Bill Ackman's Hedge Fund Is Crushing It This Year

Activist investor Bill Ackman, the chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management, is having a huge year in terms of performance.

According to Bloomberg News' Kelly Bit, Pershing Square is up 33% for the year.

Pershing Square's October performance was 0.7%. October was a wild month for the financial markets.

Overall, most fund managers have been struggling to find alpha this year. Meanwhile, the S&P is up around 9.5%.

Ackman is known for being a mostly long-only investor. He takes large positions in a handful of companies he thinks are undervalued and advocates for changes from management to unlock shareholder value.

While he's mostly long, he is infamously short Herbalife-a multi-level marketing company that sells weight loss shakes. Ackman has been crusading against Herbalife for 23 months now. It's his belief that the company operates as a "pyramid scheme." He's shorting the stock to zero.

This year has also been a comeback for Ackman. In 2013, he had a disastrous bet in embattled retailer JCPenney and Herbalife's stock rose spectacularly. He finished that year slightly under 10%, while the S&P rose 30%.