Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn isn't afraid to back up his words with his money. The longtime Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) bear, who previously paid the price for betting against the electric vehicle company, is back at it.
What Happened: Einhorn purchased 1,000 Tesla put option contracts during the fourth quarter, according to a Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The puts give Einhorn the right to sell Tesla shares at a certain price in the future. The strike price and time remaining on the contracts weren't specified; the 100,000 Tesla shares represented by the 1,000 put contracts had an underlying value of about $105.7 million.
See Also: It Won't Be The Same Tesla In The Future: Elon Musk And Others Weigh In
Why It Matters: Einhorn took a significant loss in 2020 as a result of a large short position in Tesla. Despite a 25% gain in the fourth quarter of 2020, Greenlight finished the year up just 5%, dramatically underperforming the S&P 500 on the back of Einhorn's disastrous Tesla short.
The billionaire investor took a short position against Tesla again in 2021, but the stock continued on its upward trajectory. Greenlight's filing shows that Einhorn has renewed his bearish outlook on Tesla's stock.
Einhorn's repeated attempts to gain at the expense of Tesla and its shareholders have sparked tensions between the billionaire investor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In 2019, Musk accused Einhorn of making "numerous false allegations" against Tesla. He later messaged Einhorn on Twitter saying, "please allow us to send you a small gift of short shorts to help you through this difficult time."
It's possible that Einhorn could have booked profits this time around. The recently disclosed put position was initiated in the fourth quarter, which means Einhorn could have already exited his short position. Moreover, he could have realized decent profits from the trade, with Tesla shares down nearly 15% since the start of the year.
TSLA Price Action: Tesla has traded as low as $539.49 and as high as $1,243.49 over a 52-week period.
The stock was up 4.71% at $917.01 Tuesday afternoon.
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