Who to Watch / Company Watch - UPDATE

Who to Watch
My how times have changed!  In the past, young investors like myself would have wanted to follow in the footsteps of corporate raiders, mutual fund managers, and high profile investors.  One well known corporate raider is Carl Icahn, he and other corporate raiders were legendary for taking over companies or agitating boards for significant change. There was also those legendary mutual fund managers that made people in my parent's generation a lot of money by investing through their fund. Some well know names here are Peter Lynch (Fidelity), Bill Miller (Legg Mason), Bruce Berkowitz (Fairholme), and many others.  The last group of high profile investors are guys like Warren Buffet and George Soros.  Today some of the most well known money makers are in the hedge fund industry.    A small difference from the previous investors in the past, are hedge funds try to make money when markets are up or down by betting on and against the performance of stocks.  Here is a run-down of some of my favorite hedge fund managers:

• Steve Cohen, David Einhorn, John Paulson, Seth Klarman, 
• Bill Ackman, David Nierenberg, Monish Pabrai, Ray Dalio

For all my newbies and beginners out there here is a great list of investors to watch from time to time.  They often write their views about the global and US economies, politics, stocks, and anything else that comes to mind.  Go out there a search for these investors and don't forget to keep track of some of the older ones, who are still in the game.  Some are a little secretive but you can catch videos, interviews, and more importantly quarterly or annual investment letters that provide their sometime colorful thoughts on everything under the sun.  And have no fear, if you don't have the interest or time, that's where we at URBANOMICS come in. When I provide my updates I often think about WWRGD: WHAT WOULD RICH GUYS DO!

Company Watch - Update

See the Previous Post: Company Watch

Take the time to revisit my previous post on 4 companies that I was keeping a close eye on.  I've identified some through my vast research and others may also be on the radar of some of my favorite hedge fund guys above.  Here's a quick update on the performance of those companies:

St. Joes Company (NYSE: JOE):

Price Then: $14.67

Price Now: $19.83

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS): 

Price Then: $11.65

Price Now: $14.05

lululemon althelica (NASDAQ: LULU)

Price Then: $53.44

Price Now: $72.04

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)

Price Then: $98.18

Price Now: $109.96

I guess you could consider these free alerts, if you're playing along at home. I would seriously consider taking some gains off the table especially in the case of the retail stocks BKS and NFLX.  LULU I think will be a force to reckon with for awhile because our rich yuppies who can't get enough of their yoga in some expensive clothing.  I think JOE has a long comeback and its moved very well. As always don't be greedy, you only make money when one thing happens: when you SELL.  So do what's best for you.

Disclosure: I own shares in St. Joes Company (NYSE: JOE)