The largest holdings in Michael Burry's portfolio.

Michael Burry became famous in 2015 when the hit movie “The Big Short” portrayed the drum-playing, socially awkward hedge fund manager as he foresaw the 2008 mortgage crisis that portended the Great Recession. Using esoteric financial instruments, Burry bet on this inevitability and made a fortune when it came true. He later closed his fund and reopened a smaller one, Scion Asset Management, in 2013. Having recently met certain filing requirements, Scion began revealing its equity positions in early 2019 for the first time since 2016. Of 14 total stocks, here are the top seven stocks in the Michael Burry portfolio through the end of March.

Next:#7: Cleveland Cliffs, Inc. (ticker: CLF) Credit

(Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

#7: Cleveland Cliffs, Inc. (ticker: CLF)

Shares of this domestic iron ore miner have dramatically outperformed the market year-to-date, up 40% through early July. A few things going for this natural resource company include its longevity, absurdly low traditional valuation multiples and a spate of recent insider buying. Around since 1847, the company formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources has seen five different directors or C-suite members buy stock since May. Since insiders have a feel of the company’s direction, this is often a legitimate reason to be bullish. CLF shares trade for just 7.6 times forward earnings, pay a 2.2% dividend and constitute a sizeable chunk of Michael Burry’s portfolio.

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Percentage of portfolio: 7.6%

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The largest holdings in Michael Burry's portfolio.

Michael Burry became famous in 2015 when the hit movie “The Big Short” portrayed the drum-playing, socially awkward hedge fund manager as he foresaw the 2008 mortgage crisis that portended the Great Recession. Using esoteric financial instruments, Burry bet on this inevitability and made a fortune when it came true. He later closed his fund and reopened a smaller one, Scion Asset Management, in 2013. Having recently met certain filing requirements, Scion began revealing its equity positions in early 2019 for the first time since 2016. Of 14 total stocks, here are the top seven stocks in the Michael Burry portfolio through the end of March.

#7: Cleveland Cliffs, Inc. (ticker: CLF)

Shares of this domestic iron ore miner have dramatically outperformed the market year-to-date, up 40% through early July. A few things going for this natural resource company include its longevity, absurdly low traditional valuation multiples and a spate of recent insider buying. Around since 1847, the company formerly known as Cliffs Natural Resources has seen five different directors or C-suite members buy stock since May. Since insiders have a feel of the company’s direction, this is often a legitimate reason to be bullish. CLF shares trade for just 7.6 times forward earnings, pay a 2.2% dividend and constitute a sizeable chunk of Michael Burry’s portfolio.

Percentage of portfolio: 7.6%

#6: Facebook, Inc. (FB)

Through the end of the first quarter the sixth-heaviest position in Michael Burry’s stock portfolio was social media giant Facebook, which constituted just under 8% of his nearly $100 million in holdings. At the time of the SEC filing, FB stock was down 12% from where Burry purchased it – at an average price of $166.69 – but just months later, shares are up 16% from those levels, making for a nice little positive swing for Scion Asset Management. Named by U.S. News as one of the 10 best stocks to buy for 2019, FB stock is up 47% so far in 2019.

Percentage of portfolio: 7.6%

#5: The Walt Disney Co. (DIS)

One of the very few blue-chip stocks that the fund manager currently owns is Disney, the Bob Iger-led global entertainment company. A longtime media executive at Disney-owned ABC, Iger became CEO in 2005 and immediately began a string of incredible mergers and acquisitions. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion, then acquired Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, and Twenty-First Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion. If Fox is half as good for Disney as Iger’s prior M&A deals were, DIS shareholders have much to look forward to.

Percentage of portfolio: 7.9%

#4: Altaba Inc (AABA)

Michael Burry is quite bullish on the company formerly known as Yahoo!, with Altaba accounting for the fourth-largest holding of Scion Asset Management through the first quarter. Since 2017, Yahoo has actually had essentially nothing to do with Altaba, as AABA sold off the online search and advertising business, leaving substantially all of AABA’s value to be derived from its large stake in Chinese online retailer Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA). The value of Altaba currently is about $66 billion, and the investment company is selling off shares ahead of a planned dissolution, expecting to make payments of cash and/or Alibaba shares by the end of the third quarter.

Percentage of portfolio: 7.9%

#3: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)

Whether directly or indirectly, a number of the previously listed stocks in Michael Burry’s portfolio are among the largest companies in the world. That theme carries through to Alphabet, the largest mega-cap holding of the fund manager famous for foreseeing the 2008 housing crisis. Shares of the search engine giant have not outperformed in 2019; in fact GOOGL is now below the levels at which Burry bought in. 2019 has brought several challenges for Alphabet, highlighted by regulation issues: a $1.7 billion fine was levied by the European Commission, and, more recently, news broke that U.S. regulators would be looking into Alphabet as well.

Percentage of portfolio: 9%

#2: Five Point Holdings, LLC (FPH)

The second-heaviest holding in the Michael Burry portfolio through the first quarter of 2019 is an interesting one: a small-cap real estate investment trust worth around $500 million. Due to its small size and Scion’s relatively concentrated stake, Scion Asset Management is one of the 10 largest single shareholders in FPH, giving it some degree of sway in matters of corporate governance. Five Point Holdings is a real estate owner and developer, focusing specifically on mixed-use (commercial and residential) California communities. FPH trades at under 8 times forward earnings and for 1.3 times cash.

Percentage of portfolio: 9.1%

#1: JD.com, Inc. (JD)

Finally, the largest of Michael Burry’s stock holdings: Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, which accounted for over 9 percent of Scion Asset Management’s total portfolio through the end of March. Aside from being the fund’s biggest position, JD.com is significant because it’s an entirely new position – Scion liquidated five positions entirely in the first quarter, freeing up nearly $22 million, over $9 million of which it used to snap up JD shares. Between 2012 and 2018, the compound annual growth rate of JD’s revenue was 50%, and though that exponential growth is decelerating, JD still saw sales grow 21% year-over-year in the first quarter.

Percentage of portfolio: 9.2%

The largest stock holdings of Michael Burry's Scion Asset Management:

JD.com, Inc. (JD)Five Point Holdings, LLC (FPH)Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)Altaba Inc (AABA)The Walt Disney Co. (DIS)Facebook, Inc. (FB) Cleveland Cliffs, Inc. (CLF)1 of 9

John Divine, Staff Writer

John Divine is a senior investing reporter for U.S. News & World Report, where he’s been ...  Read more

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