Baupost Group’s Seth Klarman picked up a few stocks last quarter during the market rally, including tech giant Amazon and discount retailer Dollar General . The billionaire hedge fund manager bought $125 million worth of Amazon shares in the second quarter when the e-commerce juggernaut rallied more than 26%. Klarman has traded in and out of Amazon in the past year. He also bought $41 million worth of Dollar General , as well as $36 million of Union Pacific shares last quarter. Shares of the retailer fell nearly 20% in the second quarter as it slashed its full year outlook after missing Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly earnings. Meanwhile, Union Pacific’s stock was up less than 2% last quarter. Klarman, nicknamed “the Oracle of Boston,” has drawn comparisons to Warren Buffett for his patient, disciplined investment style. Klarman follows Benjamin Graham’s investing style, buying out-of-favor and undervalued assets to ensure a margin of safety in case things go bad. He started at Baupost in 1982 , when the firm had just $27 million in assets. It scored a 20% average annualized return for the next few decades. He posted his best year in 2017, with a 52% return, buying distressed debt and mortgage securities that had bottomed. Other than the new stakes, the hedge fund manager kept his top holdings relatively unchanged last quarter. His biggest holdings at the end of June included Liberty Global , ViaSat , Alphabet , Liberty Media and Veritiv . The investor, who now manages $30 billion at Baupost, in a rare CNBC interview last month warned of an “everything bubble.” He said the bubble includes cryptocurrencies, SPACs and a host of other trends that pose dangers to investors. Klarman hasn’t stopped hunting for bargains in neglected corners of the market. He said real estate has become a “hunting ground,” allowing him “to buy, to inject capital, to make some rescue loans.”
