The other day we, almost embarrassingly so, laid the praise on thick for David Einhorny’s decision to take Greenlight RE (GLRE) off the “no short” list, as it was anecdotal evidence that the short seller was not a gutless hypocrite. After seeing the Cayman Islands reinsurance company’s third quarter earnings (after the jump) we now realize the homage was woefully inadequate.
GREENLIGHT RE REPORTS PRELIMINARY
THIRD QUARTER 2008 RESULTS
GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands (October 1, 2008) – Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLRE) today announced its preliminary financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2008. The Company expects a net loss per share for the third quarter in the range of $3.30 – $3.45. The Company expects to report fully diluted book value per share as of September 30, 2008 in the range of $14.05 – $14.20.
Greenlight Re’s investment return for the month ended September 30, 2008 was -11.5%. For the quarter ended September 30, 2008 the investment return was -15.9%. The year to date investment return is -12.9%. As of September 30, 2008, the largest disclosed long positions in the Company’s investment portfolio are Arkema, Criteria Caixa Corp, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Helix Energy Solutions Group Corp and Osterreichische Post AG. Greenlight Re posts its monthly investment results on its web site (www.greenlightre.ky) before the start of trading on the first business day of each month.
“While our underwriting portfolio continues to perform well, this has been an extraordinarily difficult investment period,” said David Einhorn, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Greenlight Re. “While we believe short term investment results could continue to be challenged, we expect the current dislocations will create good opportunities and remain optimistic about our current portfolio.”
Greenlight Re has reviewed its exposure to specific situations that have created concerns in the financial markets. As of September 30, 2008, the Company does not have any material exposure to securities issued by American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Wachovia Corp or Washington Mutual.
Greenlight Re also announced that based on preliminary estimates of claims for hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the Company does not expect to experience any losses from these events.
“Due to the relatively soft reinsurance market conditions, we still have a significant amount of capacity,” said Len Goldberg, Chief Executive Officer of Greenlight Re. “With hurricanes Ike, Gustav and the other events roiling the insurance industry, we feel we have the expertise and are well positioned to take advantage of the market dislocations that arise.”
Has anyone else noticed how bad clusterstock sucks?
How’d the quants do in the 3rd Quarter?
Is he still short from the offering?
Greenlight Greenshoe in Perpetuity, LLC.
strength and honor einhorn, strength and honor.
-maximus
@1 – Want to like it… but the format is really distracting.
There’s something to be said for simple, easy-to-read format. Carney’s there, so I’ll read it… But I hope they do something about the site design.
@drederick– yeah the format sucks…but it also seems like carney’s different there, and not in a good way.
BTW – I now respect Einhorn more than anyone on wall street. He might be the only pure capitalist left in New York.
David, if you’re reading this, please hire me.
This is a pretty new reinsurance venture and if he has a good underwriting team and does not use all his capacity in soft markets, there will be some hard market opportunities for Greenlight Re to get in on…. Plus, unlike much of his competition, he doesn’t need to deal with a meddling island government like Bermuda’s. Cayman move will prevent a bunch of headaches…
This is amusing. The loss this quarter is because of the same 5-15% crunch all value managers are going through.
Keep an eye on the 3Q and 4Q filings. Watch for the change in the “securities sold, to be bought” figure.
@8
DE has a decent team of value-oriented insurance guys. Incentives are remarkably well aligned. The sort of company a rational mind would design.
@7
You’re hired…. to shine my shoes!! Get back to work, you hump.
DE