Here's What Hedge Funds Bought in Q3

Portfolio updates on Druckenmiller, Tepper, the Tiger Cubs, and more

Nov 19, 2024

The latest round of 13F filings has officially arrived.

As usual, several hedge fund made noteworthy moves. For starters, Altimeter bought back into Tesla (TSLA) after selling out during the previous quarter. On top of that, a Tiger Cub sold out of his entire $3+ billion Nvidia (NVDA) position, although with a caveat.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett revealed Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) and Pool Corp. (POOL) as new positions while David Tepper boosted his exposure to China yet again.

Let’s start with the Tiger Cubs, the most well-known group of hedge funds on Wall Street.

Tiger Cubs 13F Activity

Amazon (AMZN) was the only company with a Tiger Cub ownership rating of 100% for a third quarter in a row, while Meta Platforms (META) had the highest average portfolio weight at 8.74%.

Phillip Morris (PM) and Vistra (VST) stand out as the only non-tech companies on the list.

David Goel was the Tiger Cub that sold his $3+ billion position in Nvidia. The catch is that Goel is shutting down his hedge fund, Matrix Capital, after a 25-year run due to health issues. Matrix has already began the process of returning capital to its clients by selling out of its positions. Because of this, I have chosen to remove Matrix from the list.

Let’s all wish Goel a smooth recovery and a happy retirement!

Despite the sale, the AI theme continues to make up a large portion of Tiger Cub holdings with Nvidia at an average of 5.52% and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) at 5.19%.

That’s especially the case for Glen Kacher’s Light Street, which is one of the top-performing hedge funds this year, returning 53% as of October.

You can read more about the top hedge funds of 2024 here:

The Top Hedge Funds of 2024 (So Far)

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July 15, 2024

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NVDA accounted for 16.49% of Kacher’s portfolio, while TSM added another 14.24%. If that wasn’t enough, Kacher also increased his AMD stake by 57%, making it his third-largest position with a 9.03% allocation. Information technology companies now make up 78.60% of Light Street’s holdings compared to 59.96% a year ago.

Light Street & Glen Kacher - Entire 13F Portfolio

Elsewhere, Tiger Global’s Chase Coleman took on three new positions during the quarter: Flutter Entertainment (FLUT), Charles Schwab (SCHW), and Coupang (CPNG). Please note that FLUT shows up as PDYPF in the image below, as that is what Flutter used to trade as before being listed on the NYSE.

META remains Coleman’s top position, while Microsoft (MSFT) tallies in at #2. Tiger Global completely exited DexCom (DXCM) and Astera Labs (ALAB) while selling 97.98% of its StoneCo (STNE) position and 58.15% of long-time holding JD.com (JD).

Tiger Global & Chase Coleman - Top 25 13F Positions

Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global made some interesting plays as well, revealing new positions in Visa (V), Bank of America (BAC), and FLUT. In addition, Viking boosted its existing Spotify (SPOT) position by 442.68%. SPOT has been a major winner this year with a 140% return.

Andreas Halvorsen & Viking Global - Top 25 13F Positions

Stanley Druckenmiller - Duquesne Family Office

Number of Positions: 75

Top New Positions: KRE, AVGO, ASND, NVT, STX calls

Top Buys: NTRA, KRE, AVGO, ASND, NVT

Top Sales: VST, MSFT, KMI, GEV, MAA

Average 13F Holding Period: 2.33 quarters

Coherent (COHR), which was Druckenmiller’s largest position last quarter, fell to #3 as genetic testing company Natera (NTRA) took home the first place spot. NTRA was Druckenmiller’s top buy during Q3 with a 80.61% position increase. Coupang (CPNG) remained Duquesne’s second-largest position.

During Q3, Druckenmiller completely exited his NVDA position, selling out of 214,060 shares. He owned 6.17 million shares as of the beginning of the year and had sold 96.5% of those shares by June 30.

“I've made so many mistake in my investment career, one of them was I sold all my Nvidia probably somewhere between $800 and $950.”
“Yes, I think Nvidia is a wonderful company and were the price to come down we'd get involved again. But right now, I'm licking my wounds from a bad sale there.”
-Druckenmiller, October 2024

Druckenmiller also reduced his exposure to AI beneficiaries MSFT, COHR, and VST while taking on new positions in AVGO and NVT.

“We're very bullish on AI, but we're not bullish currently on it exactly where we're supposed to be and how to play it aggressively. Not unlike the internet in 2000, 2001, you could've believed in the internet, not been exposed, and then got your exposure on a more timely basis. Or, I could just be wrong, which wouldn't be that unusual.”
Druckenmiller, November 2024

Overall, Druckenmiller seems to be taking on a cautious stance given that his invested capital declined by 11.56% QoQ. That isn’t entirely surprising when considering the generous market returns this year. At the same time, he also initiated a new position in the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE), making it his seventh-largest position.

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Chinese Stocks - Top Hedge Funds Continue to Add Exposure

Appaloosa’s David Tepper made headlines during Q1 after betting 25% of his 13F portfolio on Chinese stocks. Tepper has only grown more bullish since then with Chinese stocks now accounting for 38% of his portfolio. BABA, PDD, and JD alone total 30.72% of his portfolio.

David Tepper & Appaloosa - Top 25 13F Positions

In a September interview, Tepper noted that he was buying “everything” when it comes to China.

“This is incredible stuff for that place, okay? So, it’s everything. Now, I would love to see a pullback, because my newfound limit, which might’ve been twice my old found limit…I would have another newfound limit in a pullback if I see these [stimulus measures] absolutely be implemented.
“You can look at these names and you’re talking about single-digit P/E multiples with double-digit cash. You have some of these stocks with 50% cash.”
-Tepper, September 2024

Tiger Cub Philippe Laffont and Coatue Management joined in as well. The hedge fund initiated 14 new positions during Q3. Five of the new positions were Chinese stocks: KWEB, FXI, NTES, TAL, and EDU. Coatue also owns PDD, JD, and BABA, and increased his exposure to all three companies during the quarter.

Philippe Laffont & Coatue - Top 25 13F Positions

With a 3-year return of 97.57%, according to HedgeFollow, Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management continued to increase its China exposure. However, Burry also bought downside protection on JD, BABA and BIDU.

Michael Burry & Scion Asset Management - Entire 13F Portfolio

Other Q3 buyers of Chinese stocks include:

-Altimeter: KWEB, FUTU

-Baillie Gifford: PDD

-Bridgewater: BABA

-Dragoneer: PDD, BZ

-PRIMECAP Management: BABA, BIDU

-Soros Fund Management - BABA, BABA calls, JD

-SRS Investment Management: PDD, BEKE

-Whale Rock - PDD

CrowdStrike - Top Hedge Funds Buy the Dip

Back in August, CrowdStrike (CRWD) plummeted by 49% following an incident that resulted in the “blue screen of death” across millions of Microsoft computers across the world.

However, the global outage wasn’t attributed to a breach or hack. Rather, it was caused by a faulty software update. As a result, the outage didn’t threaten the security or efficiency of CrowdStrike's cybersecurity products.

While both retail and institutional investors were panic selling, top hedge funds were buying the dip. To name a few:

-Sequoia Capital bought 462,000 shares

-Whale Rock bought 247,014 shares

-Crosslink Capital bought 62,745 shares

-Baillie Gifford bought 37,435 shares

-Soros Fund Management bought 35,278 shares

-Discovery Capital bought 33,300 shares

During Q3, CrowdStrike ownership among all institutional investors fell by 7.51% while hedge fund ownership dropped by a significant 16.69%.