Out of the big-name quant managers, D.E. Shaw’s Valence fund is leading the way in 2024.
The $60 billion New York-based manager was up 9% in the first quarter in its statistical-arbitrage fund, people familiar with the firm told Business Insider, thanks in part to a 3.2% gain in March.
Valence is a smaller offering compared to its flagship Composite fund, which includes non-quant strategies alongside systematic ones. D.E. Shaw declined to provide the current AUM of the Valence fund, but it was reported in 2020 that the fund managed $6 billion.
Valence’s returns beat the average hedge fund gain of roughly 5%, according to Hedge Fund Research, but trailed the S&P 500’s first-quarter gains of 10%.
Meanwhile, Two Sigma’s Spectrum fund returned 3.5% for the year through March after a 1.2% gain last month, people close to the $60 billion New York quant firm told Business Insider. Spectrum was up 8.6% last year, BI previously reported, a strong figure given the internal tensions between the two billionaire cofounders.
At Renaissance Technologies, its main external fund, known as Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, was up 4.8% through the first quarter, a person close to the firm said, also trailing the average manager.
Paris-based quant firm Capital Fund Management meanwhile bested the average fund in its two biggest offerings in the first quarter, with a 5.9% gain in its $11.3 billion Stratus fund and a 6.7% gain in its $4.9 billion Discus fund, according to a person close to the manager.
Representatives for these managers either declined to comment.
All flavors of hedge funds have mostly performed well this year, particularly trend-following funds that have been able to benefit from a strong stock market. For example, CFM’s ISTrends fund was up more than 16% in the first quarter.
The most-talked-about section of the hedge fund world — large multi-strategy managers such as Citadel, Millennium, and Point72 — have also been positive for the year so far. Leading the way among this group after the first quarter is $10 billion Schonfeld, which has had a strong turnaround following its near-sale to Millennium last year.
The firm, which is known for its quant strength, is up 6.2% in the first quarter in its flagship Partners fund, a person close to the firm told BI.
