Greenlight Capital’s Q1 13F: David Einhorn Buys Tesla Puts

• Greenlight Capital released its first-quarter 13F. David Einhorn’s returns have been trailing the S&P 500 by a wide margin this year.
• Einhorn added Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) puts, opened several new trades, and bought Berkshire Hathaway in the first quarter. In this article, we’ll discuss the key takeaways from Greenlight Capital’s first-quarter 13F.

Greenlight Capital’s first-quarter 13F showed that David Einhorn increased stakes in CNX Resources, AerCap Holdings, and Brighthouse Financial. General Motors (NYSE:GM) was Einhorn’s most prominent sell in the quarter and the fund exited the stock. Einhorn also exited Tempur Sealy International, Scientific Games Corporation, Consol Energy, DXC Technology, Medicines Company, and EchoStar.

Greenlight Capital’s first-quarter 13F revealed several new positions. Einhorn initiated new positions in Danaher, Altria Group, American Express, Centene, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B), Crown Holdings, Gulfport Energy, Change Healthcare, Goldman Sachs, Walt Disney, and Paychex. Greenlight Capital also added 10,900 puts on Tesla. Einhorn has been a long-term Tesla bear. He questioned Tesla’s accounting policies after the company’s earnings release for the first quarter of 2020.

Last year, Einhorn got into an ugly Twitter spat with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Jim Chanos is another famous Tesla stock short seller. Last month, Chanos said that he’s “maximum short” on the stock. Meanwhile, Tesla stock has risen sharply since October 2019. Einhorn’s short positions on Tesla have cost Greenlight Capital investors. Short sellers have burnt their fingers amid the rally in Tesla’s stock price. Notably, short sellers are down but not out.

Greenlight Capital is having a dismal run. The fund lost value in April even though US stock markets had their best month since 1987. The fund has fallen 22% in the first four months of 2020. According to Bloomberg, in his April letter, Einhorn said that he sees better days for the fund. In the investors’ letter in April, he said, “As difficult as this has been for us (and it’s been really difficult), it finally feels like we are near the end of this part of the cycle.”

Einhorn has reshuffled Greenlight Capital’s portfolio massively in the first quarter as the 13F shows. While he has bet on many new names, he has also exited several companies. Is it time for Einhorn to drop his bearish bets on Tesla stock? Read Would TSLA Stock Bears Einhorn and Chanos Give Up? to learn more.