Legendary Short Seller Jim Chanos Is Bullish On These Equities

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Kynikos, the hedge fund of revered short seller Jim Chanos, recently disclosed its U.S public equity portfolio as of September 30, which contained assets worth $309.52 million as of that date. According to the filing, Kynikos sold its entire stake in 31 stocks during the third quarter, while reducing its holding in 24 stocks, making additional purchases in 15 stocks, and initiated a stake in six stocks. The filing also revealed that the fund’s equity portfolio had a very high quarterly turnover rate of 82.22% during the third quarter and that it became considerably top-heavy by the end of that period, with Kynikos’ top-10 equity holdings amassing nearly three-fourths of its portfolio’s value.

In this article, we are going to discuss five stocks that Chanos and his fund Kynikos are bullish on as of the end of the third quarter.

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Jim Chanos puppeteer

#5 Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)

– Shares Held By Kynikos (as of September 30): 76,473

– Value of The Holding (as of September 30): 4.36 Million

Let’s start with Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK), in which Kynikos reduced its stake by 42% during the third quarter. Shares of the consumer goods packaging products company have had a slow but steady run upwards over the last five years, appreciating by 75.58% during that period. Although the stock has corrected a little in this quarter, it is still trading up by 8.15% in 2016. For its most recent quarter, Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) reported EPS of $1.33, which was $0.03 above analysts’ expectations. However, the revenue of $2.33 billion that it declared for the period missed estimates by $60 million. On October 24, analysts at Jefferies Group reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, but lowered their price target on it to $63 from $64, suggesting potential upside of 15%.

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#4 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

– Shares Held By Kynikos (as of September 30): 39,238

– Value of The Holding (as of September 30): 4.44 Million

Kynikos lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) marginally, by 2%, during the September quarter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock suffered a significant decline in the days following the company’s third quarter earnings release and is currently trading up by only 5.67% year-to-date.  According to recent reports, after billionaire Donald Trump was elected as the new President, the company has been toying with the idea of moving some of its iPhone production back to the United States, presumably to appease the President-elect. However, analysts think that it’s highly unlikely that the company will go ahead with that move unless trade relations between the U.S. and China suffer a dramatic breakdown. On the contrary, a few analysts consider Mr. Trump’s win to be favorable for the company, due to the fact that if he goes ahead with his promises, it will end up paying less taxes and will be able to bring the $200 billion that it holds overseas back to the United States.

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We’ll check out three more stocks that Jim Chanos is bullish on over on the next page.

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