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Billionaire Dan Loeb Pivots to AI and Sells Old Economy Stocks: His Top 7 AI Picks

Billionaire Dan Loeb is a hedge fund manager who made his name through activist investing and event-driven strategies. His firm, Third Point’s flagship offshore fund, returned 24% in 2024. Loeb’s investment philosophy has evolved from pure activism toward a broader mix that now includes credit, macro themes, and AI-driven opportunities.

In an interview on the “Invest Like The Best” podcast earlier this year, Loeb discussed how he has started paying closer attention to tech and AI stocks. He explained that instead of purely focusing on mispriced securities and sticking strictly to traditional value investing principles, he now also considers business quality, long-term compounders, and broader structural trends shaping the market.

“There was a time when you could say I’m just going to punt on tech and focus on industrials and consumer and healthcare or whatever,” Loeb said. “I think you have to be a tech person today. It’s such a it’s a big and growing and compounding part of the economy. It affects everything else.”

Loeb said that AI is not a bubble because the massive CapEx will ultimately lead to real results and that spending is supported by earnings and real-world use cases. He added that many AI stocks, including Nvidia, remain attractive even after strong gains, given their continued growth and improving fundamentals.

“Unless you are really draconian or negative and you think that somehow the AI world is going to roll over in 31 or 32, I think it’s the most attractive sector right now,” Loeb said. “It’s where the bulk of our capital is invested. It’s very different from the dot com bubble.”

In Q1, Loeb significantly cut or fully exited several old economy and economically sensitive stocks as part of a broad portfolio rotation. He sharply reduced exposure to industrial and infrastructure names such as Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, while also trimming positions in MasTec and Carpenter Technology. Financial exposure was also cut, with Capital One significantly reduced. At the same time, he scaled back reopening and consumer-linked names like Live Nation Entertainment and SharkNinja, alongside a major reduction in several other cyclical winners from the previous market cycle.

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. Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 599.2% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 372 percentage points (see more details here).

Dan Loeb of Third Point

7. Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Stake: 50,000 Shares Valued at Approximately $15.48 Million (NEW Position)

Broadcom’s (NASDAQ:AVGO) stock got hammered after its recent earnings, despite a genuinely strong quarter — analysts say it’s because expectations had simply run too far ahead of reality. The stock had already gained over 60% in the months leading into the print, with the market pricing in not just strong results but an upgraded outlook. What it got instead was confirmation of the same targets already communicated last quarter, with no upward revision. This was despite AI revenue growing 143% year over year, AI bookings exceeding $30 billion against shipments of only $10.8 billion, and Q3 guidance pointing to AI revenue growth of over 200% year over year.

The bigger shock came when management guided gross margins down to 74% from 77% — a 310 basis point compression in a single quarter — as the revenue mix shifts toward lower-margin hardware. This stung particularly hard because Broadcom’s (NASDAQ:AVGO) CEO had explicitly told investors just last quarter that margins would hold firm.

Bears believe margin pressure will only grow as the ASIC business scales, and that Google — Broadcom’s (NASDAQ:AVGO) largest customer — has already begun diversifying its custom chip sourcing to MediaTek and Marvell, introducing competitive pricing pressure that could further erode margins over time.

Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund stated the following regarding Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

“Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) was weak for the quarter as higher inflation led investors to fear a slowdown in hyperscaler spending. This led to lower spending on custom silicon, the main reason for Broadcom’s strength over the last couple of years. We believe Broadcom still has some of the best tech in the space and will be one of the biggest winners from AI.”

6. ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)

Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Stake: 12,000 Shares Valued at Approximately $15.85 Million (NEW position)

ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) makes the machines used to print chips — without its equipment, companies like TSMC, Samsung, and Intel simply cannot manufacture advanced semiconductors. It is the only company in the world that produces EUV lithography machines, the technology required to build the most cutting-edge chips at 2nm and beyond. But this is no hidden secret — everyone knows it, and that has swelled the stock’s valuation considerably. The stock has rallied 152% from its 2025 lows and now trades at around 51x earnings, well above its 15-year average of 34x.

Bears argue that the semiconductor industry is deeply cyclical — chipmakers expand aggressively when prices are high, then pull back as new capacity floods the market and demand normalizes. Some believe that sooner or later the AI semiconductor cycle will slow down, and that could deflate valuations sharply, as it has in previous cycles. However, despite this, billionaire Dan Loeb opened a stake in the company — like many others who believe the AI revolution is still in its early innings and that ASML Holding’s (NASDAQ:ASML) monopoly position makes it one of the most durable ways to play it.

Brown Advisory Global Leaders Strategy stated the following regarding ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

“ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML), develops, manufactures and markets EUV & DUV lithography systems, metrology and inspection systems & related software solutions, continued to benefit from the build-out of AI infrastructure, maintaining a strong order backlog and positive indications regarding the adoption of High-NA tools required for the production of leading-edge nodes (2 nm and below), where ASML holds a monopoly position in Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.”

While we acknowledge the potential of ASML to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ASML and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

Click to continue reading and see Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Top 5 AI Stock Picks.

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The $250 Trillion AI Hype is Real. A few years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this stock.

Dr. Inan Dogan

Dr. Ian Dogan

Co-Founder and Research Director at Insider Monkey

When Jeff Bezos said that one breakthrough technology would shape Amazon’s destiny, even Wall Street’s biggest analysts were caught off guard.

Fast forward a year and Amazon’s new CEO Andy Jassy described generative AI as a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that is already being used across Amazon to reinvent customer experiences.

At the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, Elon Musk predicted that by 2040 there would be at least 10 billion humanoid robots, with each priced between $20,000 and $25,000.

Do the math. According to Musk, this technology could be worth $250 trillion by 2040.

Put another way, that’s roughly equal to:

  • 175 Teslas
  • 107 Amazons
  • 140 Metas
  • 84 Googles
  • 65 Microsofts
  • And 55 Nvidias

And here’s the wild part — this $250 trillion wave isn’t tied to one company, but to an entire ecosystem of AI innovators set to reshape the global economy.

It’s a leap so massive, it could reshape how businesses, governments, and consumers operate worldwide.

Even if that $250 trillion figure sounds ambitious, major firms like PwC and McKinsey still see AI unlocking multi-trillion-dollar potential.

How could anything be worth that much?

The answer lies in a breakthrough so powerful it’s redefining how humanity works, learns, and creates.

And this breakthrough has already set off a frenzy among hedge funds and Wall Street’s top investors.

What most investors don’t realize is that one under-owned company holds the key to this $250 trillion revolution.

In fact, Verge argues this company’s supercheap AI technology should concern rivals.

Before I reveal the details, let’s talk about how some of the richest people on the planet are positioning themselves.

  • Bill Gates sees artificial intelligence as the “biggest technological advance in my lifetime,” more transformative than the internet or personal computer, capable of improving healthcare, education, and addressing climate change.
  • Larry Ellison — through Oracle, is spending billions on Nvidia chips and partnering with Cohere to embed generative AI across Oracle’s cloud and apps.
  • Warren Buffett — not known for tech hype — says this breakthrough could have a ‘hugely beneficial social impact.

When billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street line up behind the same idea — you know it’s worth paying attention to.

Even as we admire what Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft have built, we believe an even greater opportunity lies elsewhere…

But the real story isn’t Nvidia — it’s a much smaller company quietly improving the critical technology that makes this entire revolution possible.

And judging by what I’m hearing from both Silicon Valley insiders and Wall Street veterans…

This prediction might not be bold at all:

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Dr. Inan Dogan

Dr. Ian Dogan

Co-Founder and Research Director at Insider Monkey

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