Bloomberg: Billionaire Buys Signal Hedge Funds Bullish on Economy

By the tickerspy.com Staff , On Monday February 22, 2010, 11:36 am EST
Some high-profile fund managers were picking up energy and airline names during Q4, and Bloomberg sees the buys as a bullish indicator for economic acceleration.

Back in November, when Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A - News, BRK-B - News) announced the outright purchase of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI - News), CEO Warren Buffett called the move an "all-in wager" on the U.S. economy. While recent critics have likened the Oracle of Omaha's equity portfolio to an index fund, the same certainly cannot be said for another pair of economic bulls, which Bloomberg highlighted this morning. According to the report, increasing stakes in largely economy-tied segments indicates positive sentiment following the S&P 500's impressive 23% 2009 rally.

After more than generating returns of more than 100% for his flagship Appaloosa Fund in 2009, David Tepper's top picks from the end of Q4 were closely watched by The Street when they were disclosed to the SEC last week. While the billionaire's equity portfolio remained largely made up of financial names, some new bets on airlines got investors' attention.

Bloomberg notes that analysts expect the airline segment to return to profitability in 2010, which could mean good news for American parent AMR (NYSE: AMR - News), United parent UAL (NYSE: UAUA - News), and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL - News). All three were among Appaloosa's top-15 U.S.-listed equity holdings to start the year after Tepper purchased the stocks during Q4.