of daily shares traded in years.

To be fair, the stock has already been in a bullish trend, up 16.7% from it’s 2017 low in January.

Ackman is impressed with the company’s prime commercial locations, and Howard Hughes has plenty of cash on hand to fund development costs as it builds out its properties. Currently, HHC does not pay a dividend, but once its properties begin to generate cash flow that could change.

It’s definitely a name to keep on the watch list as the U.S. economy picks up, job growth improves, and consumer spending ramps higher.

Gundlach: Short the Market!

Jeffrey Gundlach had a much more sobering take on the market.

The founder of DoubleLine Capital is known for his time managing the TCW Total Return Bond Fund where his returns placed him in the top 2% of all 10-year bond fund managers² Gundlach also made headlines by correctly predicting that Trump would win the presidency, and he recently made a bullish gold recommendation.³

Gundlach told investors that he’d like to “have some fun” and short the S&P 500. In other words, this hedge fund manager is betting that the market will trade lower throughout the year.

While I’m not sure I can get on board with shorting the U.S. markets (especially as stocks hit new highs), Gundlach’s warning does bring to mind our balanced portfolio concept.

For some time now, I’ve been encouraging you to balance your investments with some growth stocks, some bonds, some gold exposure and even some cash. That way, if the stock market does trade lower, you’ll have a good portion of your investments in other areas that can do just find during a bear market.

Protecting your nest egg is every bit as important as growing it.

Gerstner: United Airlines Could Triple

One final note of interest from the conference comes from Brad Gerstner, head of Altimeter Capital Management…

Despite the negative headlines for United Airlines (UAL), Gerstner believes that the airlines stock could triple over the next few years.

With oil prices falling below $50 per barrel, United should be able to lock in very attractive fuel prices. At the same time, Gerstner has been successful in convincing investors to vote for changes in UAL’s board of directors with the hope of improving the company’s long-term profitability.

Today, shares of UAL are hitting a new high, even in the shadow of the company’s very public mistake of dragging a passenger off a reportedly overbooked flight. If shares can rally even with this kind of negative publicity, imagine what they could do once the controversy fully dies down!

More Investment Conference Picks and Pans Coming Up!

Those are the best ideas I’ve seen so far from the Sohn Investment Conference in NYC. But I’ll be on the lookout for more opportunities as I work through the presentations from other legendary investors.

Also, next week I’ll be attending the Money Show in Las Vegas where I look forward to hearing presentations from fund managers, economic strategists, and managers from many of the company’s that we’ve featured right here in The Daily Edge.

There are sure to be a lot of great insights and opportunities from this conference so stay tuned!

Here’s to growing and protecting your wealth!

Zach Scheidt
Editor, The Daily Edge
[email protected]

¹Pershing Square Holdings, Annual Update Presentation, 2017

²The King Of Bonds, Jonathan R. Liang, Barron’s

³Gundlach Says Short the S&P 500 and Buy Emerging Market ETF

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