Earlier this year, ‘Big Short’ investor Michael Burry made significant changes to his investment portfolio. In the most recent regulatory filings in mid-August, it was revealed that he dumped a dozen bullish positions, including high-profile stocks like Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), and Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM).
Additionally, Burry made a controversial bearish bet against the stock market back then, with $1.6 billion in notional value, which could potentially turn into a shrewd move in light of recent equity market sell-offs.
At the same time, the legendary investor bought 200,000 more shares in the prison company Geo Group (NYSE: GEO), taking his total holdings to 600,000.
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While this move came as a surprise to many, Burry has enjoyed significant returns on this investment so far. Notably, at its current price of $9.12, GEO is up 2.35% on the day, 9.9% in the past five sessions, and more than 21% on the monthly chart.
Since Burry’s boosted position in the private prison owner was revealed on August 15, the stock rose around 24%. As a result, the worth of Burry’s GEO investment surged from $4.29 million to $5.47 million.
Why is GEO stock soaring?
There have been no clear catalysts that fueled GEO’s latest price surge, although one of the likely drivers could be the ongoing migrant crisis.
Last month, the US House of Representatives passed a $92 billion bill that requires each non-detained alien to wear a mandatory GPS tracking system.
According to Citron Research, around 87% of this market is controlled by Geo Group. Five million aliens matched this description last year, with that number likely being notably higher in 2023, Citron said.
More recent reports revealed that the migrant crisis continues to escalate. US border officials have removed or returned more individual migrant family members over the past four months than in any previous full fiscal year.
Last month, there were a total of 269,735 US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encounters along the southwest border and a new fiscal year high of 2.47 million.
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