Michael Burry, the investor of “The Big Short” fame, placed a bet against [Apple]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) and loaded up on other stocks last quarter, a [Securities and Exchange Commission filing]( https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1649339/000156761922010747/xslForm13F_X01/form13fInfoTable.xml) revealed on Monday.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management held bearish put options against 206,000 Apple shares as of March 31. The iPhone maker’s stock price has roughly quadrupled since the start of 2019, but has slumped by 16% this quarter alone.
Scion held only six stocks at the end of December. The hedge fund exited all of those holdings except Bristol-Myers Squibb last quarter, but added the likes of Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Discovery to its portfolio.
The slew of purchases helped to boost the total value of Scion’s US stocks (excluding options) by 122% to $165 million. The fund’s largest long positions as of March 31 were a $22 million stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb, roughly $19 million stakes in Booking Holdings and Discovery, and a $18 million stake in Alphabet.
Scion didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
It’s worth noting that Burry [trumpeted Apple]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-spotted-apple-warren-buffett-stock-investment-2021-3-1030186770?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) as a stock worthy of Warren Buffett in 1999 — about 17 years before the Berkshire Hathaway CEO invested in the company. Berkshire now counts Apple as the number-one holding in its stock portfolio, and Buffett [recently revealed]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-annual-shareholder-meeting-charlie-munger-stocks-2022-4?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) he added to his company’s own position last quarter.
Burry is [best known]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-elon-musk-tesla-gamestop-crypto-crash-2022-1?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) for calling and profiting from the collapse of the mid-2000s housing bubble, [paving the way]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-investor-michael-burry-scion-gamestop-stock-price-frenzy-2021-2-1030050393?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) for the meme-stock craze by investing in GameStop and penning letters to the video-game retailer’s board, and [betting against]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-elon-musk-tesla-cathie-wood-ark-2021-8?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) Elon Musk’s Tesla and Cathie Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation fund last year.
Over the past two years, Burry has singled out Tesla, GameStop, bitcoinn, dogecoinn, Robinhood, and the white-hot US housing market as examples of speculative excess in financial markets.
Last June, the Scion chief [warned of]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-twitter-return-biggest-market-bubble-ever-2021-6?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) the “greatest speculative bubble of all time in all things” and [cautioned]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/big-short-michael-burry-warns-meme-stocks-crypto-crash-coming-2021-6?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets&utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) that retail investors were piling into meme stocks and cryptocurrencies before the “mother of all crashes.”
Burry [slashed]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-scion-stock-market-crash-q3-portfolio-2021-11?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) his US stock portfolio from more than 20 holdings to only six in the third quarter of 2021, reducing its total value (excluding options) from almost $140 million to $42 million. The Scion chief [swapped out]( https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-short-michael-burry-scion-q4-stock-portfolio-cvs-bms-2022-2?utm_medium=ingest&utm_source=markets) three of his remaining six holdings in the fourth quarter, which helped to lift the value of his portfolio to $74 million at the end of December.