By Erin McCarthy
David Tepper's Appaloosa Management LP disclosed Thursday it
added a stake in Facebook Inc. and Expedia Inc. as of March 31,
according to a regulatory filing.
The firm reported it held 478,500 shares of Facebook, a notable
addition to its $9.1 billion portfolio. Appaloosa also added a
stake to online travel company Expedia, purchasing 695,837 shares
during the quarter. The investor also increased its holdings of
Comcast Corp. and Apple Inc.
The disclosure of these moves comes a day after Mr. Tepper
struck a cautious note while speaking at the annual SALT conference
in Las Vegas. There, he said the investment environment has become
more difficult and expressed concerns about slow U.S. growth and
the risk of a global economy that will worsen unless the European
Central Bank takes aggressive action.
A number of hedge funds in recent months have argued that
European markets are attractive, but only if the European Central
Bank takes more steps to ease monetary policy to help the European
economy.
Mr. Tepper took a more bearish and blunt stance, describing the
ECB as being "really, really behind the curve."
Mr. Tepper's warnings are especially notable because he built
his firm, and fortune, with concentrated wagers on certain assets
appreciating. Though at times he has made bearish investments, he
is best known for scoring huge paydays owning bank investments in
2009 and going big on U.S. equities, including airlines, in
2013.
Such warnings appear to echo Appaloosa's move to decrease
holdings of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF during the first quarter. The
firm shed about 5% of its holdings of the exchange-traded fund to
10.8 million shares.
Investors who manage more than $100 million are required to
disclose most securities holdings within a month and a half of the
end of a quarter; the first-quarter deadline was Thursday. The
filings give the public a relatively fresh look at the portfolios
of high-profile investors.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com
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