Big Short Billionaire Goes Long: Michael Burry Avoids AI, Bets on Beaten own Stocks Instead
While Wall Street piles into AI darlings, Michael Burry is quietly loading up on call options in three stocks the market left for dead, and his biggest bets carry a very specific thesis about where the crowd got it wrong.
Michael Burry, the Scion Asset Management founder made famous by The Big Short, has rotated hard into three names Wall Street left for dead. According to a portfolio breakdown circulating this week, his largest position is UNH calls at 18.88%, followed by REGN calls at 18.16% and LULU calls at 16.43%. Nine of ten disclosed positions are call options, giving him leveraged upside on the dip with defined downside. Notably absent: the mega-cap AI trade.
Burry’s pitch, as summarized in the disclosure, is that UnitedHealth, Lululemon, Estee Lauder, and JD.com are all names that got destroyed, and he is betting they snap back hard. Here is what the fundamentals say about the three healthcare and consumer bets he sized largest.
UnitedHealth: Margin Recovery Already Underway
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH | UNH Price Prediction) trades at $394.34, up 21.06% year to date but still languishing after a brutal 2025. The Q2 2026 report gave Burry’s thesis teeth. Adjusted EPS came in at $6.38 on revenue of $112.03B, and consolidated operating earnings jumped to $7.99B from $5.15B a year earlier, a 55% increase. The medical care ratio improved to 86.7% from 89.4%, aided by $860M in favorable prior-period reserve development.
Management raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $19.50 to $20.00 and doubled the 2026 buyback commitment to at least $5B. CFO Dan Keeter framed the setup on the call: “I see 26 as a delay to that margin recovery trajectory not a setback.” Consensus for fiscal 2027 EPS has climbed to $22.44, putting the stock at roughly 18 times forward earnings. See the Q2 8-K for the raw release.
Regeneron: Dupixent Offsets EYLEA Erosion
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) has been the quiet winner of the three, up 47.74% over the past year to $833.83. Q2 was a blowout: non-GAAP EPS of $14.29 versus the $8.00 consensus, a 78.62% surprise, and revenue up 16.7% to $4.29B. Dupixent, partnered with Sanofi, hit $6 billion in global net sales, up 38% year over year, with more than 1.5 million patients actively treated worldwide.
EYLEA HD U.S. sales grew 52% to $962.6M, cushioning the biosimilar-driven 45% decline in legacy EYLEA. Crucially, Regeneron fully repaid the Sanofi development balance at the end of Q2, which management said will produce a meaningful step-up in collaboration profits from Q3 onward. That is the fundamental catalyst behind Burry’s call bet.
Lululemon: Deep-Value Bet on a Broken Brand
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) is the most controversial position, down 52.07% year to date to $99.60. Q2 fiscal 2027, reported September 3, showed why. Revenue fell to $2.42B, down 4.3% YoY, with comparable sales down 9% globally and Americas comps down 12%. Women’s leggings sales declined approximately 20% in Q2. Management cut full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $10.35B to $10.50B and EPS to $9.48 to $9.73.
Burry’s contrarian read, per the summary: Lululemon has substantial cash and almost no debt, historically high returns on capital, and tangible value that has grown even as the stock collapsed. He has reportedly called LULU “screaming cheap” and kept adding despite the pain. Incoming CEO Heidi O’Neill joined the week after the Q2 report, and the company repurchased 2.7 million shares for $330M in Q2. Our earlier take on the setup is here.
What to Watch Next
Burry’s structure matters as much as his picks. Calls decay, so timing is everything. UnitedHealth’s Q3 earnings report on Medicare cost trends, Regeneron’s November 2026 FDA decision on simdesiran, and Lululemon’s holiday comps under new leadership are the three catalysts that will decide whether Burry’s short-dated bets pay or expire worthless. For investors, the value is in noting where a well-known contrarian sees mispriced risk while the crowd chases GPUs (we studied a batch of recent runners most investors ignored and turned the pattern into a free report on the winners you already missed).
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After two decades of patrolling the dark corners of suburbia as a police officer, Rich Duprey hung up his badge and gun to begin writing full time about stocks and investing. For the past 20 years, he’s been cruising the markets looking for companies to lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio while writing extensively on the broad sectors of consumer goods, technology, and industrials. Because his experience isn’t from the typical financial analyst track, Rich is able to break down complex topics into understandable and useful action points for the average investor. His writings have appeared on The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, Yahoo! Finance, Money Morning, and, of course, 24/7 Wall St. He has been featured in both U.S. and international publications, including MarketWatch, Financial Times, Forbes, Fast Company, and USA Today.
