By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Short-seller Andrew Left is betting the Trump Administration’s hardening line on U.S.-listed Chinese companies will help derail a rally in the shares of GSX Techedu Inc
The Beijing-based online education company has been attacked by short sellers, including Andrew Left’s Citron Capital, which has accused it of overstating revenue by up to 70%.
That’s done little to stem the rise in the company’s shares, part of a global stock surge that has trampled bearish bets across markets.
“Yes, it obviously sucks being short while the stock was going higher,” Left said on Wednesday. “But I have confidence the system will work eventually.”
Left, editor of the online investment newsletter Citron Research, published a short report on GSX in mid April.
GSX, which has called Citron’s allegations false and ungrounded, said it had no further comment.
Fresh hope for Left came earlier this week, when U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said companies from China and other countries that do not comply with accounting standards will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges as of the end of 2021.
“It gives me more confidence. It makes me think that Deloitte will take a second look at this,” Left said.
GSX’s auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu did not respond to a request for comment.
The relentless rally in stocks has pressured some bearish investors betting against individual stocks as well as broader markets.
Influential U.S. investors, including David Tepper and Stanley Druckenmiller, cast doubt on the rally earlier in the year. Druckenmiller in June said he had become more bullish on stocks.
Citron Capital returned 43% after fees in 2019, its first year in business.
Left did not provide numbers for the fund’s 2020 performance.
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
