Michael Burry reveals new stock bets after previously dumping entire portfolio
Wall Street doomsayer Michael Burry scooped up a handful of select companies – months after the hedge fund titan dumped his entire stock portfolio.
Burry, whose bet against subprime mortgages was famously chronicled in the 2015 film “The Big Short,” has emerged as one of the most prominent bearish voices on Wall Street – previously warning the market was in the midst of “the mother of all crashes.”
But according to a regulatory filing made public Monday, Burry’s Scion Asset Management snapped up a $10 million stake in Qurate Retail, a media conglomerate chaired by industry mogul John C. Malone.
Scion also expanded its stake in Geo Group, a Florida-based company that invests in and operates private prisons, according to the filing. Through the end of September, Scion held more than two million shares of Geo stock worth about $15.5 million.
Burry’s fund also bought smaller positions in another private prison firm, CoreCivic, as well as Charter Communications, Liberty Latin America and rocket maker Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Qurate rose nearly 5% in trading Monday while Geo Group shares rose more than 3.5%. CoreCivic rose nearly 4%, Liberty Latin America ticked up 2% and Aerojet jumped about 1%. Charter Communications fell slightly in late afternoon trading.
Burry added to his portfolio after his firm exited the second quarter with just a small stake in Geo Group as its only holdings. At the time, Scion sold off bullish bets on 11 companies during the second quarter, including parent Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta, Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Nexstar Media Group.
Shares of Meta are notably down more than 70% this year during a broader downturn in tech stocks.
Scion’s required disclosure did not include any “short” position it held in the third quarter, nor does it show any international holdings of publicly traded stocks.
Burry has built a massive following on Twitter, where he regularly shares his views on market trends. The enigmatic investor often deletes his tweets shortly after they’re posted.
In late September, Burry warned that current market conditions could end up being worse than the Great Recession as central banks sharply tighten interest rates despite mounting fears of a global slowdown.
Weeks earlier, Burry noted that recent crashes impacting the cryptocurrency sector, the SPAC market and so-called “meme” stocks were reminiscent of cascading downturns that occurred during the past crashes of 2008 and 2000.