Here's What Hedge Funds Bought in Q2
Here's What Hedge Funds Bought in Q2
Dive into the portfolios of Druckenmiller, Tepper, the Tiger Cubs, and more
Another 13F deadline has come and gone, providing retail investors with the equity and options positions of institutional investors with over $100 million in AUM as of the end of Q2.
There were several interesting trades among the hedge funds that I track. For starters, Stanley Druckenmiller sold another 88% of his stake in Nvidia (NVDA) after selling 72% in Q1. He’s sold 96.5% of his position since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, Bill Ackman disclosed new stakes in Nike (NKE) and Brookfield (BN) while Warren Buffett revealed a new position in Ulta (ULTA).
Let’s first take a look at the Tiger Cubs, the most well-known group of hedge funds on Wall Street.
Tiger Cubs 13F Activity
For a second quarter in a row, Amazon (AMZN) was the only company with a Tiger Cub ownership rating of 100%, while Nvidia had the highest average portfolio weight at 9.83%.
Phillip Morris (PM) and UnitedHealth (UNH) stand out as the only non-tech companies on the list. PM, which made the list for a second consecutive quarter, likely caught the Tiger’s eye due to the massive success of its Zyn nicotine pouches and IQOS heated tobacco units.
Viking Global was a bit late to the party and was the only Tiger Cub to start a new position in NVDA during Q2. Matrix Capital’s stake in the semiconductor giant remained unchanged QoQ, tallying in at a significant weight of 25%.
During Q1, a common theme among institutional investors was taking profits on NVDA. That theme was less pronounced during Q2. In fact, aggregate 13F ownership of NVDA increased by 0.15% in Q2 compared to a decline of 3.76% in Q1.
Hedge funds, a subset of 13F filers, reduced their ownership by 3.35% in Q2 following a 5.76% reduction in Q1.
Several other notable funds still have NVDA in their top 5 positions. These include Baillie Gifford, Whale Rock, and D.E. Shaw. At the same time, these three funds sold at least 20% of their stake during Q2. You really can’t blame them, as NVDA was up by 192% YoY as of June 30.
Light Street, which led all hedge funds with a 54.6% YTD during the first half of the year, reduced its NVDA stake by 26%. NVDA remains its #1 position with a 16.35% portfolio allocation.
Instacart (CART) dropped off the list after making the cut with a consensus rating of 50% and an average weight of 4.98% in Q1. CART returned 34% YTD as of the end of Q2.
Stanley Druckenmiller - Duquesne Family Office
Total Positions: 64
Top New Positions: PM calls, MAA, PM, CPT, PDYPF
Top Buys: PM calls, MAA, PM, COHR, CPT
Top Sales: IWM calls, MSFT, CPNG, NVDA, TECK
Average 13F Holding Period: 2.73 quarters
Coherent (COHR), which was a new buy for Druckenmiller last quarter, has become Duquesne’s largest position following a YTD gain of 85% and a 42% position increase in Q2.
As with the Tiger Cubs, PM also caught his eye. PM calls were Duquesne’s largest purchase on a notional basis during the quarter, while PM was his third top buy.
On the other hand, Druckenmiller completely sold out of his IWM calls, which were his largest, and also a new, position as of Q1. This trade evidences his high turnover rate and top 10 position average 13F holding period of just 2.1 quarters.
Druckenmiller started a new position in MercadoLibre (MELI) during the quarter, picking up 36,493 shares and making it his 16th largest position. MELI is currently the largest position within the Hedge Vision portfolio.
Let’s just be happy that his 2022 call for a flat market over the next decade hasn’t materialized:
“There’s a high probability in my mind that the market, at best, is going to be kind of flat for 10 years, sort of like this ’66 to ’82 time period.”
“The nice thing is, there were companies that did very, very well in that environment back then. That’s when Apple Computer was founded, Home Depot was founded.”
“When I look back at the bull market that we’ve had in financial assets really starting in 1982…all the factors that created that not only have stopped, they’ve reversed.”
-Druckenmiller in a September 2022 interview
Saudi Arabia’s PIF Continues Its Wild Options Bets
Last quarter, I reported that the Public Investment Fund (PIF) had disclosed 13F options holdings for the first time while dumping its equity stake in 25 companies.
These bets continued into Q2, as PIF’s top buys were calls on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), PayPal (PYPL), and Microsoft (MSFT). It sold its equity stake in both MSFT and AMD in Q1.
Total Positions: 38
Top New Positions: ALUR warrants
Top Buys: AMD calls, PYPL calls, MSFT calls, META calls, NU
Top Sales: BKNG calls, CMI, V, SBUX calls, ADBE calls
Average 13F Holding Period: 7.29 quarters
PIF has one of the most unusual portfolios on Wall Street, as its holdings align more closely with a retail trader rather than a multibillion sovereign wealth fund.
From its options positions, its clear that PIF is bullish on the future of tech and AI. Its ARM calls, which were a new position last quarter, are now its fifth largest position on a notional basis.
Furthermore, PIF has continued to plow money into luxury EV company Lucid (LCID). Earlier this month, PIF agreed to provide the company with another $1.5 billion of capital, bringing its ownership to about 70%.
Its other transportation bet, Uber (UBER), has done well during the past year with a return of 65%. PIF invested $3.5 billion into the ride-sharing company privately in 2016.
David Tepper - Appaloosa
Total Positions: 38
Top New Positions: None
Top Buys: LYFT, KWEB, JD, FXI, UBER
Top Sales: NVDA, MSFT, META, AMZN, MSFT
Average 13F Holding Period: 9.62 quarters
Tepper emerged as a major China bull last quarter with 25% of his 13F portfolio invested in Chinese stocks. That figure has since increased to 26%, signaling his conviction toward the second largest economy in the world.
BABA remains Appaloosa’s largest 13F position despite a 6.67% position reduction. Tepper followed that up with big buys in the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI), and JD (JD).
Similar to Druckenmiller, Tepper is the process of unloading NVDA. He sold 84% of his position, marking his largest sale during Q2. That follows a 44% position reduction during Q1.
In fact, Tepper seems to be in the process of deleveraging his tech holdings, selling out of at least 10% of his position in MSFT, META, AMD, QCOM, and more.
13F Filings From Top Hedge Funds
For the readers who prefer to just view 13Fs, here are 10 filings from top performing hedge funds:
Berkshire Hathaway - Warren Buffett
Total Positions: 43
Top New Positions: ULTA, HEI.A
Top Buys: OXY, CB, SIRI, ULTA, HEI.A
Top Sales: AAPL, SNOW, CVX, COF, TMUS
Average 13F Holding Period: 23.61 quarters
SRS Investment Management - Karthik Sarma
Total Positions: 22
Top New Positions: UNH, HPE, UAL, TXG, RBLX
Top Buys: BURL, UNH, SNAP, HPE, TEAM
Top Sales: AMD, DDOG, AAL, LAD, CAR
Average 13F Holding Period: 10 quarters
SCGE Management - Jeff Wang
Total Positions: 19
Top New Positions: ETN, MU, LCID
Top Buys: CPNG, ETN, MU, NU, LCID
Top Sales: AMD, NVDA, MSFT, SHOP, FTNT
Average 13F Holding Period: 12.11 quarters
Whale Rock - Alex Sacerdote
Total Positions: 39
Top New Positions: GOOGL, AVGO, CPNG, PINS, QCOM
Top Buys: AVGO, GOOGL, CLS, CPNG, PINS
Top Sales: NVDA, CRM, AMZN, META, MRVL
Average 13F Holding Period: 5.31 quarters
TCI Fund Management - Chris Hohn
Total Positions: 10
Top New Positions: FER
Top Buys: GOOGL, FER, SPGI, MCO
Top Sales: GE, TMO
Average 13F Holding Period: 20.3 quarters
Dorsey Asset Management - Pat Dorsey
Total Positions: 11
Top New Positions: SPT
Top Buys: SPT, AZO
Top Sales: GOOG, WIX, META, SEMR, SMAR
Average 13F Holding Period: 14.18 quarters
Pershing Square - Bill Ackman
Total Positions: 10
Top New Positions: BN, NKE, SEG (SEG was disclosed in a 13D submitted after Q2 on August 7. It’s a spin-off of Howard Hughes, another one of Ackman’s holdings.)
Top Buys: BN, NKE, SEG, QSR
Top Sales: CMG, GOOG, GOOGL, HLT, QSR
Average 13F Holding Period: 18.33 quarters
Third Point - Dan Loeb
Total Positions: 44
Top New Positions: AAPL, APH, KBH, ROP, LYV
Top Buys: AAPL, APH, TSM, KBH, ROP
Top Sales: GOOGL, SPGI, MRVL, GS, WCC
Average 13F Holding Period: 5.2 quarters
Light Street - Glen Kacher
Total Positions: 26
Top New Positions: CLS, DELL, ADSK, AAPL, BE
Top Buys: CLS, DELL, ADSK, AAPL, BE
Top Sales: AVGO, NVDA, MSFT, GOOGL, MELI
Average 13F Holding Period: 3.77 quarters
Foxhaven Asset Management - Michael Pausic
Total Positions: 19
Top New Positions: None
Top Buys: TEAM, MELI, AMZN, PYPL, FERG
Top Sales: INTU, RCI, FOUR, YOU, LLYVK
Average 13F Holding Period: 12.26 quarters
Hedge Vision - Institutional Insights
Thanks for reading!
📖 Join the conversation on Substack Chat
🕊️ Get real-time insights on X/Twitter: @HedgeVision
📧 Old school is cool too: HedgeVisions@gmail.com
Outstanding work sir. This is clearly a huge undertaking on your behalf in time and effort. It’s such a valuable source of information that allows us to see what the Hedge Funds have been buying and selling all in one place - impeccable analysis. 👌
It’s fascinating to see how Druckenmiller and Tepper are adjusting their portfolios, especially with the dramatic movements in Nvidia. Given Druckenmiller's massive reduction in NVDA and Tepper’s shift toward Chinese investments, what do you think these shifts signal about the future of tech stocks, especially AI and semiconductors? Are these moves showing caution, or is it part of a larger strategy that retail investors should be paying attention to? Would love to hear your thoughts on how retail investors should interpret these plays!