Investor David Tepper’s Firm Buys Whirlpool, American Air, Goodyear in 3Q, Unloads Intel

Hedge-fund manager David Tepper made some contrarian bets in the third quarter. (Brad Barket / Getty Images)

Key Points

• David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management made contrarian investments in the third quarter, buying Whirlpool, Goodyear, and American Airlines stock.
• Appaloosa initiated a holding of 9.25 million shares of American Airlines and purchased 4.3 million shares of Goodyear.
• Appaloosa eliminated its eight million share position in Intel and reduced its UnitedHealth holding by 2.2 million shares.

Investor David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management made some contrarian investments in the third quarter, buying stock in out-of-favor Whirlpool , Goodyear Tire and American Airlines, according to a 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday.

Tepper, a billionaire who owns professional football’s Carolina Panthers, is one of the most successful and closely watched investors on Wall Street. Appaloosa’s disclosed equity portfolio totals about $7 billion.

His Appaloosa has scored with a series of investments in Chinese stocks in recent quarters, and the firm bought about 5.2 million shares of Whirlpool, the appliance maker, in the third quarter, bringing its total holdings to 5.5 million shares.

Whirlpool stock has risen 3% in after hours trading Thursday to $67.72 in an apparent reaction to the Appaloosa news, after falling 1.5% in regular trading and hitting a new 52-week low of $65.35. The stock is down over 40% this year.

Appaloosa initiated a holding of 9.25 million shares of American, a laggard in the airline group whose stock trades at $13. And the firm purchased 4.3 million shares of depressed tiremaker Goodyear in the period and held 5.1 million shares on Sept. 30. Goodyear stock ended the session at around $7 and is off 40% over the past two years.

Appaloosa eliminated a position of eight million shares of Intel in the third quarter and sold 2.2 million shares of UnitedHealth , bring its holding down to about 200,000 shares.

Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant Alibaba Group Holding, the largest Appaloosa holding, stands at 6.45 million shares now worth $1 billion after sales of about 600,000 shares, or just under 10% of the position, in the third quarter.

Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com