By Rachael Levy 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (August 15, 2018).

A top stock pick of hedge-fund manager David Einhorn was stung this week by the loss of a crucial case in California, the latest potential setback for the billionaire investor.

Shares in Bayer AG fell sharply on Monday after Monsanto Co. -- which the German chemical company recently acquired -- was ordered to pay $289.2 million in a landmark lawsuit over whether exposure to two of its weed killers caused cancer. The ruling by a California state jury on Friday found that Monsanto's Roundup and Ranger Pro products presented a "substantial danger" to consumers, and that the St. Louis-based company knew -- or should have known -- the potential risks they posed.

Bayer is among the top recent holdings at Mr. Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, according to a client update reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Bayer and four other holdings -- Brighthouse Financial Inc., General Motors Co., gold and Green Brick Partners Inc. -- were Mr. Einhorn's top five positions standing to benefit from a rise in price, according to the document.

Greenlight Capital has had a rough few years, with investors pulling money from the firm. A fund that roughly tracks Greenlight's flagship strategy fell 18.2% this year through the end of July, according to the recent update sent to clients.

"Over the past three years, our results have been far worse than we could have imagined, and it's been a bull market to boot," Mr. Einhorn wrote in a separate recent letter. "Right now the market is telling us we are wrong, wrong, wrong about nearly everything."

Separately Tuesday, Greenlight released its latest 13-F filing, which disclosed the firm's positions at the end of the second quarter.

In the filing, Greenlight Capital said it slashed its positions in Twitter Inc. and Apple Inc. from the end of the first to second quarter of this year. Both technology stocks have risen this year. Greenlight's current positions couldn't be learned.

The firm dropped its Apple stake by about 77%, from 628,100 shares at the end of the first quarter to 142,100 at the end of the second quarter, the filings show.

The firm slashed its Twitter position by about 36%, from about 2.5 million shares at the end of the first quarter to about 1.6 million shares at the end of the second quarter, the filings show.

Bayer, whose shares are down about 10% since last Friday, said Monday that the jury's verdict was "at odds with the weight of scientific evidence, decades of real world experience and the conclusions of regulators around the world." It also noted that the verdict remains subject to post-trial motions and an appeal.

Mr. Einhorn has been pushing a bet that shares in Tesla Inc., the carmaker run by Elon Musk, will fall. Tesla shares rose last week after Mr. Musk tweeted that he had "financing secured" for a deal to take Tesla private at $420 a share. In the last week, shares have fallen back and recently traded at about $354.

The value of an investment in Mr. Einhorn's main fund was down 11.3% at the end of 2017 from the end of 2014. The S&P 500 rose 38.3%, including dividends, in the same period. The average stock-focused hedge fund gained 18.3% in the period, according to HFR, a firm that tracks hedge funds.

Write to Rachael Levy at rachael.levy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 15, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)