tepper

But because he sometimes places more than half of his portfolio in a single trade idea, Mr. Tepper also is prone to brutal, abrupt losses.

Mr. Tepper says he was told that he was the only big investor doing much buying .

One day in late winter, Mr. Tepper heard from a skeptical client of his own, Mr. Shealy.

But so many investors complained that Mr. Tepper was straying from his roots in debt investing that he canceled his bets.

Mr. Tepper says the worrywarts have it wrong: 'If you think the economy will be fine, as we do, then we're going to do very well. '

Scepticism about Geithner's approach sent Wall Street stocks tumbling but Tepper took a view that banks were oversold.

Over several weeks, Mr. Tepper's team bought a variety of bank investments, including debt, preferred shares and common shares.

On Feb. 10 of this year, Mr. Tepper read that the Treasury Department was introducing the so-called Financial Stability Plan.

Mr. Tepper sold large chunks of his holdings, fearing a market tumble.

Through February and March, Mr. Tepper scooped up beaten-down bank shares as many investors were running for the exits.

After he was repeatedly passed over for a partnership, Mr. Tepper left Goldman to start Appaloosa in 1993.

When Asian markets crumbled in 1997, Mr. Tepper added Korean stocks to a portfolio laden with Russian debt.

Mr. Tepper entered 2009 cautiously, with more than 30% of his firm's assets in cash, or more than $2 billion.

She eventually married and at age 43 lives in Miami with her husband, Ray Tepper, a contractor, and their two young daughters.

The news from the Treasury Department struck Mr. Tepper as proof that the government would stand behind the banks.

After Mr. Bolin, the Appaloosa executive, urged caution, Mr. Tepper did some selling to lock in gains.

If Tepper is feeling in a charitable mood, Third World debt is a trendy gift.

Mr. Tepper insisted that stimulus spending and low interest rates would boost the economy.

A resurgent market has helped Mr. Tepper's firm, Appaloosa Management, gain about 120% after the firm's fees, through early December.

Mr. Tepper got on the phone to make more trades, something he often left to subordinates.

By late March of 2009, Citigroup shares had tripled, and Mr. Tepper's other holdings, including junk bonds, were rising.

'I felt like I was alone, ' Mr. Tepper recalls. On some days, he says, 'no one was even bidding. '

Still, Mr. Shealy, who runs an investment firm in Boise, Idaho, stuck with Mr. Tepper.

When the Nasdaq collapsed months later, Mr. Tepper fumed.

Mr. Tepper says his average cost for shares of Citigroup was 79 cents; for Bank of America it was $3. 72.

Mr. Tepper lives in a two-story home in New Jersey he bought in 1990 for $1. 2 million.

Mr. Tepper's largest fund dropped 25% for 2008, worse than the industry's 19% average decline.

Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University