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Third Point lists US Steel as a winner, Kenvue ( KVUE ) as a loser

in Q2

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Hedge fund made bets on new stocks, citing expected

long-term

growth

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New equity investments not seen as activist investments

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) - Daniel Loeb's hedge fund

Third Point made new bets on convenience store operator Casey's

General Stores, mortgage lender Rocket Companies ( RKT )

and British events and academic publishing group

Informa ( IFPJF ) , the billionaire investor told clients on

Wednesday.

In a letter to Third Point investors seen by Reuters, Loeb

wrote that the firm's flagship offshore fund returned 7.5%

during the second quarter, when the new investments were

initiated.

The firm also "re-initiated" a position in Nvidia ( NVDA ),

reasoning the AI chip giant had been beaten down by tariff

worries and recession fears, among other things, earlier in the

year but will continue to climb. Its stock price has gained

nearly 30% this year.

Third Point bought its stake in Rocket Companies ( RKT ) after the

company said it would buy home loan service provider Mr. Cooper

Group for $9.4 billion. "We view the combination of Rocket and

Mr. Cooper as a transformative, synergy-rich merger between two

technology leaders in the otherwise parochial and cost

inflationary mortgage industry," Loeb wrote. Mr. Cooper's

servicing portfolio could feed Rocket's refinancing origination

machine.

Casey's General Stores, the third-largest convenience store

chain in the United States by store count and the fifth-biggest

pizza chain in the country, appealed because its food is

consistently good, it manages to retain its staff, and it has

done some smart deals to expand its footprint.

"In Casey's we see a world-class management team with a

differentiated mousetrap and a decade of profitable growth ahead

of them," the letter said.

Informa ( IFPJF ), which runs events like investment conference

SuperReturn, the Dubai Air Show and the Monaco Boat Show, has a

smart Middle East strategy and could have compound earnings at a

double-digit rate for many years, Loeb said.

Loeb also described the winners and losers during the

quarter, citing his bet on U.S. Steel, which was finally sold to

Nippon Steel after months of political and regulatory scrutiny,

as one of the firm's top five winners. Among the losers was a

bet on consumer health company Kenvue ( KVUE ), which makes

Tylenol and Band-Aids, the company in July replaced its CEO,

giving investors hope the stock price can now move higher.