'Big Short' fund manager Burry dumps portfolio, buys prison stock

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: American flags hang from the facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building after the start of Thursday's trading session in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., January 28, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar

By David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scion Asset Management fund manager Michael Burry, who rose to fame with timely bets against housing ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, in the last quarter dumped a dozen bullish positions and replaced them with a new stake in prison company Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) Inc, according to filings released on Monday.

Shares of Geo Group rose 12% on Monday, the largest one-day rally in the company since June 2021, according to Refinitv data. At current prices, Burry's position is worth approximately $3.9 million. Shares of the company, which has a market value of $852 million, are down 1.6% for the year to date.

Burry, who frequently deletes his tweets, suggested on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) on Sunday that the 18% gain in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index since the start of the third quarter is likely to reverse.

"Can't shake that silly pre-Enron, pre-9/11, pre-WorldCom feeling," he wrote, referring to three events which contributed to an approximately 75% decline in the Nasdaq between February 2000 and September 2002.

Filings known as 13-f are one of the few quarterly disclosures that hedge fund managers make of their long positions -- bets that a stock will rise -- and may not reflect current holdings. Fund managers are not required to disclose short positions, which profit when a company's shares fall.

Among the stocks that Burry sold are a stake in Facebook (NASDAQ:META) parent Meta Platforms that was worth $12.9 million at the end of the quarter, a $19.7 million stake in Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI), and a $23.1 million stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) Co.

The Nasdaq Composite was recently up 0.43% Monday, leaving it down 16.3% for the year to date.