Greenlight's Einhorn slams oil frackers at Sohn conference

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who often moves a stock simply by speaking its name, on Monday kicked off the year's most prominent investment conference by laying out a case against oil frackers, arguing these companies drill "lots and lots of holes" and burn through plenty of cash.

Einhorn, who often unveils so-called short-bets against companies at these events, cited Pioneer Natural Resources Co as a particular offender at the 20th annual Sohn Investment Conference. "We call it the motherfracker," he said, prompting investors to kick the share price down as much as 5.3 percent. The company should trade closer to $78 a share, he said, not the $166.50 the stock is trading at now.

"Pioneer is burning cash and its reserves are not growing," said Einhorn, who runs $11 billion Greenlight Capital, adding "Pioneer ought to stop touting estimates based on stale pricing." The company is losing 20 cents of present value for every dollar it invests.

Last year Einhorn unveiled a short bet against athenahealth Inc at a previous Sohn conference and was the first to underscore problems at Lehman Brothers months before the investment bank filed for bankruptcy.

Einhorn was one of the few investors at the conference who unveiled a short bet with most other investors putting forth ideas that investors can buy and hold.

Activist investor Barry Rosenstein discussed two investment ideas that were already well known on Wall Street: His bets on drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Qualcomm Inc .

Leon Cooperman, who runs Omega Advisors and has long been saying the stock market would continue to climb, stuck by his bullish outlook, saying the stock market can still end higher this year. "If there is a bubble out there, it is not in the stock market," Cooperman said, adding it may be in the fixed income market.

He pitched a handful of U.S.-based companies including Google Inc , Dow Chemical Co , Priceline Group Inc and drugmaker Actavis Plc .

Picking up on the pharmaceutical industry theme, Larry Robbins, who runs Glenview Capital Management, pitched AbbVie Inc saying the stock price could double. The company's price is relatively cheap and management is disciplined, Robbins said.

Even though AbbVie called off a planned $55 billion takeover of Shire late last year, industry analysts are still holding out forecasts that the breakneck pace of mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry will continue. The company could be taken over or it could be the one taking over someone else, Robbins said.

Keith Meister, a former Carl Icahn lieutenant who now runs $8 billion Corvex Management, touted fast food restaurant chain Yum Brands , saying his firm is one of the five largest investors and that the company is Corvex's second-biggest investment ever. On Friday Daniel Loeb's Third Point said it had taken a significant stake in Yum.

Meister said Yum should spin off its China business, allowing a fully independent China company that appeals to the nation's large middle class. He said Yum's share could trade at least at $130, compared with the current price of $92.25, after the company spins off the China operation.

For visitors to the Sohn Conference, a virtual who's who of the $3 trillion hedge fund industry held at New York's Avery Fisher Hall, the draw is getting new ideas to put into a portfolio at a time stock-picking is getting ever tougher after a multi-year bull market.

Hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson said he has not adjusted his portfolio in months and is looking for inspiration for fresh positions. "I'm a man of action and I'm hoping to get some good ideas here."

(with additional reporting by Sam Forgione in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Jennifer Ablan)

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