Business

Pershing continues big turnaround in 2014

So far, 2014 has been very, very good to Bill Ackman.

The hedge-fund mogul’s Pershing Square International is up 11.7 percent this year, according to an investor, powered by a 7.4 percent gain in February.

The gain far surpasses the break-even first two months of the year for the S&P 500 index.

Last year, the now-$13 billion Pershing Square, punished by its positions in Herbalife and JCPenney, rose 10 percent, but still lagged the more-than-29 percent rise in the S&P.

Ackman’s double-digit gain this year puts his performance way ahead of similarly sized funds, according to HSBC’s ranking of hedge funds.

David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, which has also reported February results to its investors, is down 1.3 percent for the year, while Dan Loeb’s Third Point is up about 2.6 percent.

Ackman’s gains in February were driven in part by his near-10 percent stakes in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — where he has become the largest common stockholder outside the US government.

Both stocks had a surge in late February after a federal court issued a ruling in favor of preferred shareholders, who are suing the US government over its decision to return all profits to the government in defiance of its earlier agreement.

The judge ruled the government will have to turn over a trove of information to the suing shareholders.

Ackman is not a party to the lawsuit.

Fannie jumped 46 percent in February, and Freddie was up 57 percent.

Other stocks of Ackman’s that outperformed the broader market in February include Air Products, which jumped 15 percent; Howard Hughes, which gained 11 percent; and Burger King, up 9 percent.

Last month, shares of Ackman’s controversial Herbalife short gained 3 percent, but the stock is still down 15 percent for the year.