Hedge fund tycoons shout "10x opportunity," Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac surge 41% and 34% intraday

Hedge fund titan Bill Ackman’s public bullish remarks boosted sentiment for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which saw their biggest single-day gains since May 2025 during Monday’s trading session. Fannie Mae surged as much as 41%, while Freddie Mac rose as much as 34%.

The immediate trigger for this rebound was Ackman’s high-profile statement on social media that the two institutions’ stock prices are “absurdly cheap.” However, the day’s gains only partially reversed the deep selloff that had lasted for months; as of the time of publication, both stocks remain down about 60% from their mid-September 2024 highs.

Concerns have continued to build in the market regarding the prospects for the Trump administration’s plan to move the two agencies out of government conservatorship—this key factor weighing on prices has not changed in any meaningful way.

Ackman’s call: possibly a “10x opportunity”

Ackman said in a post on the X platform that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer “the best asymmetric investment opportunities,” and predicted “potentially a tenfold return,” with a “likelihood that it could be realized in the near term.”

The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management placed the current opportunity within a more macro investment framework, noting that “a global batch of the highest-quality companies are trading at extremely low prices,” and calling the present “one of the best times in recent years to buy quality assets.”

Ackman previously lobbied the White House actively regarding privatization restructuring plans for the two agencies, so his public statements have drawn significant market attention and have been viewed as an important read on progress related to the relevant policies.

Stock prices still mired in a slump; valuation dominated by policy uncertainty

Despite the sharp rally on the day, after Monday’s surge the two agencies’ share prices still remain about 60% below their intermediate high points from mid-September last year.

The prior deep selloff was mainly driven by investors’ confidence in the Trump administration’s reform roadmap for the two agencies gradually weakening. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the two agencies have been under federal government conservatorship, and outside expectations had been that the new administration would accelerate their return to the private market; those expectations had once pushed the stock prices sharply higher. But as the timing schedule for policy implementation became increasingly unclear, the premium built up earlier was quickly unwound.

For investors, the valuation trend for the two agencies still depends largely on the pace and intensity of policy execution. Ackman’s public endorsement has boosted market sentiment in the short term, but whether it can reverse uncertainty at the policy level remains to be seen.

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