David Tepper, the billionaire hedge- fund manager who runs Appaloosa Management LP, said stock markets are not inflated, as economies in the U.S., Europe and China are on “firm ground.”

“I know there’s talk about bubbles — this is not one,” Tepper said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Stephanie Ruhle at the Robin Hood Investors Conference in New York Thursday.

Tepper said his returns before fees this year are “well into the 40s.” In January, he said investors should own U.S. stocks because they were historically inexpensive, companies had little debt and interest rates were low. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose to a record this month, gaining 26 percent in 2013.

Appaloosa, based in Short Hills, New Jersey, manages about $20 billion.