Hedge-fund manager David Tepper remains bullish on the U.S. stock market, said someone familiar with his thinking, and predicts the S&P 500 could rise 20 percent or more through the course of this year.
Tepper, who manages the roughly $15 billion fund company Appaloosa Management, has been optimistic on U.S. stocks since several years ago, when he became known for embracing the "Bernanke put" theory that the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing would pave the way for a bull run.
Since then, he's been proved right, most recently with a particularly huge rally in the S&P last year that helped his flagship hedge fund generate 30 percent returns, and a strong start to 2013, in which the index has risen nearly 9 percent and his fund is up more than 10 percent, according to the person familiar with his thinking.
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Reached yesterday, Tepper was reluctant to speak out about his outlook, saying the quarter wasn't yet over and it was too early to discuss returns. "We are still constructive on the market," he told CNBC.