Top fund manager Bruce Berkowitz has been buying up beaten-down financials for several months now. In the second quarter, he also keyed on a beaten-up energy company — much-maligned BP.
While the oil giant has taken a big hit both financially and reputation-wise following its Gulf of Mexico well explosion, Berkowitz apparently sees value in its stock. His Fairholme Capital Management bought 9.44 million of BP’s American depositary receipts in the second quarter, Bloomberg reports. BP — Fairholme’s only reported energy holding — represented about 2.5% of Fairholme’s portfolio at the end of the quarter, according to Bloomberg.
Other successful firms were finding value in BP in the second quarter, Bloomberg reports, including Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund founded by James Simons.