market folly

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