• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Home
  • Daily Diary
  • Asset Class
    • U.S. Equity
    • Fixed Income
    • Global Equity
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
  • Sector
    • Basic Materials
    • Consumer Discretionary
    • Consumer Staples
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Telecom Services
    • Transportation
    • Utilities
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Columnist Conversations
    • Best Ideas
    • Stock of the Day
  • Street Notes
  • Authors
    • Bruce Kamich
    • Doug Kass
    • Jim "Rev Shark" DePorre
    • Helene Meisler
    • Jonathan Heller
    • - See All -
  • Options
  • RMPIA
  • Switch Product
    • Action Alerts PLUS
    • Quant Ratings
    • Real Money
    • Real Money Pro
    • Retirement
    • Stocks Under $10
    • TheStreet
    • Top Stocks
    • TheStreet Smarts
  1. Home
  2. / Investing
  3. / Energy

Value of 13F Filings Is Questionable

Don't try to infer too much from a list of buys and sells.
By ADAM B. SCOTT
Feb 19, 2015 | 11:00 AM EST
Stocks quotes in this article: XOM, COP, HAL, SLB, CHK, BP, APC, SWN, OXY

Now that hedge funds and large investors are publicly reporting their holdings as of December 31 as well as their transactions during the fourth quarter, we are hearing a great deal of conjecture about the importance of these reports.

The topic du jour seems to be Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK-A) "exit" from the energy sector -- having sold its entire investment ($3.8 billion) in long-time Buffett favorite ExxonMobil (XOM) and also its small ($33million) stake in ConocoPhillips (COP).

Berkshire wasn't alone. In addition to Uncle Warren "giving up on ExxonMobil," we have heard about many other large, well known funds reducing or eliminating their exposure to the energy sector as of December 31:

  • David Tepper's Appaloosa Management
    Halliburton (HAL) ¿ Eliminated
  • Schlumberger (SLB) ¿ Eliminated
  • Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme Fund
    Chesapeake Energy (CHK) ¿ Eliminated
  • BP p.l.c. (BP) ¿ Eliminated
  • David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital
  • Anadarko Petroleum (APC) ¿ Eliminated
  • BP p.l.c. (BP) ¿ Eliminated
  • Steven Cohen's Point72 Family Office
  • Southwestern Energy (SWN) ¿ Eliminated
  • Occidental Petroleum (OXY) ¿ Eliminated

While 13f filings are notoriously imperfect as they arrive a full 45 days after the fact, is there any other disadvantage to the binary interpretation of this information? How about another possible incentive large pools of investment capital have for selling positions toward the end of the year: Tax losses.

We all know that the entire energy sector took a beating last year, especially during the fourth quarter, as oil prices were more than cut in half. But perhaps these funds saw this as an opportunity to take losses against gains in other parts of their portfolios and took it. I think it is lazy to try and infer too much from a list of buys and sells.

In theory, there is a chance that the funds above took losses on energy shares late last year with the intention of waiting out the 31-day "wash sale" period to elapse, and then buying back the exact same positions with fresh cost basis."

Is it necessarily a foregone conclusion that the smart money -- as represented by the aforementioned large investors -- has given up on their energy investments? That you should do the same? I can't say, but I don't think the answer is definitively 'yes,' as you may be hearing in the financial media this week.

As usual there is likely more to the story, and we may learn more still in next quarter's 13f filings."

* 13f information compiled from Valuewalk.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.

At the time of publication Scott had no positions in stocks mentioned.

TAGS: Investing | U.S. Equity | Energy

More from Energy

NextEra Energy Is Suffering Through a Power Outage

Bruce Kamich
Sep 27, 2023 2:24 PM EDT

What do the charts suggest for price targets?

Something's Gotta Give, and That Something Is the Consumer

Bret Jensen
Sep 15, 2023 1:30 PM EDT

As I parse through the CPI, PPI and retail sales report, as well as other oil price and savings data, I can only reach two conclusions about the economy and market. Neither are good.

Will Occidental Petroleum Finally Make an Upside Breakout?

Bruce Kamich
Sep 14, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

Let's see how convincing the charts look.

Uranium Is Starting to Radiate but It Still Has a Long Way to Go

Bruce Kamich
Sep 14, 2023 9:45 AM EDT

Let's check back in on Cameco and Uranium Energy.

Here's Why I Continue to Be Very Cautious on Stocks

Bret Jensen
Sep 11, 2023 11:30 AM EDT

It's hard to get too excited about stocks when risk free short-term Treasuries are paying 5.5%.

Real Money's message boards are strictly for the open exchange of investment ideas among registered users. Any discussions or subjects off that topic or that do not promote this goal will be removed at the discretion of the site's moderators. Abusive, insensitive or threatening comments will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please contact us here.

Email

CANCEL
SUBMIT

Email sent

Thank you, your email to has been sent successfully.

DONE

Oops!

We're sorry. There was a problem trying to send your email to .
Please contact customer support to let us know.

DONE

Please Join or Log In to Email Our Authors.

Email Real Money's Wall Street Pros for further analysis and insight

Already a Subscriber? Login

Columnist Conversation

  • 12:13 PM EDT BRUCE KAMICH

    8 Trading Rules from T. T. Hoyne

    You just read the header for this missive and prob...
  • 08:42 AM EDT JAMES "REV SHARK" DEPORRE

    This Weekend on Real Money

    How Elite Traders Make Big Profits
  • 02:58 PM EDT BRUCE KAMICH

    Classic Trading Rules From Bernard Baruch

    Bernard Baruch listed the rules (below) in his aut...
  • See More

COLUMNIST TWEETS

  • A Twitter List by realmoney
About Privacy Terms of Use

© 1996-2023 TheStreet, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10281

Need Help? Contact Customer Service

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data & Company fundamental data provided by FactSet. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions Group.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

FactSet calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

Compare Brokers

Please Join or Log In to manage and receive alerts.

Follow Real Money's Wall Street Pros to receive real-time investing alerts

Already a Subscriber? Login