No one typifies the bullish euphoria of the last year better than Appaloosa's David Tepper (except perhaps Laszlo Birinyi). It appears, however, that everyone's favorite perma-bull is up to his old tricks again. The manager who infamously opened his mouth about how he couldn't be more "balls to the wall" bullish of US financials - and then proceeded to reduce his positions notably in the quarter following that media appearance - has seemingly done it again. His appearances earlier this month on CNBC and Bloomberg were both full of hubris and arrogance as he encouraged the world to grab financial stocks with both hands and feet. However, as Fox Business' Charlie Gasparino reported yesterday, Tepper's Appaloosa is now seeking bids (to unwind a long position) for $400mm of European bank debt - doesn't seem so balls-to-the-wall bullish to us? With two weeks left to the great unveiling of the Q4 13Fs, we wait anxiously to see just how big Tepper's 'balls at the wall' really were/are.
Via Fox Business Network,
FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Charlie Gasparino reports that Appaloosa Management Founder David Tepper put out for bid $400 million of hybrids for HBOS PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Commerzbank. Gasparino goes on to report that this indicates he might be turning bearish on financials due to some headwinds surrounding trouble in Europe.
On the $400 million of hybrid bank securities Appaloosa founder David Tepper put out for bid:
“What happened with Tepper this week, we hear this from sources that are in the bond market, that he went out – this is after he’s been very public that he’s bullish on financials, he likes Citigroup – he went out and put out for bid $400 million of hybrids for three companies, three financial companies – HBOS PLC, that’s the banking arm of Lloyds of London, Royal Bank of Scotland from what we understand, and Commerzbank. Pretty interesting, when you put these out for bid, it’s not like he sold a little here, sold a little there... he put out a bid, everyone knows it was him. He’s doing this just as he’s talking about financials.”
On whether the bid means he’s turning bearish on the financials:
“He may be turning a little bearish... The financials could have some headwinds here when you start talking about Europe, you know European problems starting to creep back... If you are worried about the countries, you have to worry about the banks because the banks, even here, hold some of that, what could be toxic stuff.”