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Hedgie John Burbank wins big betting against oil

By
Michelle Celarier
Published Feb. 12, 2015, 11:05 a.m. ET

Hedgie John Burbank, the ultimate outsider, has once again defied conventional wisdom to achieve big gains.

While most of the hedge fund set was smacked by the sudden downturn in the price of oil, Burbank’s Passport Capital Global Strategy Fund shorted energy ETFs to help gain 9.2 percent in January.

A smaller fund of more concentrated picks, the Passport Special Opportunities Fund, was up more than 17 percent in January — and was the best performer of the month, according to HSBC’s ranking.

Passport Global finished the month at No. 9.

Many of Burbank’s famous peers lost money in January, amid a 3 percent drop for the broader market.

The January win is a big turnaround for Burbank, who has a history of volatile performance at the $4.1 billion Passport fund. Last year his main fund gained just under 1 percent, although the smaller fund rose 10 percent. He switched his view on energy in November.

The 50-year-old has always stood apart from his more buttoned-down peers — and not just for his Hemingwayesque beard and the fleece jackets he is fond of wearing.

After launching his fund in San Francisco in 2000, he became one of the few hedge fund managers who went against the grain to short subprime mortgages when the housing bubble was in full swing. As a result, in 2007 Passport gained 220 percent.

Since then, Burbank has become known for his bullishness on gold and other commodities and China and other emerging markets. His biggest stock holding in January was CF Industries Holdings, an Illinois company that makes nitrogen fertilizer. It accounted for 10 percent of the portfolio.

Passport Global’s top 20 shorts in January made up almost half of the monthly gain, according to a report to investors The Post has obtained.

They included shorts on two ETFs focusing on energy — SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production, and Energy Select Sector.

This year, Burbank expects the dollar to continue to strengthen, and believes that his favored commodities and emerging markets will be in for rough times, Bloomberg reported.