Paulson & Co. Short Financial Sector, Long Individual Names

Paulson & Co. the hedge fund founded by John Paulson has received plenty of attention in recent quarters as his massive short bet on subprime mortgages payed off handily. Since then, many of Paulson's funds have continued to outperform.

During Q4 2008, Paulson made a short bet on financials through SKF, a leveraged short financial ETF. However, he also increased stakes in financial firms including Merril Lynch (deal with B of A now closed), Wells Fargo, Wachovia and others.

Below are Paulson & Co.'s top holdings for Q4:

Top 20 Holdings (by % of portfolio):

1. Rohm & Haas (ROH): 18.36% of portfolio
2. Boston Scientific (BSX): 12.64% of portfolio
3. UST (UST): 11.31% of portfolio
4. Kinross Gold (KGC): 8.66% of portfolio
5. BCE (BCE): 7.7% of portfolio
6. Wachovia (WB): 7.62% of portfolio
7. Philip Morris International (PM): 6.45% of portfolio
8. Mirant (MIR): 5.72% of portfolio
9. Genentech (DNA): 4.68% of portfolio
10. Merrill Lynch (MER): 2.68% of portfolio
11. National City (NCC): 2.54% of portfolio
12. NRG Energy (NRG): 2.02% of portfolio
13. At&t (T): 1.41% of portfolio
14. Ultrashort Financials (SKF): 1.36% of portfolio
15. Embarq (EQ): 1.18% of portfolio
16. Northern Trust (NTRS): 0.79% of portfolio
17. Peoples United Financial (PBCT): 0.72% of portfolio
18. Liberty Media (LMDIA): 0.68% of portfolio
19. Centennial Communications (CYCL): 0.66% of portfolio
20. St. Jude (STJ): 0.54% of portfolio