The Big Short’s Michael Burry Reveals His Top Stock Picks

#3 Theravance Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:TBPH)

– Shares Owned by Scion Asset Management (as of December 31): 436,626

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $7.16 million

Shares of biopharmaceutical company Theravance Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:TBPH) had quite a volatile 2015. After declining by over 50% during the first nine months of the year, they soared by 70% during October and November, before giving back over 12% in December. Though the stock is volatile this year too, it’s trading with a marginal loss of under 2% year-to-date. Theravance Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:TBPH) is scheduled to report its fourth quarter numbers next month and analysts’ estimate it will be reporting a loss per share of $1.62 on revenue of $280,000. For the same quarter of the previous year, the company reported a loss per share of $2.02 on revenue of $1.30 million. Seth Klarman‘s Baupost Group, which was the largest shareholder of the company at the end of the third quarter among the funds that we track, continued to own 6.42 million shares of Theravance Biopharma Inc, at the end of December.

#2 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

– Shares Owned by Scion Asset Management (as of December 31): 75,000

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $7.9 million

After falling consistently from the greater than $120 levels that they traded at during early-November, shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have bounced back recently, after hitting their 52-week low at $92. According to analysts, there is very little chance that the stock will fall much further in the short-term because it has entered oversold territory and trades at an extremely low valuation. However, aside from value investors, many investors are still wary of purchasing the stock. Despite having cash reserves in excess of $216 billion on February 16, the company made a $12 billion bond offering to raise money for “general corporate purposes” because it would have to pay a substantial amount in taxes to bring its cash reserves back to the U.S. On February 18, Apple, along with China UnionPay officially launched its payment platform, Apple Pay, in China. Activist investor Carl Icahn‘s Icahn Capital LP reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13% to 45.76 million shares during the fourth quarter.

#1 NexPoint Residential Trust Inc (NYSE:NXRT)

– Shares Owned by Scion Asset Management (as of December 31): 670,800

– Value of Holding (as of December 31): $8.78 million

NexPoint Residential Trust Inc (NYSE:NXRT) was Scion Asset Management’s top stock pick going into 2016. Although shares of the real estate investment trust (REIT) are down by 13.45% year-to-date, the decline has increased its annual dividend yield to 7.27%. It has been less than a year since NexPoint Residential Trust Inc (NYSE:NXRT) was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the few analysts who have started covering the REIT are not very bullish on it, citing the large amount of debt on its balance sheet in comparison to peers. They are also concerned that its portfolio is filled with fixer-uppers, hence its growth largely relies on improving its properties and extracting higher rent from them. However, investors can find solace in the fact that insiders own 15% of the company and that its high annual dividend yield in comparison to other REITs lessens some of the risk associated with it.

Disclosure: None