Michael Burry earned his place among investing legends with his highly profitable maneuver – widely known as ‘The Big Short’ – during the 2008 financial crisis.
Though he has made no trades of a similar magnitude since, Burry remained a fairly active and mostly successful investor well into the 2020s, with the updates to his Scion Asset Management holdings commonly drawing much attention.
Given Burry’s reputation and continuous stock market activities, Finbold decided to examine how much a $1,000 investment in ‘The Big Short’ investor’s top 5 holdings at the start of 2024 would have returned by June.
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Investing like ‘Big Short’ Burry
Splitting $1,000 across Burry’s top five holdings while retaining the overall balance of a portfolio would, to begin with, lead to a $230 investment in the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (NASDAQ: JD).
Overall, JD r has risen 6.80% since 2024 started, meaning that portion of the investment would have grown by $15.60 and would be worth $245.64.
Following the same principle, the strategy would see $211 placed in Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) – Burry’s most-discussed current investment. With BABA dropping 0.40% since January 2, this portion of the portfolio would have depreciated just under $1, meaning it would be worth $210.16 in June.
‘The Big Short’ investor’s third-biggest investment is in HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA) and would have merited a $196 investment just after the new year. With the stock rising 23.73% this year, the value of the holding would have grown $46.50 to $242.5.
Burry is also significantly invested in the banking giant Citi (NYSE: C), and a trader seeking to copy his holdings would have placed $184 in the stock. The shares would be worth $210.86 in June – a $26.86 increase – as C stock saw a 14.59% rise in 2024.
Finally, as Scion’s fifth-biggest holding is the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS), it would have received $179 of the $1,000 investment. The trust managed a 14.05% rise since January 2, meaning that the investment itself would have grown $25.15 to be worth $204.15 at the time of publication.
Investors could have gained more from S&P 500 than from Michael Burry
Ultimately, while not all of Burry’s top 5 holdings are in the green in 2024, an investment copying his holdings while preserving the general balance in the portfolio would have appreciated 11.33% by mid-June – from $1,000 to a total value of $1,113.31.
It is worth pointing out, however, that despite ‘The Big Short’ investor’s reputation and prominence, copying his strategy would have yielded less than investing in an S&P 500 fund, given that the benchmark index rose 15.69% year-to-date (YTD).
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Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
