Investor David Einhorn, whose hedge fund was up nearly 37% last year, gives his favorite longs

Published Wed, Mar 1 20231:29 PM ESTUpdated Wed, Mar 1 20232:00 PM EST

Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn is continuing to bet on some of the long stocks that helped his hedge fund outperform in last year's market rout. That includes CONSOL Energy , a coal stock that was among the hedge fund's biggest long positions and winners in 2022. "Between this year and next year they have no debt, and so we expect that they're going to be buying back and returning that capital," he told Scott Wapner on CNBC's "Halftime Report" on Wednesday. "So within a couple of years, we expect to get pretty much all of our money back." The comments from Einhorn come after the star hedge fund manager posted a solid end to 2022 by betting on inflation and against growth bubble names. His hedge fund surged nearly 37% due in part to long positions in names like Atlas Air Worldwide , Teck Resources and Twitter, before its acquisition. Green Brick Partners, Brighthouse Financial and CONSOL Energy , meanwhile, represented some of his largest long positions at the end of 2022. In the new year, Einhorn is holding onto Teck Resources, viewing the company as a beneficiary of the push for electrification that will require more copper. Given this outlook, he said he's "bullish" on copper prices in the intermediate term. Einhorn also told CNBC that he's begun vacating his position in Atlas Air Worldwide amid news that it's slated to go private. In the fourth quarter, Einhorn opened a new long position in Tenet Healthcare . While the hospital operator struggled last year and missed earnings as it grappled with issues like labor shortage, he told CNBC that it trades a a single-digits multiple and offers a "relatively stable and recession resistant" business. "You have a company that is now beginning to really return capital to shareholders," Einhorn said, alluding to its recent buyback. "And so, when you see that kind of opportunity, we took a medium sized position." Green Brick Partners and Danimer Scientific marked the hedge fund's only two significant losing long positions 2022, he wrote in his January letter.