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Michael Burry attends the “The Big Short” New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater on November 23, 2015 in New York City.
Jim Spellman | WireImage | Getty Images
GameStop shares jumped after Barron’s reported that investor Michael Burry, one of the main money managers depicted in Michael Lewis’ book “The Big Short,” is long the stock.
GameStop has been decimated this year, losing about 70% of its value and wiping out around $900 million from the company’s market cap. The stock jumped more than 18% on the report.
But Burry told Barron’s Tae Kim that GameStop still has upside potential as Sony‘s and Microsoft‘s upcoming consoles will likely have physical optic drives. This will “extend GameStop’s life significantly,” he said, adding that the rise of game-streaming competitors is “creating a perfect storm where things look terrible.” However, “it looks worse than it really is.”
Burry was one of the first investors to short subprime mortgages ahead of the financial crisis.
The investor sent a letter to the video game retailer urging them to buy back nearly $240 million in stock with cash on hand. The letter also said Burry’s firm, Scion Asset Management, has a 3% stake in GameStop.
“Technical factors driving the stock to lows has created an opportunity for substantial buybacks at below private market prices,” Burry told Barron’s.
