For 12 straight years beginning Q4 2001, AQR Capital Management, LLC (AQR) – one of the great and legendary hedge funds of the current era – grew equity positions until peaking at 2,346 (long equity) positions by Q4 2013. Since that time, AQR’s long US equity book has found an ominously consistent plateau of about 2,050 positions. And, in what would normally seem to be a benign factoid, lie the seeds of the story for why AQR has been suffering performance challenges of late – and apparently, for the foreseeable future (according to co-founder, Cliff Asness).

Hold that thought.

More (very) soon…