Pershing Square Holdings Portfolio (multi-position) PSH
After a -13.5% 2016 driven by Valeant, Pershing recaps a concentrated portfolio (Mondelez, Air Products, Restaurant Brands, Chipotle) where margin and turnaround catalysts should restore long-term outperformance versus the S&P.
Thesis
Pershing Square's 2016 annual update defends a brutal year — net returns of -13.5% versus +11.9% for the S&P 500, driven primarily by Valeant's 86% collapse — by reaffirming the underlying thesis of each portfolio position. Bill Ackman recaps the largest holdings (Mondelez, Air Products, Restaurant Brands, Howard Hughes, Chipotle, plus two undisclosed positions, Fannie/Freddie, Valeant, Platform Specialty, Nomad) and the Herbalife short, arguing each business has identifiable margin or operational catalysts. Centerpieces include Mondelez's path from ~15% to 17-18% EBIT margins (vs. 27.6% at Kraft Heinz peer benchmark), Chipotle's recovery from -36% same-store sales after E.coli, and the FTC's pyramid-scheme findings against Herbalife. The deck closes with organizational changes — LTIP introduction, COO retirement, new president — to reassure LPs about firm stability after two consecutive losing years.
The three reasons
- 1
Valeant's -86% 2016 collapse drove fund -13.5%; underlying portfolio recovered +16% from March lows
- 2
Mondelez EBIT margin 15.4% versus 27.6% Kraft Heinz peer leaves 600-700bps of fixable upside
- 3
Chipotle SSS rebounded from -36% trough to +15% in Dec-16 alongside board refresh and CEO simplification
Primary demands
- Hold concentrated long positions in Mondelez, Air Products, Restaurant Brands, Howard Hughes, Chipotle and two undisclosed names through margin-expansion catalysts
- Maintain Herbalife short on the back of FTC pyramid-scheme findings and forced restructuring
- Continue Valeant board engagement to execute deleveraging and asset sales under new CEO Joe Papa
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Composition what's on the 95 slides
Slide gallery ·
Notes
Fund-level annual update covering 10+ positions, not a single-target activist thesis — SCQA fields set null per guidance. Visual style is classic functional Pershing institutional template (blue/grey palette, Arial-style, sectional dividers as bare colored bars on otherwise-blank slides). Strong rhetorical work in the Mondelez peer-gap chart (p.21), CMG SSS recovery line (p.52), and the CP victory-lap timeline (p.86). Cover only credits the firm; author_name set to William Ackman based on firm convention (his voice throughout, org chart on p.92 confirms CEO/PM role) rather than an explicit signature. Stake percentages disclosed for individual positions (e.g. CMG ~10%, MDLZ ~16% of capital, Herbalife short ~-9%) but not a single deck-level stake; stake_disclosed_pct left null.