Sosin Capital is on another roll.
The heavily concentrated hedge fund posted better than a 13 percent gain in March. As a result, it was up 30.49 percent in the first quarter, according to a hedge fund database, making it one of the top performers so far this year.
Even more remarkable, the fund lost 7.1 percent in January; in just the past two months, the fund has moved nearly 38 percentage points.
Sosin and its investors are accustomed to these types of sharp moves.
The fund was up 80 percent last year after losing 77 percent in 2022. It is still well below its high-water mark.
Sosin posted gains of 64.5 percent in 2019 and 96.5 percent in 2020, but less than 4 percent in 2021.
Clifford Sosin founded Sosin Partners and CAS Investment Partners, which manages the fund, in 2012.
CAS reported $951 million in regulatory assets as of year-end 2023, down from $2.2 billion at the close of 2021, according to regulatory filings.
A hedge fund database reports that the fund is currently managing $427 million.
Sosin had previously been a director in the fundamental investment group at UBS, where he was a senior member of a team analyzing equities and fixed-income securities. Before that, he worked as an analyst at hedge fund Silver Point Capital.
Sosin Partners typically owns just six stocks, but it reduced the count to five in first-quarter 2023 after liquidating a small position in retailer Party City Holdco.
Two stocks combined account for nearly three-quarters of the portfolio.
Online used-car seller Carvana, which accounts for 41.5 percent of assets, continued to drive performance this year.
In the first quarter, it surged 66 percent. Last year, the stock swelled more than 11 times.
Time-share giant Hilton Grand Vacations is the second-largest long, responsible for more than 31 percent of assets.
In the first quarter, the stock gained more than 17 percent.
Sosin’s three smaller positions also played a significant role in the first quarter.
Cardlytics, a digital advertising platform for online banking channels, jumped 57 percent in the three-month period.
It currently accounts for 10.7 percent of assets, making it the third-largest long after having been the smallest position at year-end.
During the first quarter, Sosin boosted its stake by more than 17 percent.
Last year, the stock surged nearly 60 percent after plunging by about 91 percent in 2022.
No. 4 holding World Acceptance Corp., a small-loan consumer finance company, gained 11 percent and No. 5 long Capital One Financial rose 13.5 percent in the first quarter.
