Bets Generating Big Returns for Top Investment Gurus in 2012

John Paulson

John Paulson started off with Paulson & Co in 1994. He turned out to be eminent for his bets against subprime mortgages. Prior to that he was comparatively unknown and pursuing a merger arbitrage strategy with mediocre returns. He made $5 billion by betting on gold in 2010. His best bets are Bank of America, 32.7 percent; Citi, 14 percent; Capital One, 11.6 percent.

Though Paulson is not a great stock picker, his strength is in macro-themed investments. He never picks a single or a couple of stocks from a sector. He picks a bunch of stocks from each sector in which he invests.