Francis Chou

Francis Chou's $210M Chou Associates portfolio made two striking additions this quarter that reveal deep contrarian instincts. JEF (Jefferies) was scaled up a remarkable 1,258% to 2.9% of AUM—a position that was barely visible before and is now a top-10 holding, suggesting Chou sees the investment bank as deeply undervalued heading into a potential capital markets recovery. PYPL (PayPal) was quadrupled (+308%) to 3.6%, joining a roster of out-of-favor financials that already includes SYF (7.2%) and ALLY (4.2%)—a clear thesis that payments and consumer finance names are pricing in excessive pessimism. The portfolio remains anchored by the Buffett triumvirate: BRK/A at 29.4% is far and away the top holding, with GOOG (9.9%) and OXY (9.7%) rounding out the top three. New positions in KHC and HPQ are small but reinforce the deep-value, unloved-franchise theme. With no trims of note and continued concentration (top 5 = 61.5%), Chou is leaning into existing theses rather than diversifying. Watch whether JEF and PYPL continue to be sized up—if so, this shapes into a dedicated financial-sector recovery bet.