Stockpickr: The Top 10 Hedge Fund Managers

So far, Pickens has been dead on. His BP Capital can be viewed as a peak oil index. Among his positions are Schlumberger(SLB Quote) and Transocean(RIG Quote).

5. Stevie Cohen, SAC Capital

Stevie Cohen, manager of SAC Capital, is one of my favorite hedge fund managers to piggyback. At No. 5, he made a solid $1 billion last year, but I don't believe that figure takes into account the fact that around half of his $12 billion hedge fund, which he started from scratch in 1992, is his own money.

Lately, Cohen has been following a strategy similar to the one we've been advocating with Stockpickr. In other words, he's been piggybacking the positions of some of his buddies. For instance, he joined Carl Icahn in taking an active position in Time Warner(TWX Quote). More recently, he's joined with several investors on taking an activist role in Take-Two Interactive(TTWO Quote). Check out SAC Capital's top positions on Stockpickr.

7. Paul Tudor Jones, Tudor Investment

Paul Tudor Jones weighs in at No. 7 with income of $700 million to $800 million. Track his portfolio at Tudor Investment's page on Stockpickr.

8. Bruce Kovner, Caxton Associates

Bruce Kovner ranks No. 8 with 2006 income of $700 million to $800 million. We keep track of Kovner on the Caxton Associates page on Stockpickr.

9. Izzy Englander, Millennium Partners

Izzy Englander from Millennium Partners made $600 million to $700 million last year. I've had the opportunity to meet Englander's organization several times over the past few years. The main thing that's struck me about the fund's strategy is that it's very focused on avoiding risk. It tracks every position across hundreds of traders, and when it puts on a position, it focuses on how to hedge that position. For instance, if you have a system that suggests you go long Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote), then there had better be a counter position you can take on as a short (for example, a pharmaceutical exchange-traded fund).

We track Englander's "most interesting" positions at the Millennium Partners page on Stockpickr. It's not good enough to just track Milllennium's top positions. This is useless to us as investors because the fund is such a heavy trader. However, we specifically put in the top positions that meet the following other criteria:

• Those companies for which he owns more than 1% of the outstanding shares of the stock.
• Those companies in which he increased his position as of the fund's latest regulatory filing.

The idea behind these criteria is that these are positions for which Englander's Millennium is more likely to be a long-term holder.