If you figure out exactly what Michael Burry was up to in the second quarter of 2020, please let me know. Scion’s Q2 13F portfolio released today shows that Burry dumped his #1 holding — and new position — from last quarter, Jack in the Box (JACK). His fund Scion Asset Management also liquidated the losing Tailored Brands position, and slashed its Gamestop (GME) stake. The famous fund manager and focus of “The Big Short” also bought 80,000 call options on Google (GOOG), spending $113M. That’s now his top position, comprising 35.87% of Scion’s long portfolio.
Scion’s next three top holdings are also call options. Facebook (FB), Booking Holdings (BKNG) and Goldman Sachs (GS). In fact, Burry held 16 call positions representing 71.19% of the Q2 portfolio.
I should reiterate that 13F filings give only a partial glimpse into a hedge fund’s full portfolio. We have no idea what, if any, short positions were in Scion’s portfolio 45 days ago at the quarter’s end. However, Scion reported assets under management of $387M for Q2, while 13F securities (long equity positions) were $315M. The difference may be invested in hedges or other undisclosed offsetting positions. We also don’t know details of the call positions — duration, strike price, etc.
It certainly looks like the bullish bets on GOOG, FB, BKNG and GS have paid off. All have been stellar performers though Q2 and the first half of Q3.
Scion’s Q2 13F Portfolio
| Stock | Symbol | Type | Shares Held | Market Value | % of Portfolio | Prev % of Port | Ranking | Chng in shares | Change Type |
| Alphabet inc. class c | GOOG | CALL | 80,000 | 113,089,000 | 35.8678% | 1 | 80,000 | new | |
| Facebook inc | FB | CALL | 93,200 | 21,163,000 | 6.7121% | 2 | 93,200 | new | |
| Booking holdings inc. (priceline) | BKNG | CALL | 11,600 | 18,471,000 | 5.8583% | 3 | 11,600 | new | |
| Goldman sachs group inc | GS | CALL | 73,600 | 14,545,000 | 4.6132% | 4 | 73,600 | new | |
| Gamestop corp. class a | GME | 2,750,000 | 11,935,000 | 3.7854% | 12.2272% | 5 | -250,000 | reduction | |
| Western digital corp | WDC | CALL | 270,000 | 11,921,000 | 3.7809% | 6 | 270,000 | new | |
| Bed bath & beyond inc. | BBBY | 1,000,000 | 10,600,000 | 3.3619% | 7 | 1,000,000 | new | ||
| Discovery inc series a | DISCA | 500,000 | 10,550,000 | 3.3461% | 7.9232% | 8 | 150,000 | addition | |
| Trip.com grp | TCOM | 325,000 | 8,424,000 | 2.6718% | 9 | 325,000 | new | ||
| Qorvo inc | QRVO | 75,000 | 8,290,000 | 2.6293% | 11.737% | 10 | -50,000 | reduction | |
| Bank of america corp. (north carolina national bank) | BAC | CALL | 342,300 | 8,130,000 | 2.5785% | 11 | 342,300 | new | |
| Jpmorgan chase & co. (chemical bank) | JPM | CALL | 86,000 | 8,089,000 | 2.5655% | 12 | 86,000 | new | |
| Copa holdings s.a. | CPA | 155,000 | 7,837,000 | 2.4856% | 13 | 155,000 | new | ||
| Helmerich & payne inc. | HP | 375,000 | 7,316,000 | 2.3204% | 14 | 375,000 | new | ||
| Las vegas sands corp | LVS | CALL | 153,000 | 6,968,000 | 2.21% | 3.3875% | 15 | 84,500 | addition |
| Uniti group inc | UNIT | 636,894 | 5,955,000 | 1.8887% | 16 | 636,894 | new | ||
| Retail opportunity investments corp | ROIC | 500,000 | 5,665,000 | 1.7967% | 17 | 500,000 | new | ||
| Maxar technologies ltd | MAXR | 300,000 | 5,388,000 | 1.7089% | 11.1931% | 18 | -600,000 | reduction | |
| Foot locker inc. (f. w. woolworth) | FL | CALL | 180,000 | 5,249,000 | 1.6648% | 2.5677% | 19 | 80,000 | addition |
| Wynn resorts ltd | WYNN | CALL | 70,000 | 5,214,000 | 1.6537% | 0.5392% | 20 | 62,300 | addition |
| Qorvo inc | QRVO | CALL | 38,000 | 4,200,000 | 1.3321% | 1.2204% | 21 | 25,000 | addition |
| Designer brands inc | DBI | 575,000 | 3,893,000 | 1.2347% | 22 | 575,000 | new | ||
| Precision drilling corp. | PDS | 4,024,093 | 3,054,000 | 0.9686% | 23 | 4,024,093 | new | ||
| National oilwell varco inc. | NOV | CALL | 172,400 | 2,112,000 | 0.6699% | 24 | 172,400 | new | |
| Viacomcbs inc. class b | VIAC | CALL | 86,000 | 2,006,000 | 0.6362% | 25 | 86,000 | new | |
| Kimball international inc | KBAL | 166,452 | 1,924,000 | 0.6102% | 26 | 166,452 | new | ||
| Cracker barrel old country store inc. | CBRL | CALL | 14,900 | 1,653,000 | 0.5243% | 0.6498% | 27 | 8,200 | addition |
| Discovery inc series a | DISCA | CALL | 62,200 | 1,312,000 | 0.4161% | 28 | 62,200 | new | |
| Helmerich & payne inc. | HP | CALL | 17,500 | 341,000 | 0.1082% | 29 | 17,500 | new | |
| Boeing company | BA | 0 | 0 | 10.4199% | -60,000 | soldall | |||
| Michaels companies inc. (the) | MIK | 0 | 0 | 6.1311% | -3,250,000 | soldall | |||
| Tailored brands inc. | TLRDQ | 0 | 0 | 8.1049% | -4,000,000 | soldall | |||
| Jack in the box inc | JACK | 0 | 0 | 12.2447% | -300,000 | soldall | |||
| Facebook inc | FB | 0 | 0 | 11.6543% | -60,000 | soldall |
Burry closed out Tailored Brands and slashed his GME position during Q2.
Burry slashed Scion’s Gamestop (GME) stake during Q2. GME represented 3.79% of the long portfolio, down from 12.23% in Q1. Scion filed a 13D targeting Gamestop in August of 2019, when the stock was at $3.87. In a letter to management, Burry recommended a “game-changing” buyback of shares. GME was trading at $4.74 at the time of this writing.
Also last August, Burry filed a 13D on Tailored Brands. A letter accompanying the filing responded to a reported $10 buyout offer for TLRD. Burry wrote: “…we believe you must know that $10 per share is not fair value and will not be acceptable to shareholders.” Tailored Brands was recently trading in the pink sheets for $0.20.
Michael Burry has been a staunch value investor over the years, but Scion’s Q2 13F portfolio suggests he’s playing large cap momentum — at least for now.
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