Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management is moving into quantitative investing.
According to Bloomberg, the firm has 30 new hires dedicated to building investing models that use computer analysis of public data. A spokesman for Point72 Asset Management said the new project was called Aperio.
He said Aperio would work with all seven of the firm's equity units to provide a technological and data-driven edge.
"People who can read the signals most accurately and analyze them are the ones who will generate returns," the spokesman told Bloomberg.
Cohen managed astronomical returns way before data was widely used and available. The hedge fund giant actually got his start as a "tape reader," which relies on intuition and understanding the movement of stock ticker numbers, rather than math or algorithms.
President Doug Haynes is leading the project, but Point72 is still working to hire a manager to oversee Aperio's operations.
Another notable hedge fund, Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates, also recently announced a foray into computer-based investing. Dalio's hedge fund is building an artificial-intelligence team that will launch next month.
Cohen launched the hedge fund SAC Capital in 1992, but he closed the firm after he was charged for insider trading. He now runs Point72, a family office fund, out of Stamford, Connecticut.
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