In this article, we will take a look at Billionaire Cliff Asness’ 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential.

Cliff Asness, the founder, managing principal, and chief investment officer of AQR Capital Management, is a well-known figure in the world of finance. Starting with a $10 million commitment from a small group of investors in 1995, Asness was able to boost the Goldman Sachs Global Alpha Fund’s assets to more than $100 million in just a handful of months. Cliff Asness’ investment strategies, which focus on value and momentum, have delivered exceptional returns for AQR, setting him apart from his fellow hedge fund managers. As a testament, the fund has produced positive returns over the last three years, with its greatest year in 2022, when it returned 43.5%.

The first quarter of 2025 continued that momentum. As Wall Street grappled with increased volatility resulting from President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff policy, AQR Capital Management outperformed the market by 9%. The firm’s Apex strategy, a $3 billion multi-strategy fund that includes equities, macro, and arbitrage trades, rose 3.4% in March, adding to its strong quarterly performance. Meanwhile, AQR’s Delphi Long-Short Equity Strategy returned 9.7%, while its trend-following Helix strategy gained 3% during the same period.

Cliff Asness has repeatedly stated that he is not an admirer of Bitcoin. In a recent CNBC interview, the hedge fund manager voiced pessimism about Bitcoin, claiming that it had no realistic use case, although he did not rule out the possibility that the leading cryptocurrency has formed a bubble. Back in February, the billionaire stated that Bitcoin and the S&P 500, were basically “the same thing” with varying amounts of volatility. Asness has also questioned the notion that Bitcoin must be seen as a store of value simply because it has a limited supply.

The billionaire seemed even more critical of the idea of a cryptocurrency reserve, a stance that sharply contrasts with President Donald Trump’s. In a piece written for The Free Press, the money manager stated his thoughts about the President’s executive order:

“I’ve been managing money for 33 years now with some modest success. While there are some worthy competitors, it’s hard for me to remember a much worse idea than the U.S. launching a “strategic cryptocurrency reserve.” Nevertheless, on Thursday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for just such a fund. David Sacks—Trump’s crypto czar—tweeted that the reserve would be “like a digital Fort Knox,” perhaps forgetting that the U.S. has been off the gold standard since 1933. In any case, his words do not diminish my scorn for this dangerous boondoggle, as I will explain below.

A sovereign wealth fund for the U.S., which President Trump has also begun planning, is inappropriate, unneeded, likely harmful, and potentially quite corrupt. But a strategic cryptocurrency reserve looks at a “normal” sovereign wealth fund and says, “Hold my beer,” as we are going to plaid.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we examined AQR Capital Management’s Q4 2024 13F filings to list down billionaire Cliff Asness’ stock picks with the highest upside potential. We ranked the companies in ascending order of their upside potential. These equities are also popular among elite hedge funds.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

10. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

AQR Capital Management’s Q4 Stake: $533 million

Upside Potential as of April 26: 26.57%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 91

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company specializes in prescription pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biologic medicines, and animal health products.

On April 22, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) with a Neutral rating and a $85 price target. The firm’s report emphasized Merck’s poor performance over the previous year, highlighting a 37% fall compared to the 14% reduction in the broader biotech index. The assessment indicated a recalibration of expectations for Gardasil in China, bringing the company’s reliance on Keytruda and post-2028 growth prospects into sharp focus.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) reported a 7% gain in first-quarter adjusted profits, as lower expenses offset a 2% drop in sales, which was attributed in part to the company’s January decision to halt Gardasil vaccine shipments to China amid weaker demand. The drugmaker reported adjusted earnings of $5.61 billion, or $2.22 per share, which came above analyst projections of $2.14. While global sales fell 2% to $15.5 billion, they still exceeded the average projection of $15.3 billion.

9. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

AQR Capital Management’s Q4 Stake: $660.47 million

Upside Potential as of April 26: 27.03%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 161

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is a global technology company with a strong presence in hardware and software. The company’s primary focus is on networking and custom chips for various applications.

In the first quarter of 2025, Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s Semiconductor Solutions revenue climbed by 11% year-over-year, mainly due to a 77% growth in AI revenue. This AI revenue is expected to rise by 44% in the second quarter as hyperscale clients spend heavily on next-generation AI models.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) announced on April 7 that it was starting a new buyback program of up to $10 billion that would continue until the end of the year, sending its shares up about 3% in extended trading. CEO Hock Tan stated that the move indicates confidence in the company’s semiconductor and infrastructure software franchises, notably its leadership in artificial intelligence-related projects.

Renaissance Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) was another large contributor in the quarter after reporting solid operating results. The company presented an optimistic outlook, driven by its dominant position in artificial intelligence application-specific chipsets. In addition, the company should continue to benefit from its leading position in several end markets including data centers and cloud infrastructure, which have favorable secular growth trends. Broadcom is also seeing margin expansion and improved visibility, as the mix of software revenues increases, following the acquisition of VMWare.”