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- Several elite investors took positions in Tesla and other trendy stocks last quarter.
- George Soros, Steve Cohen, and Jim Simons' funds bet big on Elon Musk's car company.
- Short seller Jim Chanos placed wagers against Tesla, AMC, and other high-flying stocks.
Some of the world's top investors piled into Tesla and other trendy stocks last quarter, while a notable short seller bet against them.
George Soros, Steve Cohen, and Jim Simons' funds bought shares of Elon Musk's automaker in the three months ended December 31, Securities and Exchange Commission filings revealed this week. Meanwhile, Ray Dalio's hedge fund boosted its bets on GameStop and AMC Entertainment, two classic meme stocks.
In contrast, Jim Chanos ramped up his wager against Tesla, and revealed a slew of bearish positions in AMC and other popular stocks.
Here are 5 big funds that placed bets on Tesla and other trendy stocks last quarter:
REUTERS/Bob Strong
Soros Fund Management scooped up about 42,000 Tesla shares last quarter. The purchases increased its stake by almost half to around 132,000 shares, worth over $16 million as of December 31.
George Soros' fund also bought bullish call options on another 200,000 shares of the automaker. Those likely paid off, given the roughly 60% rise in Tesla's stock price this year.
Point72
Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management grew its stash of Tesla call options from 50,000 to 60,500 last quarter.
The New York Mets owner's hedge fund also purchased 878,000 Tesla shares worth $108 million at the end of December, propelling Musk's company into the top 60 of its nearly 1,500 holdings at the year end.
Moreover, Point72 built a new stake in GameStop, the video-game retailer that became the ultimate meme stock in January 2021. The fund's 606,000 shares were worth $11 million as of December 31.
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Jim Simons' Renaissance Technologies raised its Tesla stake from 1,400 shares to 3.4 million last quarter. The purchases lifted the value of its position by more than 1,000 times, from under $400,000 to over $400 million as of December 31.
Simons, a former NSA codebreaker and MIT math professor, founded RenTech and built it into one of the biggest and best-performing hedge funds in history.
It's worth noting the fund relies on algorithms to decide many of its trades and frequently changes its positions, limiting the insight offered by its quarterly filings.
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Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates almost tripled its stake in GameStop to nearly 39,000 shares last quarter. Its bet on the video-game retailer was valued at $712,000 at the end of December.
The billionaire investor's hedge fund also nearly tripled its stake in fellow meme stock AMC to around 64,000 shares. Its position in the movie-theater chain was worth $261,000 at the year's close.
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Jim Chanos' fund massively ramped up its bet against Tesla and placed bearish wagers against meme stocks, cryptocurrency companies, and high-flying technology stocks last quarter.
Chanos & Company held put options on 131,000 Tesla shares as of December 31, up from only 5,900 shares three months earlier. It also bought puts on AMC, Digital World Acquisition Corporation, Coinbase, Microstrategy, and DoorDash last quarter.