- Michael Burry placed bearish bets against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 last quarter.
- The "Big Short" investor also sold his stakes in Alibaba, First Republic, and many other stocks.
Michael Burry placed bearish bets against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 last quarter, while switching out his wagers on Chinese e-commerce titans and embattled banks for positions in shipping, mining, and energy companies.
At the end of June, the investor of "The Big Short" fame held put options on two exchange-traded funds — SPDR S&P 500 and Invesco QQQ — that track the major index funds, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing said Monday.
And after scooping up cut-price banking stocks in the first quarter, he sold Capital One, First Republic, PacWest Bancorp, Wells Fargo, and Western Alliance.
The investor's Scion Asset Management also disposed of two Chinese internet giants: Alibaba and JD.com. On the other hand, it added the likes of Crescent Energy, Comstock Resources, Precision Drilling, Star Bulk Carriers, and Stellantis to its portfolio.
The only positions to survive the period were the Geo Group, Liberty Latin America, New York Community Bancorp, Signet Jewelers, Cigna Group, and The RealReal.
After all the turnover, the total value of Scion's portfolio was little changed at $111 million, excluding options.
Burry rose to prominence after his monster bet against the mid-2000s housing bubble was immortalized in the book and movie "The Big Short." He's also known for betting on GameStop before it became a meme stock and taking short positions against Elon Musk's Tesla and Cathie Wood's flagship Ark Innovation fund in recent years.
Moreover, the Scion chief is famous for his grim warnings about asset bubbles and bleak predictions of epic market crashes. True to form, he issued a one-word declaration at the end of January: "Sell." Yet he acknowledged he was "wrong to say sell" in March and has been silent on social media in recent months.