Michael Burry, the contrarian investor who pegged the implosion of the 2007-2009 U.S. housing market, a strategy made famous by the 2015 film “The Big Short,” is making news again in late 2025.
Burry has deregistered his hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of Nov. 10. The fund is active for personal use, but it will no longer operate as a registered investment advisor. Before the switch, some of Burry’s trades and public comments raised eyebrows and even the ire of some top executives, as they were bets against the artificial intelligence boom.
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In an Oct. 27 letter to Scion investors, the ever-cryptic Burry noted, “My estimation of value in securities is not now, and has not been for some time, in sync with the markets.” In a separate X post, Burry said, “On to much better things Nov. 25th,” which could have ties to his profile’s new moniker “Cassandra Unchained,” named after a Trojan princess in Greek mythology who was known for making accurate predictions that the public ignored.
With fewer regulatory “shackles,” Burry is launching a new subscription-based Substack newsletter, also called Cassandra Unchained, with a $379 annual cost. The newsletter will reportedly focus, at least for the time being, on Burry’s bearish sentiment on AI.
So what did Burry do with Scion’s portfolio before closing its doors to outside investors? Plenty, it turns out.
In its most recent 13F, filed Nov. 3 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, Scion reported $1.38 billion in managed securities with a turnover rate of 41%, with just seven positions plus one mandatory convertible preferred stock. Nearly 80% of the funds assets were in bearish put options on two high-profile AI stocks, Palantir Technologies Inc. (ticker: PLTR) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA).
Burry also completely exited positions in a chunk of big names across sectors, including call options for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA), Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. (EL) and Meta Platforms Inc. (META).
Here’s a closer look at the most recent public disclosure of stocks from Burry and Scion. Note that the value of holdings in 13F filings are based on the fair market value of any underlying shares for options cited. Additionally, no strike prices, expirations or trading strategy research are included in those filings, and Burry doesn’t usually comment on his portfolio trades (though his initial newsletter posts are changing that).
| STOCK | % OF PORTFOLIO | MARKET VALUE* |
| Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) (Put) | 66.04% | $912.1 million |
| Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) (Put) | 13.51% | $186.6 million |
| Pfizer Inc. (PFE) (Call) | 11.07% | $152.9 million |
| Halliburton Co. (HAL) (Call) | 4.45% | $61.5 million |
| Molina Healthcare Inc. (MOH) | 1.73% | $23.9 million |
| Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) | 1.29% | $17.8 million |
| SLM Corp. (SLM) | 0.96% | $13.3 million |
*Based on a Nov. 3 13F filing for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) (Put)
Percentage of portfolio: 66%
Burry has placed put options covering five million PLTR shares valued at approximately two-thirds of the entire Scion portfolio. Denver-based Palantir, whose stock is trading at $172 per share and is up 121.5% year to date, specializes in data analytics and AI software development, with a large client base in the U.S. government and corporations.
PLTR’s valuation has soared to 400 times earnings, according to Finviz, and its share price is up 150% over the past calendar year. Given Burry’s broader warnings about an expanding AI bubble, his bet against Palantir is no surprise right now. Investors should take note if AI spending wanes or larger investors make their own “sell” calls.
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
Percentage of portfolio: 13.5%
Burry made another giant bet against AI, this time with one-million-share put options on Nvidia, valued at $187 million and representing 13.5% of the Scion portfolio. Like Palantir, Nvidia is an AI powerhouse, with the company’s graphics processing units (GPUs) serving as a foundation for AI training and data center infrastructure. That has led to massive share gains for Nvidia over the past several years, although the stock is “only” up 34% year to date.
Nvidia’s stock should continue to shine on all fronts as long as AI expenditures remain robust, especially in the data center realm, where Nvidia is extremely well positioned. But given Burry’s two put-option plays now account for about 80% of the Scion portfolio, if Burry is right that the financial markets have overestimated future AI profits, put it this way: He’ll likely sell a lot of those Substack subscriptions.
Pfizer Inc. (PFE)
Percentage of portfolio: 11.1%
Burry was bullish on health care stocks at the end of the third quarter, as indicated by the 13F filing. He added “buy” option calls on Pfizer and upped his stake in Molina Healthcare. The PFE move is a call-option buy of six million shares, valued at $153 million and representing 11.1% of the Scion portfolio.
Why Pfizer? Burry is looking well beyond the Pfizer COVID-19 shot drop-off, which the market has mostly priced in, as well as the patent slide analysts predict for PFE over the next five years or so. In Burry’s favor, PFE shares are trading at a modest $25 and offer a 6.8% dividend yield. The drug giant isn’t blowing any doors off revenue-wise, but it continues to report steady earnings and its acquisition of obesity-drug maker Metsera for $10 billion sets Pfizer up nicely in a wildly popular consumer market channel. That should lead to even more dividends in the long run.
Additionally, having a call bet on an underappreciated drug stock with brand-name flash and a solid dividend could help balance out any rough spots related to the Palantir and Nvidia puts.
Halliburton Co. (HAL) (Call)
Percentage of portfolio: 4.5%
Trading at $27 per share and flat year to date, this Houston-based energy behemoth has seen better times, but Burry is betting Halliburton has brighter days ahead. Scion reported a call-option buy of 2.5 million Halliburton shares valued at $62 million, or 4.5% of the portfolio.
Halliburton has been treading water in 2025, with a tepid but not terrible Q3 earnings report, saved by rising demand for oil-drilling equipment. Company management has committed to a major cost-cutting campaign that’s expected to net $400 million in savings. Still, the U.S. oil-drilling market (particularly shale) has curbed industry profits, though Halliburton executives believe there’s ample room for single-digit revenue growth in overseas markets. That’s especially true in highly lucrative global offshore projects, where Halliburton excels. If it can manage all that, Burry’s bullish bet on HAL and a global oil market upgrade could pay off over the next several years, especially if shale-drilling activity ramps up in 2026.
Molina Healthcare Inc. (MOH)
Percentage of portfolio: 1.7%
Trading at $144 per share after falling more than 50% year to date, Molina seems like a reach even for an experienced stock picker like Burry. Yet, a deeper dive reveals Scion’s purchase of 125,000 shares of MOH, valued at $24 million, has its merits. The Long Beach, California-based health care company specializes in running Medicaid and Medicare managed-care plans for low-income, high-demand households. This activity was a big moneymaker during the COVID-19 years, when Medicaid expanded significantly. The problem now is that in Washington, D.C., and in statehouses across the U.S., legislators and health care administrators are facing budgetary pressures.
Burry likely views this scenario as temporary, with MOH as a fundamentally sound company in a fundamentally sound business that will see earnings rise as more of Generation X reaches Medicare age and the Medicaid budget battles calm over the next year or two.
A case in point: Molina was just selected by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to provide managed-care services for the state’s Medicaid and CHIP programs. The partnership covers 120,000 health care plan members with an estimated premium level of $5 billion. Having a significant footprint in Florida, one of the most populated (and older-demographic) U.S. states, should help solidify MOH’s bottom line for years to come.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU)
Percentage of portfolio: 1.3%
Burry has shifted his company’s strategy toward Vancouver-based Lululemon, a premier athletic-gear retailer. Scion has unwound a sizable call-option stake in the company and pivoted to a 100,000-share purchase valued at approximately $18 million, or about 1.3% of the Burry portfolio.
Lululemon’s stock has plummeted by over 52% in 2025, and the company looks set to be bounced from the Nasdaq-100 large-cap, tech-heavy index due to insufficient market cap. Yet the company has a few factors in its favor, including strong gross margins and a direct-to-consumer retail model tailored for the digital age. With long-term global demand for premium “athleisure” goods up, LULU could be a reasonably solid bet, brand- and balance sheet-wise, for team Scion.
SLM Corp. (SLM)
Percentage of portfolio: 1%
Scion snapped up over 480,000 shares of Newark, Delaware-based SLM Corp., valued at $13 million. SLM is solidly entrenched in the U.S. student loan market, as it’s the largest private student loan lender in the nation. Despite withering criticism from affordable college advocates and mounting evidence that artificial intelligence is devaluing some college degrees, a four-year degree at most public and private schools remains an expensive proposition. Given the congressional limits placed on federal student loans, there’s still a healthy demand for private college loans, and SLM is there to provide them.
Additionally, private student loan providers have an arrow or two in their quiver that federal student loans don’t, such as the ability to charge higher loan rates, tighten underwriting standards, and gain a big upside as long as credit losses remain stable amid rising student loan debt. Burry looks like he’s betting on all of the above with his SLM play, albeit a smaller bet compared to Scion’s huge, bearish AI positions.
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7 Michael Burry Stocks and Bearish Bets to Watch originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 12/02/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.