Druckenmiller is betting against the wider market, while seeing value in energy stocks

Published Thu, May 19 20222:26 PM EDTUpdated Thu, May 19 20223:58 PM EDT

Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller added a sizable bet against the S & P 500 in the first quarter, while piling into a slew of energy names during the market turmoil. Duquesne Family Office bought 2,396 put contracts of the SPDR S & P 500 ETF (SPY) in the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing. Each options contract is tied to 100 shares of stock, so Druckenmiller's bet was tied to 239,600 shares of the ETF, which had a notional value of $108 million at the end of March. The notional value would make this bet one of Duquesne top 10 holdings. A put option gives the owner the right to sell a security at a certain time for a certain price and so it increases in value if the stock declines below the strike price. If Druckenmiller held those put options through the current quarter, the bet would be lucrative as the S & P 500 has dropped nearly 14% so far in the second quarter. The stock market has been in turmoil as investors grappled with decades-high inflation, tightening monetary policy, the war in Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China. Besides these put options, Duquesne built a new stake in Canadian mining company Teck Resources , worth $98 million at the end of March, according to the filing. The new bet was Drukenmiller's seventh-biggest holding as of the end of the first quarter. Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn is also an investor in Teck as an inflation play, betting on an increase in base metal prices. The miner has seen its stock rally more than 40% this year. Druckenmiller also picked up a number of energy names last quarter, including Coterra Energy , Pioneer Natural Resources , Cenovus Energy , Antero Resources , Phillips 66 and Solaredge Technologies . Energy has been a standout winner this year on the back of soaring oil prices. The S & P 500 energy sector is the only group that's risen this year, rallying 46%. Druckenmiller once managed George Soros' Quantum Fund and shot to fame after helping make a $10 billion bet against the British pound in 1992. He later oversaw $12 billion as president of Duquesne Capital Management before closing his firm in 2010.