We recently published a list of Michael Burry’s Top Holdings Were Gaining While NVDA Was Crashing. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) stands against other Michael Burry’s top Holdings that were gaining while NVDA was crashing.

Michael Burry’s name is synonymous with contrarian investing strategies, being one of the few investors who bet against the housing market and profiting from the subprime mortgage crisis between 2007 and 2010. His stance on the real estate market in 2008 made the American investor and hedge fund manager famous enough to make it in the 2015 film “The Big Short,” where he was portrayed by Christian Bale.

Over the years, Burry, who established a renowned and well-regarded California-based hedge fund Scion Asset Management, LLC in 2013, often made headlines for his recession warnings and market crash “predictions”. However, with warnings about economic downturns fizzling out, Burry’s reputation as both an expert and hedge fund manager was often at stake.

But even though some of his recession warnings have not played out as predicted, Burry remains one of the market geniuses whose moves investors value and follow as explained in our recent survey of Michael Burry’s portfolio in 2024.

His firm has achieved a return of over 160% over the past decade, outperforming the S&P 500 during that time, according to Ticker Nerd.

READ ALSO: Michael Burry Stock Portfolio: Top 8 Stock Picks and 10 Cheapest Stocks Insiders Are Buying Recently

Scion Asset Management manages hedge funds with discretionary assets under management of $196,206,549 (as of March 2024). In its fourth quarter SEC 13F filing on February 14, Burry’s firm disclosed a total of 13 security holdings with a portfolio value of $77,435,131 and a top 10 holdings concentration of 93.62%.

Burry wrapped up 2024 being cautiously optimistic regarding long-term prospects in terms of China’s online retail market, given ongoing regulatory and macroeconomic uncertainties in the Asian country. In the quarter ending December 31, he cut the stake in two of his top three investments in Chinese technology before the January release of DeepSeek’s latest AI models which turned tech space on its head starting a massive rally in the country’s stock market. Apart from that, it appears Burry is looking to capitalize on the growing demand for healthcare services and advanced analytical technologies, while also focusing on consumer discretionary taking positions in apparel, cosmetics, and luxury goods industries.

Our Methodology

To make the list of Michael Burry’s top portfolio holdings we reviewed Scion Asset Management’s fourth-quarter 2024 portfolio and ranked the list according to the hedge fund’s stake value in each firm. If there was an overlap, we prioritized the holding that was worth more money. We have also assessed the number of shares acquired by Scion Asset and hedge fund sentiment toward each stock from Insider Monkey’s database of hedge investor letters.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

That said, please see if there are overlaps between our compilation of famous investor’s top 10 stock picks heading into 2025 wrapped up in October and a new list of Michael Burry’s top 10 portfolio holdings.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)

Portion of portfolio: 9.68%

Value of holdings: $7,498,000

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) is an American multinational cosmetics company boasting a diverse portfolio of prestige brands sold in over 150 countries and territories. The company produces, markets and sells quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products.

Burry opened a new position in the company in the fourth quarter buying 100,000 of its shares.

The Estée Lauder’s share was trading at $69.6 after the market close on March 11, with the stock price impacted by the global geopolitical uncertainty and slowdowns in Mainland China and the company’s Asia travel retail sectors.

That said, net sales were down 6% year-over-year to $4 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Non-GAAP results, excluding non-cash charges, also showed a decline, with a drop in margin and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.62. Operating losses totaled $580 million, primarily due to goodwill and impairment charges related to the Too Faced and Tom Ford brands.

However, The Estée Lauder (NYSE:EL), another newcomer to the list of Michael Burry’s top portfolio holdings achieved a gross margin expansion of 310 basis points, which reflects improved pricing power and progress in its restructuring efforts. The company’s PRGP (Profit Recovery and Growth Plan), focuses on driving sales growth, achieving a strong double-digit operating margin, and managing external challenges including potential tariff increases. To that end The Estée Lauder launched Beauty Reimagined, as an acceleration of a strategy reset.

In its third-quarter 2024 investor letter, an investment management company Appleseed Fund mentioned The Estée Lauder, which has a market capitalization of $25.036 billion.

“Appleseed Fund added four new names to the portfolio in the past six months: The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL), Willis Lease Finance, Diana Shipping and Gravity. Estée Lauder is one of the world’s largest producers of cosmetics products, and valuation has become very attractive as this premier beauty company is suffering from a post-COVID-19 hangover.”

Overall, EL ranks 4th on our list of Michael Burry’s top Holdings that were gaining while NVDA was crashing. While we acknowledge the potential of EL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than EL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.