Jim Chanos Still Short Tesla & Caterpillar

Noted short seller Jim Chanos of hedge fund Kynikos Associates just spoke with CNBC about

Chanos confirmed he's still short Tesla (TSLA) amid rumors that the Model 3 is delayed with production/deliveries.  "Never a dull moment in Tesla land," Chanos said.

"I'm dumbfounded that the board would go ahead with this deal (with SolarCity (SCTY)).  They're growing into a business they don't need to grow into. They're going to pretty much double their cash burn by taking it on, it just makes no sense." Chanos's firm believes SolarCity is an insolvency ex-the deal. 

He also mentioned how Caterpillar's (CAT) CEO was departing.  When asked if he's still short, Chanos said, "Yeah, the fundamentals in our view have not yet changed, we haven't seen any evidence of it."

Chanos also pointed out that the China real estate bubble still hasn't happened yet (popped) so that's still ahead of us, he says. 

We'll post up the video of the interview once it's released.  Be sure to also check out CNBC's interview with David Tepper from yesterday, as well as their conversation with Carl Icahn.

Jim Chanos Still Short Valeant, Alibaba, Tesla, SolarCity

At the Sohn Conference in New York today, Kynikos Associates' founder Jim Chanos appeared on CNBC to talk about what he's seeing in the markets lately (stay tuned for our full Sohn Conference notes later on).   Here are some takeaways:


- Still short Alibaba Group (BABA) with his bearish China bet

- Notes that some hedge funds charging 2/20 that generate 8% return will only give their investors a 4-5% return - is that worth paying for?

-  Still short Valeant (VRX) after originally shorting in 2014; thinks it's still not cheap and argues people are using valuation metrics that aren't right.  Doesn't think the company is trading at 3x earnings like Bill Ackman suggested recently.  Chanos: "Valeant was genius at gaming the system. That game is over."

- Cheniere Energy (LNG): Says he agrees that the contracts are money good, but the company's cost estimates are too low.  "You're paying a ridiculous price for 2020 cashflows compared to any other energy play you can buy today."  Asks how profitable can the plants operate and at what capital cost?

- Short Elon Musk: betting against Tesla (TSLA) and SolarCity (SCTY) still.  Sees flood of executives leaving TSLA as a negative sign.  Since the company can't really make money selling a $100,000 car, how are they going to do so selling a $35000 car (upcoming Model 3)?  Feels TSLA will need to raise money eventually.  Thinks SCTY gets in financial trouble in 2016.

We'll post video of his appearance if/when it becomes available.

Jim Chanos Short Cheniere Energy, Caterpillar, Solar City & More: Interview

Noted short seller Jim Chanos, founder of Kynikos Associates recently appeared on CNBC to share his thoughts.

During the interview, he revealed a new short position: Cheniere Energy (LNG).  We've highlighted how Carl Icahn went long LNG recently.  There are also numerous other prominent hedge funds long.

Chanos, on the other hand, has been negative on the liquefied natural gas space over the past six months, thinking it's a "looming disaster" because it's tied into Asia and that LNG demand isn't growing anymore.

He went on to say, "LNG has been seen as a unique animal because it's going to be U.S. based, they're opening its Sabine Pass later this year.  With the stock at 30 times 2020 earnings, with the upside coming from a glutted market, we think the risk/reward in this, given where other LNG plays are in Australia and elsewhere, is just completely out of whack."

Chanos noted he's still short Caterpillar (CAT) but has covered his Joy Global (JOYG) short.  He argues CAT is trading at a rich multiple relative to its peers and that the company isn't letting on just how bad things are out there.

Chanos is also negative on pretty much everything in the PC chain.  He argues that "the value in the hardware chain gets competed away" as the products are commoditized.  He's short Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and some PC manufacturers in Asia.  He's hedged this by being long Apple (AAPL) with better growth and products.

He called Tesla (TSLA) "silly" as it trades on 2025 earnings that's become a momentum and concept stock. Regarding other Elon Musk companies, he thinks Solar City (SCTY) is the most problematic.

On China, Chanos continues to be concerned.  He says that "one of the worries we've always had was they were going to lose control of their currency ... that's why I think the markets took a real shudder in August."  That said, he argued that the US is the country "least affected by what's happening in China."

Lastly, Chanos also said cybersecurity is one of the few areas of growth.

Embedded below are videos from Chanos' interview:

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Video 2:



Video 3:



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Video 5:




For more from this short seller, be sure to also check out another recent Jim Chanos interview.

Jim Chanos Says China 'Worse Than You Think;' Reveals SolarCity Short

Noted short seller and founder of Kynikos Associates Jim Chanos recently appeared on CNBC to share his thoughts on the markets.

He mentioned that he feels that China is "worse than you think" and that "the biggest lesson over the last three months, for me anyways, is people are beginning to realize that the Chinese government is not omnipotent and omniscient."

Chanos, of course, has been a long time vocal skeptic on China's growth and property market.

Turning to the US, Chanos feels that people have gotten a bit 'complacent,' noting that markets have gone basically straight up and that's not how markets work.  He also mentioned that he's short Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Caterpillar (CAT), Shell, Chevron (CVX) and also unveiled a newly disclosed short: SolarCity (SCTY).

He called HPQ a "challenged business" and thinks it's in secular decline.  He says "in technology if you're not growing, you're in effect dying."

On CAT, he said it's a commodities supercycle problem.

On SCTY: Chanos argues the problem is that they have a residential model and it's really "a subprime financing company in effect" since they lease out solar panels.

Embedded below are clips from Chanos' interview:

On China:



On Hewlett Packard:



On SolarCity:



On Caterpillar:



For more from this short seller, be sure to also check out Jim Chanos' interview on Wall Street Week.