The first August hedge-fund numbers are in — and they are not pretty.
David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital lost 5.3 percent in August — putting it down 14 percent for the year.
Einhorn is the first hedgie to report each month, and his returns have been widely anticipated because he was already down 9 percent going into August.
The prominent investor’s losses are also notable because he’s got a large short book, which many expected to shield the blow.
Well, Einhorn did outperform the S&P 500 in August — it was down 6.3 percent in the month — but for the year, the broader market is only off 4.2 percent.
Einhorn’s losing stakes in energy companies, General Motors and Apple overrode any gains from shorts in frackers like Pioneer Natural Resources, which was flat for the month.
Einhorn’s largest long positions at Aug. 31 were Apple, Consol Energy, GM, Green Brick Partners, ISS and gold, Greenlight told investors in its monthly report.
Apple fell 4.8 percent and GM fell 7 percent in August.
In addition, Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners was hammered by the angst-filled August, falling 4.3 percent in the month. It is down 2.9 percent for the year.