How Jim Chanos Makes The Big Bucks
Posted by Timothy Sykes on Sun 23rd of Nov, 2008 10:27:22 AM
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Interesting NY Post article on how Jim Chanos, the bigtime short seller, is making bigtime $ this year:
Chanos, readers of The Post learned last week, has posted a 53.2 percent increase through Oct. 31 for his $5 billion short-only Ursus fund.
The 50-year-old Chanos said last week that he posted the gains by shorting “all of the satellite and most of the cable companies” but would say no more.
So On the Money did a little digging and came up with the exact stocks Chanos has ridden to great success this year.
Time Warner Cable, Viacom, Cablevision, Carmike Cinemas and Dish Network - stocks that have lost at least half their value since he set up the trade - have been money in the bank for Chanos, according to investors in the fund.
Ironically, recent market volatility, a friend of a short seller, wasn’t the key to Chanos taking profit in this year’s trades - instead it was strategic planning set up years ago. He first touted his visionary investment strategy, which he calls “The Twilight of the Gatekeepers,” at an investor presentation he gave in New York in late 2005. He said cable and satellite companies would lose their lock on revenue from programmers as the Internet would open a gateway for networks to send their shows straight to peoples’ computers and bypass the fees paid to the cable guys.
Just goes to show you, making assumptions as to how people make their $ in the market is a waste of time.
For example, many people think I’m up 190% this year because shorting into a bear market is easy, when in fact they’re gonna be even more surprised to find I do much better in bull markets as the number of potential plays goes up exponentially.
Thanks to SJ, who’s been on fire lately with a string of solid articles.
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TIM Trades
View All| Date | Stock | Buy | Sell | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 6 | QXM | $4.31 | $4.80 | $1936 |
| Nov 4 | COT | $8.66 | $8.88 | $642 |
| Nov 4 | QXM | $4.61 | $4.89 | $822 |
| Oct 30 | DDRX | $25.70 | $26.53 | $812 |
| Oct 29 | CTDC | $4.00 | $4.42 | $781 |
| Oct 26 | AWSL | $3.24 | $4.10 | $2516 |
| Oct 23 | RODM | $5.27 | $5.23 | $301 |
| Oct 22 | AMLM | $2.69 | $2.97 | $820 |
| Oct 22 | USEG | $6.12 | $6.09 | $85 |
| Oct 20 | CBOU | $8.93 | $9.06 | $243 |
| Oct 16 | VRMLQ | $16.79 | $18.65 | $2773 |
| Oct 13 | YONG | $11.05 | $11.66 | $1202 |
| Oct 13 | NPHC | $0.59 | $0.71 | $583 |
| Oct 12 | IMGG | $0.60 | $0.70 | $682 |
| Oct 9 | ZAGG | $5.50 | $6.10 | $2380 |
| Oct 7 | GVBP | $0.03 | $0.27 | $702 |
| Oct 1 | NPHC | $0.70 | $0.85 | $1482 |
Total: $92,304 (644%)
