During Friday’s stock sell-off, Sotheby’s (BID) held its $40 price floor suggesting there are buyers at the crucial support/ceiling level. Nonetheless, at least one fund manager doesn’t see the logic in the stock at that level or above considering the strong valuation against earnings:

Art aficionado Christopher Tsai, 39, who runs Tsai Capital, a much smaller hedge fund in New York — and owns 40 works, considered one of the world’s largest collections, by the world-famous Ai Weiwei of China — had this advice for Loeb: Get real.

Tsai doesn’t see a lot of value in Sotheby’s stock, regardless of any future window dressing and the recent sell-off.

“This is a cyclical name, and one is paying 18 times 2014 earnings for a company that is producing close to record revenue and healthy earnings,” Tsai told The Post.

“That’s a lot different than paying 18 times for trough earnings. For that reason, despite any change that Loeb may facilitate, [Loeb’s] investment could wind up taking a long time before paying off in a meaningful way.”

Hedgie not sold on Loeb for Sotheby (New York Post)