The easy money has been made off retail's meltdown, and now it's time to see where the sector is going, billionaire Marc Lasry told CNBC on Tuesday.
"We've covered quite a bit," the chairman and CEO of Avenue Capital said ahead of the 2017 Delivering Alpha Conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor magazine.
"Right now, whatever we've made money [on] we've made money on. I think the issue today is where is retail going. We'll all find out in a year," he added in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" ahead of the conference. "The easy money has been made, and now you're sort of going to wait. It's a melting ice cube. And the question is how fast is it melting?"
Earlier this year, Lasry told CNBC he went short on retail. He said the issues facing retailers were "just too big" and those stocks would likely see more downside.
The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), a popular exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of retail stocks in the S&P 500, was up 1.74 percent over the last 30 days but was more than 8 percent lower for the year, according to FactSet.
Lasry said Tuesday his firm is now looking for potential longs but added he's not seeking a stock like Amazon.
"I'm looking at companies today where their debt has gotten hit and their equities have gotten hit, and we'll probably start investing in that sector again in the next three to six months as we get a better feel for what's happening," he said.
"It's more high end. ... Like a J.Crew or a couple others," he added.
— In addition to Lasry, Delivering Alpha participants include Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Omega Advisors Chairman Leon Cooperman, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, Blackstone chief Steve Schwarzman, DowDupont CEO Edward Breen, Kynikos Associates' Jim Chanos and JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon.
