Everyone knows the clearance-rack dilemma. The markdown looks like a steal, yet the empty aisle makes you wonder what others know that you don’t.
In a Substack post on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, “Big Short” investor Michael Burry said he added “in some size” to four short bets, Seeking Alpha reported.
They target Micron Technology (MU), Nebius Group (NBIS), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX).
In the same post, he bought more of five stocks sitting 29% to 65% below their 52-week highs. He is shopping the empty aisle while shorting the crowded one.
The 5 stocks Burry now calls full positions
The five stocks Burry highlighted include QXO (QXO), Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW), Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM), Birkenstock Holding (BIRK), and MercadoLibre (MELI). Burry said all had “corrected tremendously” and are now full positions, according to Seeking Alpha.
Here is where each closed on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026.
- Down 56% from its $27.61 high, building-products distributor QXO closed at $12.28, near its $11.14 low, and its 18 analysts rate it Strong Buy with a $29.11 target, according to Stock Analysis.
- Down 65% from its $74.38 high, stuffed-animal retailer Build-A-Bear closed at $25.96, according to MacroTrends, after an August outlook cut, Reuters reported. It sits near its $24.15 low, with four analysts rating it Strong Buy at a $43 target, Stock Analysis confirmed.
- Down 45% from its $119.98 high, natural grocer Sprouts closed at $66.07, near its $64.75 low, and its 16 analysts rate it Buy with a $95 target, according to Stock Analysis.
- Down 38% from its $50.73 high, sandal maker Birkenstock closed at $31.68 on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, near its $29.93 low, and its 23 analysts rate it Buy with a $51.19 target, Stock Analysis noted.
- Down 29% from its $2,548.50 high, Latin American e-commerce leader MercadoLibre closed at $1,799.24, above its $1,495 low, and its 24 analysts rate it Buy with a $2,264.88 target, Stock Analysis indicated.
Wall Street agrees with Burry here. All five carry Buy or Strong Buy ratings from analysts polled by S&P Global, with targets implying 26% to 137% upside, according to Stock Analysis.
Prices kept sliding anyway, with QXO and Sprouts each down nearly 4% the next day, based on the same data.
While Burry is doubling down on these beaten-down value plays, his strategy tells a two-sided story. On the other side of the ledger, he is taking aggressive short positions against the market’s high-flying AI and tech darlings.
Bloomberg / Getty Images
Why a PC maker’s warning matters to Micron bulls
Burry’s chip case leans on Jason Chen, CEO of Acer Inc., which buys memory rather than sells it.
Chen said memory is tight only in the most advanced DDR5 chips, DigiTimes reported, and accused suppliers of hyping shortage fears to protect margins.
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Stock Analysis values Micron, the memory-chip maker at the core of the bet, at $1.21 trillion, so a memory slump would reach ordinary index funds.
It fell 2.2% to $1,071.88 on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, within a 52-week range of $154.65 to $1,255, the same data shows.
Burry is saying Sell, while 49 analysts polled by S&P Global say Strong Buy with a $1,515 target, according to Stock Analysis.
Micron sits about 2% above the roughly $1,051 where he first shorted it, Stocktwits reported, leaving that short slightly underwater. Shorting SOXX stacks the bet, since Micron made up 7.9% of the fund on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, Stock Analysis noted.
Nebius, an AI cloud provider, fits the memory thesis less neatly. It fell 4% to $226.61, within a 52-week range of $73.52 to $299.86, and its nine analysts rate it Buy with a $276.26 target, according to Stock Analysis. It is raising cloud prices for the second time in three months, Reuters reported, hardly a sign of glut.
Palantir, the data-analytics software firm, rose 3.7% to $191.79, within a 52-week range of $106.37 to $207.52, Stock Analysis confirmed. Its 31 analysts rate it Buy, but their $195.57 target implies just 2% upside, the same data show.
Palantir and Nebius announced a joint AI offering in a press release on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, so Burry is shorting both partners.
A narrowing market is Burry’s real target
The Nasdaq 100, which Burry called historically top-heavy, closed at a record 30,732 on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, CNBC reported. Yet the share of its members above their 200-day moving average, a long-term trend gauge, fell from 77% to 56% since mid-August, BTIG’s Jonathan Krinsky noted. Fewer stocks are carrying the rally.
Micron alone is worth more than 10 times the roughly $116 billion combined value of Burry’s five buys, based on Stock Analysis data. He is betting that gap narrows.
Acer and other PC makers have begun using chips from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies, Tom’s Hardware reported.
When buyers build their own exit from a shortage, the pricing power behind that boom deserves a closer look, and Micron’s report on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, will be its first test.
Related: Michael Burry’s blistering message on economic inequality
