George Soros picked up a number of beaten down stocks as last year came to a close, Tesla most prominent among them, as he offloaded Zoom, following its pandemic peak.
According to a filing Monday, Soros Fund Management picked up 242,399 shares of EV maker Tesla (TSLA), in the fourth quarter. It marked about a 270% increase in his stake, which took the fund’s total holdings to 322,046 shares. After hours Monday the stock inched higher by about 0.2%.
Soros’ move came following increasing frustration by analysts with CEO Elon Musk after his purchase of Twitter in October. Many felt it introduced a massive distraction just as the EV maker is facing a slowing economy and increased competition from other carmakers.
Soros also moved into Tesla in other ways, purchasing 500,000 shares of Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), which maintains Tesla as its largest holding. Its value sank through 2022.
Soros also exited positions in Twitter following Musk’s takeover, as well as his position in Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM), a pandemic darling which saw its utility diminish as the economy reopened, and social distancing became less important.
Soros also picked up over 83 million shares in exercise bike maker Peloton Interactive Inc. (PTON), increasing his fund’s stake in the company by almost 370%. It had surged in value during the pandemic, as locked-down fitness enthusiasts sought out at-home workouts, but has hit troubled waters of late, plagued by lagging sales and liquidity issues.
Soros also took a new stake in troubled used-car seller Carvana Co. (CVNA), as well as Lyft Inc. (LYFT), purchasing over 83 million shares. That company’s shares lost a significant amount of value after last week’s earnings report;
Soros also increased his position in Uber Technologies Inc; (UBER).
He also moved into the crypto sector, even as other more risk-averse investors headed for the exits. His fund bought a new stake in Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), purchasing 40 million shares, while also picking up 17.2 million shares of Block Inc. (SQ). The fund also picked up smaller stakes in crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital Corp. (SI), as it increased its holdings in Bitcoin-focused MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR).
The fund also took new positions in established names as well. Among the bigger financial names, the fund purchased Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) , Citigroup Inc. (C) and Discover Financial Services (DFS). Among automobile makers, the Fund increased its stake in Ford Motor Co. (F), picking up 83 million shares, for an increase of 6.4% of its stake. It also picked up 500,000 shares of General Motors (GM).
In terms of tech and entertainment companies, the fund increased its holdings in digital crafts marketplace Etsy Inc. (ETSY), as well as media titan Walt Disney Co. (DS). The fund also picked up millions of shares in Fastly, a cloud software provider, marking a new stake.
Photo Of George Soros courtesy of : Flickr: George Soros – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011
