Latest news with #Burry
Business Insider
19 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Why Warren Buffett and Hedge Funds Are Betting on UnitedHealth Stock (UNH)
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) has recently drawn strong interest from top investors and hedge fund managers, including Warren Buffett and Michael Burry. Each made sizable new investments in the health insurer during Q2, signaling confidence in its potential for a rebound. The stock jumped nearly 11% in after-hours trading yesterday. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Berkshire and Burry Are Betting on UnitedHealth's Rebound Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) disclosed a $1.57 billion investment in UnitedHealth, acquiring roughly 5 million shares, as revealed in its Q2 2025 13F filing. This marks Berkshire's first stake in the company since selling out in 2010, when Buffett exited amid a broader pullback from health insurers. Meanwhile, Burry's Scion Asset Management revealed a combination of call options tied to 350,000 UnitedHealth shares and a direct holding of about 20,000 shares, valued at $6 million. Burry's position is notable because he is betting on a rebound in a stock that has fallen nearly 46% so far this year. The move follows better-than-expected Medicare Advantage rates for 2026, and UnitedHealth's competitive positioning remains solid despite recent turbulence. Analysts See Growth Potential Despite Challenges These investments come despite a challenging year for UnitedHealth, marked by surging medical costs, a Justice Department probe into Medicare billing, and a cyberattack. Q2 earnings also disappointed, with profits falling sharply due to higher-than-expected medical costs across both Medicare Advantage and commercial plans. The company now anticipates an additional $6.5 billion in medical costs this year, with effects likely extending into 2026. On the positive side, UnitedHealth maintains that its long-term growth plan is on track, focusing on AI tools and improving patient care. Analysts see roughly 15% upside from current levels, supported by the company's steps to address operational challenges and an updated financial outlook. average UnitedHealth stock price target implies a 15.03% upside potential.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
'Big Short' investor Michael Burry reveals fresh bets on Meta, Alibaba, and UnitedHealth
Michael Burry bet big on stocks in the second quarter, swapping out bearish put options for bullish call options and adding several fresh holdings to his portfolio. The investor of "The Big Short" fame revealed in a quarterly filing on Thursday that he purchased calls on Alibaba, ASML, Estee Lauder, Lululemon, Meta, Regeneron, UnitedHealth, and VF last quarter. Burry's Scion Asset Management also built direct stakes in Bruker, Lululemon, Regeneron, UnitedHealth, and MercadoLibre, while cutting his direct wager on Estee Lauder from 200,000 shares to 150,000. The UnitedHealth wager is notable as Warren Buffett, one of Burry's key influences, also invested in the health insurer last quarter via his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate. Call options give investors the right to buy a certain number of a company's shares at a fixed price within a set period, allowing them to lock in a purchase price that may be lower than the market price. Similarly, investors can use put options to lock in a selling price, allowing them to profit from if the stock price declines. Scion is known for making big changes to its portfolio between quarters, but this was a particularly striking overhaul. At the end of March, it owned puts on Alibaba, Baidu, Nvidia, PDD, and worth a notional $186 million, plus a roughly $13 million stake in Estee Lauder. Three months later, it held calls on nine stocks worth a notional $522 million, and a further six direct stakes valued at $56 million. It's worth underscoring that Burry may have rejigged his stock bets in recent weeks, and his disclosures may not paint a full picture of his investment strategy. Quarterly portfolio updates known as 13Fs only provide a snapshot of a firm's holdings with a six-week lag and exclude shares sold short as well as investments in private companies, foreign-listed assets, and non-stock assets such as bonds and real estate. Burry shot to fame after predicting and profiting from the collapse of the mid-2000s US housing bubble — a wager that was immortalized in "The Big Short" book and movie adaptation. He's also known for making grave predictions of market crashes and recessions, investing in GameStop before it became a meme stock, and betting against popular assets such as Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, and the entire S&P 500 index.
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Michael Burry joins Buffett's Berkshire in scooping up UnitedHealth shares
Hedge fund manager Michael Burry, who shot to fame by calling the subprime mortgage crisis, piled into shares and call options of the beaten-down UnitedHealth , a stock that Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway also purchased. Burry's Scion Asset Management owned call contracts against 350,000 shares of UnitedHealth at the end of June, with unknown value, strike price or expiry, according to the filing. The notional value of the shares involved was more than $109 million at the end of the second quarter. Investors profit from calls when the underlying securities rise in price, but it's not known if Burry still holds the position. The stake in UnitedHealth's common stock is small with just 20,000 shares, worth about $6 million at the end of June. UnitedHealth attracted other buyers last quarter, most notable being the "Oracle of Omaha." His conglomerate bought more than 5 million shares in the health insurer, putting it as the 18th biggest position in the Berkshire portfolio behind Amazon and Constellation Brands. UnitedHealthcare has become the poster child for problems with the U.S. health insurance industry and the nation's sprawling health-care system. Shares are down 46% this year following a string of setbacks for the company, including the CEO's exit . Burry added a few consumer names in the second quarter, taking sizable stakes in Lululemon , Estee Lauder and e-commerce name MercadoLibre . Burry became well-known after he successfully bet against mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 global financial crisis . Burry was depicted in Michael Lewis' book " The Big Short " and the subsequent Oscar-winning movie of the same name. It's also unclear if Burry took any bearish bets last quarter, as short positions are not disclosed in these reports. He didn't have any put options in the latest filing. Money managers with more than $100 million in assets under management are required to disclose long positions with the Securities and Exchange Commission 45 days after a quarter ends. Active traders such as Burry could have already changed their positions by the time filings come out.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is The Bull Run Over For Nvidia– 'The Big Short' Investor Michael Burry Taking Up Short Positions
Investors have followed Michael Burry's trades ever since he predicted the financial crisis of 2008 and profited from it by taking up short positions. The man still known to many as "The Big Short" investor is making headlines for his bearish outlook on one of the world's biggest tech stocks. Benzinga examines why Burry has taken short positions on Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Nvidia shares have spent much of the last 18 months on a bull run powered by AI's emergence as the world's hottest investment sector. As recently as May 2023, Nvidia shares were trading in the $35 range. Then it became clear that Nvidia's graphics processors and chipsets were mission-critical components in AI development, and the company's stock was off to the races. Don't Miss: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Nvidia shares increased from around $40 in January 2024 to $147.16 by early November. The company's market cap grew to an astonishing $3 trillion, and CEO Jensen Huang achieved near celebrity status as his company gate-crashed the S&P 500 Magnificent Seven. That kind of explosion in share price and market cap made Nvidia one of the biggest stories of 2024, but Burry knows what goes up must come down. Barchart is reporting that Burry's Scion Asset Management has numerous put options in Nvidia. Beyond that, the water gets a little murky in terms of predicting Burry's long game. Barchart compiled the option data from Scion's March 13F filings, but those filings include multiple shorts. Scion is also betting against Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), Baidu, and (NASDAQ: TRIP). The filings only note that the combined total of Scion's shorts is $199 million. Trending: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . There is no information about expiration dates or strike prices, and the filings don't disclose whether Scion has long positions on Nvidia or the other stocks it's shorting. All this makes it difficult to decipher whether Burry has completely soured on Nvidia. President Donald Trump's tariffs have rattled multiple economic sectors, especially tech and retail, where Nvidia and Alibaba operate. Like many tech companies, Nvidia is heavily dependent on Chinese components, and jitters over the tariffs saw its shares slump to the $90 range in late March. Trump is still negotiating with China, and Nvidia has rebounded to $135.50 per share. The next shoe to drop will be quarterly earnings, which Burry may be expecting to fall short of the pressing question for investors is whether Burry is simply hedging with these short bets or believes Nvidia is overpriced and due for a correction. He has a proven knack for getting out of high-performing positions before the bottom drops, and these shorts could be part of that trend. However, the fact that Burry and Scion have $199 million in shorts spread across multiple positions may indicate that Burry is guarding against the downside. With that said, Burry shorting Nvidia should give investors cause to assess their long-term positions and goals with this stock. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for Nvidia's earnings report and news on the tariff negotiations. Both of those will have a significant impact on Burry's next moves with Nvidia. Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Is The Bull Run Over For Nvidia– 'The Big Short' Investor Michael Burry Taking Up Short Positions originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After Nearly Dumping His Entire Portfolio and Buying Puts on Nvidia, Did Famed Investor Michael Burry Just Pull Off Another "Big Short?" It Certainly Looks That Way.
Michael Burry's massively successful bet against the U.S. housing market before it collapsed during the Great Recession made him famous. Burry may have made another successful "big short" bet right before the tariff drama hit. The big question now is whether Burry bought the dip or is still bearish on the market this year. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › If you've seen the movie The Big Short, which is based on the novel by Michael Lewis and features acclaimed actors Steve Carrell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Jeremy Strong, then you probably know who Michael Burry is. The former Stanford neurology resident rose to prominence while posting stock ideas online during the early days of the internet. His ideas were so good that he eventually left the medical field to launch his own fund. Prior to the Great Recession, Burry correctly bet against the housing market, making hundreds of millions in profits for his fund, Scion Capital. Now, Burry runs another fund called Scion Asset Management, which happened to sell nearly all of its stocks in the first quarter, while also buying put options. Did Burry just pull off another "big short" trade? It certainly looks that way. Burry never runs too large of a portfolio, typically holding about a dozen stocks, plus or minus a few. In the first quarter, he sold nearly all of his holdings. He had been quite bullish on China, owning large Chinese stocks like Alibaba, Baidu, and PDD Holdings. But after selling these stocks, he also purchased put options on these names. Put options are similar to call options but in the opposite direction, essentially betting that a stock price will decline. Burry also purchased put options on Nvidia. Now, keep in mind that the 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission only shows us Scion's positions at the close of trading on March 31. We have no idea at what point during the first quarter Burry sold or at what price. However, it's quite possible that Burry saw rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China and decided to get ahead of a potential marketwide sell-off caused by tariffs. If this was the case, then Burry pulled off another "big short" trade and timed it perfectly because the market absolutely collapsed in early April after President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day," falling nearly 20% from highs made in February. Nvidia, at one point this year, traded 30% lower and was down much more from highs made during the year. Nvidia not only got hit by the trade war but also after the Trump administration placed export restrictions on certain semiconductor chips to China. Nvidia does a substantial amount of business in China, but the stock has recovered a lot since the U.S. and China announced a 90-day pause on higher tariff rates against one another. Interestingly, Burry's lone remaining long position is the multinational cosmetics company Estée Lauder, which is down over 50% in the last year (as of May 16). Scion actually doubled its position in the company in the first quarter. It's not uncommon for Burry to take long positions in deep-value stocks like he did with GameStop right before the meme stock blasted into orbit in what turned into an epic retail trading frenzy. We really won't know the answer to this question until we see Scion's 13F for the current quarter sometime in July. However, it's quite possible that Burry was only short-term bearish and saw the trade war coming. Burry has done this before. In the second quarter of 2022, right after the Federal Reserve began its intense interest rate hiking campaign, Scion also sold all of its stocks except one. By the third quarter, Scion had begun accumulating stocks again. It would, of course, be quite impressive if Burry sold all of his stocks in the first quarter and then bought the dip after the market sold off intensely right before Trump announced a pause on elevated tariff rates. I wouldn't put it past the legendary investor. Burry could also be more long-term bearish, as he studies economic data closely, which indicates a potential slowdown in consumer spending and the overall economy. I think the big takeaway is that we don't quite know how Burry is positioned for the rest of the year just yet in terms of being bearish or bullish. However, it definitely looks like Burry pulled off another "big short" trade. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $351,127!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $40,106!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $642,582!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon. See the 3 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Baidu and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. After Nearly Dumping His Entire Portfolio and Buying Puts on Nvidia, Did Famed Investor Michael Burry Just Pull Off Another "Big Short?" It Certainly Looks That Way. was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
