Famed “Big Short” investor Michael Burry has recently shifted his bearish outlook from the broader market to a specific sector.
Q3 securities filings disclosed that Burry’s Scion Asset Management incurred a significant loss after abandoning its pessimistic stance on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. The filings revealed a strategic move as Scion purchased put options worth $47.4 million against the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), one of the largest semiconductor exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
However, this new sector-specific bearish position is also facing challenges, with stocks driving the broader SOXX index flourishing amid the ongoing AI craze, some even reaching 52-week highs this week.
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Which stocks hit 52-week highs?
Indeed, two well-known semiconductor stocks Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Micron (NASDAQ: MU) soared to 52-week highs on Wednesday, November 29.
During the session, INTC climbed to $45.34 on the day, its highest mark since April 2022. The stock then slightly retreated to close 1.6% higher at $44.94.
Similarly, shares of Micron to an intraday high of $79.02, the highest in more than a year and a half. The chip manufacturer’s stock then gave away some of these gains, closing 0.75% higher at $76.69.
Both INTC and MU have been on an overall uptrend in recent weeks amid a broader market rally. US equities have been propelled by a fresh wave of investor optimism after a recent batch of economic data bolstered convictions that the Federal Reserve likely reached the end of its rate-hiking campaign.
But it’s not only these two semiconductor stocks that have been putting Michael Burry’s short at risk. The entire sector has been attracting bulls because of these companies’ vital role in the ongoing tech revolution led by artificial intelligence.
As such, most of these companies witnessed double-digit gains in 2023, propelling the SOXX’s year-to-date performance to +50%, outperforming the S&P 500 index. The best performer of both indexes by far is Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which skyrocketed nearly 240% this year.
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