How Steve Cohen, owner of the Mets, plays defense during a market slump

Mets owner Steve Cohen has adopted a defensive stock-picking strategy that exploits safe havens including oil and casino property while looking to hedge against a market slowdown, according to a report.

The 65-year-old hedge fund mogul, who has an estimated net worth of $11.9 billion, has recently focused on so-called high-yield stocks, which are stocks whose dividend yield is higher than that of any reference average, such as US-term Treasuries. 10 years.

Such stocks tend to outperform low-yielding, non-yielding securities during bear markets because investors consider them less risky.

On the face of it, it looks like a departure for Cohen, who has earned a reputation as the head of Point72 asset management for making big, risky bets on volatile stocks.

During the first quarter of this year, Cohen’s fund bought 633,800 shares of VICI Properties, a New York-based real estate investment trust, or REIT, that specializes in casinos, hotels and racetracks, according to stock filings.

VICI was created in 2017 as part of a subsidiary of Caesars Entertainment after that company entered bankruptcy of $18 billion. VICI owns 10 resorts on the Las Vegas Strip that includes 1.2 million square feet of casino space, more than 40,000 hotel rooms, and 6 million square feet of conference space.

In total, VICI’s portfolio includes 43 casinos; 450 restaurants, bars and clubs; and four major golf courses. In April, VICI announced that it had completed a $17.2 billion acquisition of MGM Growth Properties.

VICI Properties’ stock prices are up about 2% as of 3 p.m. Thursday. At roughly $30 a share, Cohen’s stake in VICI is about $18 million, according to financing website TipRanks.

Cohen is also betting on BP, the world’s largest oil and gas producer, which has an estimated market value of $104 billion.

The Mets chief bought an additional 3,276,969 shares of BP. Cohen had already bought half a million shares of the company before his last investment – bringing the value of his stake in the company to about $122 million.

Shares of BP rose about 1% on Wednesday. BP stock was trading at about $32.40 per share as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Like most energy companies, BP posted impressive profits despite withdrawing its 20% stake in Russia’s Rosneft in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In the first quarter of this year, BP reported a net profit of more than $6 billion – easily topping analysts’ estimates of $4.1 billion.