Ken Griffin’s Citadel had a blockbuster in 2022 as its hedge fund made a whopping $16 billion. The Financial Times then described him as the King of Hedgies, as he beat the previous all-time record of John Poulson. This performance was excellent considering that hedge funds lost over $232 billion during the year. Here are the top FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 shares that Ken Griffin has placed short positions on.
Abrdn
Ken Griffin has been short a number of European asset managers. According to the LSE, he has a 0.78% short position on Abrdn (LON: ABDN), formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen. His trade worked spectacularly as the Abrdn share price crashed by more than 61% from its highest point in 2020 and its 2022 lows.
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Abrdn stock crashed after the company was forced to abandon its dividend as its business came under intense pressure. Outflows soared in 2022 by over 40 billion pounds while its business made a loss of over 320 million pounds in the first half of the year. The company was temporarily ousted from the FTSE 100 index. Recently, however, the Abrdn stock price has soared by 60% from its 2020 lows.
IDS
Ken Griffin is short IDS (LON: IDS), the parent company of Royal Mail. In doing so, he has taken different trades with the Czech Sphinx, who has taken a substantial stake in the company. Citadel has a 0.79% short against the company.
This trade has been highly successful as the Royal Mail share price has crashed by more than 60% from its 2022 highs. The firm has moved into a loss-making category as demand for letters and parcels slowed and workers started slowing. In this article, I warned that Royal Mail was at risk of going bankrupt.
EasyJet
Citadel is also short EasyJet (LON: EZJ), a company that I wrote about on Monday. It has a 0.69% short position on the company. Like the other two companies, the trade has worked well as EasyJet share price has dropped by over 65% from the highest level in 2020.
Recently, EasyJet has bounced back and made an inverted head and shoulders pattern. This is a signal that it will likely rebound in the first part of the year. As I predicted, the shares could rise to about 500p.
ITV
Ken Griffin also has a short position on ITV (LON: ITV), the giant broadcaster. The shares crashed by 61% from their highest point in 2021 to the lowest level in October 2021. ITV is facing numerous headwinds as companies slash their advertising spending. However, my prediction in November was right as the stock has made a good recovery. At the time, I noted that the company had also made an inverted head and shoulders.
Kingfisher
Ken Griffin’s Citadel hedge fund also has a large short position on Kingfisher (LON: KGF), the parent company of B&Q, Castorama, and Screw Fix. The view is that the company’s business will go through a tough place as demand slows. Kingfisher share price has crashed by more than 32% from its 2021 highs.
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