David Einhorn joined other big investors in shares in several regional bank stocks last quarter in a bet that the financial institutions would survive the industry crisis that felled Silicon Valley and First Republic banks. The Greenlight Capital founder picked up almost 2.3 million shares of New York Community Bancorp . That's the bank whose subsidiary, Flagstar, acquired Signature Bank assets after that bank was shuttered.
New York Community shares are up almost 20% year to date, while First Citizens stock has surged almost 67% on the year. And neither holding is especially large, with neither cracking the top 10. Green Brick Partners was Einhorn's biggest holding, despite shedding almost 2%. The homebuilder has more than doubled its share value this year, helped by huge beats on Wall Street expectations in its first quarter.