Michael Burry is an investing legend.
During his spare time as a neurologist in the late-1990s, he discovered value investing. After posting his investing ideas online, he attracted the attention of prominent investors like Joel Greenblatt. With Greenblatt’s financial backing, Burry started his own hedge fund.
Scion Capital delivered terrific results from 2000-2008. By 2006 the hedge fund had attracted more than $600 million and Burry was turning away investors.
Burry’s most famous investment was betting against the subprime market starting in 2005, a story chronicled in Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short. The book was later made into a movie.
These days, Burry is focusing his investing prowess on one sector--water.
There’s an easy way for investors to join Burry in the water sector. They can invest in the iShares Global Water ETF (TSX:CWW).
The ETF has exposure to 50 companies from around the world. These investments are based on the relative importance of the global water industry to each company’s business model.
The fund’s largest holding is Geberit, a global plumbing supplies powerhouse. It makes toilets, water pipes, and so on. The next-largest holding is American Water Works, a utility that owns and operates the water supply network for a number of U.S. cities.
It is a relatively small ETF with only $95 million in assets. Liquidity is a bit of a concern as well; only 6,200 shares trade on an average trading day.
It also has a somewhat expensive management expense ratio, coming in at 0.66%. That is pricey versus a broader market index fund, but is quite cheap when compared to a specialty sector mutual fund.
