FACTBOX: Hedge fund managers name long, short bets

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of the country's biggest and best-known hedge fund managers on Wednesday shared their best investment and short-selling ideas with an audience of some 1,200 hedge fund executives.

The annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference raises millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research, but its high wattage speaker list also moves stocks. Last year Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn predicted that Lehman Brothers had more troubles than they had let on, four months before the investment bank filed for bankruptcy

Event speakers this year included William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management; Kynikos Associates' James Chanos; Paul Singer of Elliott Management; Lee Hobson of Highside Capital; Mark Kingdon of Kingdon Capital Management; and Stephen Mandel, chief executive of Lone Pine Capital.

DAVID EINHORN, GREENLIGHT CAPITAL

Idea: SHORT Moody's Corp (MCO.N)

Einhorn, who manages $5 billion, said the parent of Moody's Investors Service undercut the value of its primary business -- assigning grades to bonds -- after giving perfect AAA ratings to fallen giants like insurer AIG (AIG.N), mortgage banker Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and bond insurer MBIA Inc (MBI.N).

"If your product is a stamp of approval where your highest rating is a curse to those that receive it, and is shunned by those who are supposed to use it, you have problems," Einhorn told some 1,200 hedge fund executives at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference.

Moody's shares fell as much as 8 percent Thursday to its lowest in more than a month.

STEVE MANDEL, LONE PINE CAPITAL

Idea: BUY Strayer Education (STRA.O)

Steve Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, one of the largest U.S. hedge fund firms, expects Strayer Education Inc, a for-profit company operating colleges for working adults, to expand its business eight-fold over the next decade.

"Strayer will be a far larger business 10 years from now, with cash flows a multiple of today's levels," Mandel said at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference, where 1,200 hedge fund executives heard presentations on investment and short-selling ideas.

BILL ACKMAN, PERSHING SQUARE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP

Idea: BUY General Growth Properties Inc (GGWPQ.PK)

Ackman, the biggest shareholder in bankrupt mall operator General Growth, said he could gain 13 times his investment after the company reorganizes.

General Growth has more assets than liabilities, a key to other reorganizations in which equity holders retained some or all of their investment, Ackman said.