13f filing reveals Michael Burry sold all GameStop shares before GME went stratospheric
Image Source: USA Today, The Big Short . Burry gained fame as a major character in the book and movie The Big Short
Back on April 10, 2020, Michael Burry, a hedge fund manager, and physician. He was the founder of the hedge fund Scion Capital, which he ran from 2000 until 2008 who gained fame as a major character in the book and movie The Big Short, filed a 13D on Gamestop Inc. (GME) disclosing that his fund Scion Asset Management, LLC owned 5.3% of GME’s outstanding shares.
With GME then traded around $4, Burry disclosed he’d previously sent GME’s board several letters recommending an aggressive share buyback. No one, including Burry, could have foreseen that GME shares exploded as high as $483 in late January of 2021 due to an epic short squeeze fueled by Reddit-day-trading craze last month .
Sparked by RC Ventures 13D/A filings then fully ignited by retail Reddit traders. Unfortunately for Burry, it appears Scion sold all Gamestop shares before GME went stratospheric.
Based on Scion Asset Management first reported a position in Gamestop for Q4 of 2018. Burry bought 536,862 shares at an average cost estimated by to be $12.62. He added to the position in Q1 of 2019. But the the fund reported selling its entire 650,000 share position during the second quarter of 2019, losing possibly at much as 50% on the trade.
Did Burry leave $1B on the table?
However, in an abrupt turnaround, Burry bought 3,000,000 GME shares during Q3 of last year, making Gamestop Scion’s #1 holding. Then, in a 13D filing — a first for the publicity shy money manager — Burry sent a letter to the the board of directors of Gamestop, urging the Board to direct a $300M repurchase authorization. At the time, GME had a market cap of around $310M.
On Jan. 27, 2021, the closing market cap of GME was about $24.2 Billion. If Burry’s Scion sold all Gamestop shares on that day, the fund’s profit could have been in the neighborhood of $343 per share — possibly a $1B profit for a fund with recent AUM of about $390M.
But, according to February’s 2021 13F filing, Burry sold all GME shares during Q4 of 2020 that ended on December 31. GME closed at $18.34 on that date.
If Burry sold GME below $19, what does that imply about the true business value of GME?
When an astute value investor like Burry sells Gamestop below $19, what does that imply about the true private/business value of GME?
Of course, no one — including the Burry who foresaw the implosion of subprime mortgages prior to the great financial crisis — could have predicted the insane surge of Gamestop in January 2021. Foreseeing such an event would be the equivalent of forecasting the winning numbers for Powerball.
Scion sold all Gamestop shares in Q4 at prices that likely represented a 300% or 400% returns for GME. Burry did what value managers are paid to do — buy low and sell high.
Speculators should take note: When an astute value investor like Burry sells GME at prices below $19, what does that imply about the true private/business value of Gamestop Inc?
Let’s take a look at Scion’s Top Sales in Q4 2020