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Did David Tepper Just Call The Market Top... And Is The Appaloosa Billionaire Losing His Touch
Once upon a time, when hedge funds did not make daily TV and media appearances in hopes of finding buyers for whatever they were selling (i.e., were "bullish" on) and vice versa for shorts, 13F filings were the holy grail of alpha chasers and piggybackers everywhere. However, in recent years, hedge funds have become as media friendly as some of the biggest monopoly money talking heads to grace CNBC daily, and as a result hedge fund holdings are known far in advance of the mandatory 45 day 13F reporting date after the end of the quarter. Not only that, but with central banks dominating capital markets, what hedge fund XYZ does is hardly as exciting any more.
Still, one name that many enjoy tracking is Appaloosa billionaire David Tepper due to his contagious bullishness for a bigger part of the centrally-planned ramp since 2009, which has also resulted in massive paydays for Tepper: he has consistently been among the top 5 best paid hedge fund managers this decade. Which is great: after all, the Fed's wealth effect is precisely there to benefit the likes of David and his hedge fund peers. For everyone else, well, as Janet Yellen says "get some assets.
So how did Tepper do in Q2? In a word: lousy. In another word: the man who recently was on CNBC pitching a 20x P/E multiple as the new normal, may have just called the market top.
First, a quick flip through the names in his most recent 13F reveals that in the second quarter Tepper took notable new positions in AAPL and BABA. It is not exactly a secret that since the second quarter when AAPL stock was trading near its all time highs, both names have gone straight down, with AAPL recently entering a correction, while BABA has met obstacle after legal obstacle, and as recently as this week tumbled to all time post-IPO lows. If only it were singles week every week...
Worse, while Tepper was building his AAPL and BABA stake, he was liquidating his exposure in GOOG (via some $190 million in Class C shares as well as GOOG calls), just before GOOG exploded to the upside.
Most troubling, however, is that while in recent quarters Tepper had consistently carried over a levered upside bet in the market, in the form of SPY and QQQ calls (which as of March 31 were a massive $1.3 billion in share equivalents), in Q2 he unwound his entire call exposure. And not just in single name stocks, but in the two key ETFs noted above. Since the market went sideways during the second quarter, these positions certainly did not generate alpha, and if used as a hedge, they lost money vs the other revealed long equities positions (13Fs do not reveal shorts or credit positions, either cash or CDS).
Which begs the question: having unwound his two largest positions, which at face value are nothing more than levered bullish bets on the S&P500 and Nasdaq, did Tepper, in addition to apparently losing his touch, also call the top in the market?
Full Appaloosa 13-F breakdown.
Source: 13F
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In a straight up market everyone's a genius.
This douchebag has had it too good for too long. He is way past due for a good ass whoopin
Another hedgie to stuff in the wood chipper.
These retards are not in the same league as Ray Dalio or Dr. Michael Burry and one or two others. I still like Kyle Bass but you don't hear much from him lately.
Burry's commencement speech at UCLA 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLhqjOzoyE
It is a shame you never hear much from Burry now and the only time you hear Ray Dalio is when some retard tribesman interviews him like Charlie Rose.
That's because Kyle's fund is taking an ass beating, I know and I am not to happy. But it will get better when Japan has its economic tsunami that is well over due.
I'd like to see Burry's 13F. Last I knew he was buying up almond land in CA as a "call on water."
Burry made a bunch on the mortgage trade but was stressed out by his investors and closed the fund. He took a break did the farm investing and supposedly started another fund.
What an amazing young man. He has Asparager's which make him pretty creative but also a loner. He is off the charts smart. I did not realize that he lost one eye in an accident as a boy.
He and Ray Dalio really impress me. Dalio is worth like $14 billion and he still quite humble.
Apparently Tepper was out of the office when the Fed called to let him know where they would take the market.
Holy old school photo.
time for this frog-faced heeb to retire,
was that downvote for being anti semitic or anti reptilian?
Why the F would anyone own General Motors-UAW-Obola stock?
Is he a retard or insider crony facist faux capitalist Obola buddy?
tepper looks like the guy in high school who always got his head flushed in the toilet
Good.
Long or short, Tepper is still b*lls to the wall. Can you say that???
For a couple of seconds there, I thought it was weird Al.
My Bawlz are sore.....
But seriously, folks... The Fed is turning everybody upside down....Shorts? Hedgerz?
David Tepper is as smart as they come, yet Gramma "Porch Gnome" Yellin can beat him at Chess?
I don't think so.
David Topper, the hedgie previously known as Tepper.
After all, isn't every billionaire hedgie just one keystroke away from losing it all and being exposed for the simple lucky bastard they truly are.
So I'll guess that David Tepper was the viisual inspiration for Napoleon Dynamite.
No signs of panic here ... DT ligquidated airline holdings in Q2 correctly reading the ride-up in airline stocks has ended; he sold Regional Finance and bought Bank of America is like trading horses but may be a smart play - both are riding higher; he correctly read the recent run-up in Owens Corning; he has stayed clear of the energy sector; but he invested heavily in GM in Q2, which based on Q3 performance, along with his decision to divest Google holding, were two bad plays.