Coatue Hedge Fund Returns 22% in 2017 by Targeting Tech Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- Coatue Management, the hedge fund led by Philippe Laffont, has jumped 22 percent this year through July, fueled by technology stocks.

The Coatue fund rose 5 percent in July, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. That marks the sixth monthly gain this year for the long-short technology, media and telecom strategy.

The flagship hedge fund, which manages more than $8 billion, is outrunning peers by catching the rising tide in technology stocks and a prolonged market rally. The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index rose 3.5 percent through July 27. The gains for New York-based Coatue are roughly in line with the S&P 500 Information Technology Index, which returned 21 percent in the first seven months of this year.

Coatue's top two disclosed long positions at the end of the second quarter were in Facebook Inc. and Liberty Broadband Corp., according to public filings. Each rose more than 12 percent during July.

Coatue external spokesman Paul Kranhold didn't respond to a request for comment on the fund's performance.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simone Foxman in New York at sfoxman4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Dan Kraut