Business Insider
- Jim Chanos, the founder of Kynikos Associates, cautioned investors against buying “virus stocks” like Zoom, Peloton, Teladoc, and Clorox that are doing well amid the coronavirus lockdowns.
- “Of course, when the virus subsides, as we all know it will, those companies will probably begin to not look as attractive going forward,” Chanos said in a Thursday interview with CNBC.
- Read more on Business Insider.
Jim Chanos on Thursday cautioned investors against getting swept up investing in “virus stocks” that are being boosted amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with CNBC, Chanos identified Zoom, Peloton, Teladoc, and Clorox as stocks that are “doing well right now in this enforced lockdown.”
“A lot of these companies that really are not structurally growth stocks are trading at 30, 40, 50 times earnings because they’re going to do well in the first and second quarters of 2020,” Chanos, the prominent short-seller and founder of Kynikos Associates, told CNBC.
As the coronavirus pandemic has roiled global markets and put entire countries on lockdown, forcing people to stay in their homes to curb the spread of the disease, some stocks have been lifted. Shares of Zoom have surged 101% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close, while Teladoc has spiked 94%.
Clorox has gained about 14% in the same time. Peloton has slipped about 1.5%, still outpacing the broader market’s more than 20% decline.
“Of course, when the virus subsides, as we all know it will, those companies will probably begin to not look as attractive going forward,” Chanos said, adding that he would be “very, very careful” about “just piling into things that are doing well because people are inside and will stay inside for the next three or four or five weeks.”
Chanos said he was not shorting shares of Zoom or Teladoc. He also told CNBC that he had just closed a short bet against Luckin Coffee, whose shares tanked 80% on Thursday after a discovery that the chief financial officer had fabricated sales.
Going forward, Chanos said, investors might want to hold off until 2021 to see how stocks perform. “You have to write off 2020, and I think the market is and will ultimately,” he said.
He said investors should look at businesses’ 2019 performance. “Take an educated guess and do your research and do your work on what you think this looks like in 2021, and if it’s still a cheap stock then, then it might be an attractive investment on the long side,” Chanos said.
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
