In this article, we discuss Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater’s 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential.
Up until February 18, 2025, the stock market seemed poised to replicate the 2020-2022 bull run. Save for slight corrections in April and August of 2024, the market was in a general upside trend. And investors expected the trend to intensify, thanks to the Trump effect. But before President Trump’s re-election, some voices, including that of Ray Dalio, pointed out the potential risks of this presidency to the market.
Ray Dalio established Bridgewater Associates in 1975. But as of 2025, the billionaire investor isn’t part of the hedge fund’s key management. He currently acts as co-chief investment officer (CIO) mentor and member of the Bridgewater Board. Dalio also runs his family office, the Dalio Family Office, which manages over $15 billion in assets. He also does philanthropy work and he hasn’t stepped away from sharing his economic and investment insights through books, interviews, and social media.
Bridgewater has grown to become the largest and most renowned investment firm in the world. Over the past 10 years, the fund has returned 39.40%, and 17.30% over the past 12 months. However, just like Dalio predicted, the Trump administration’s policies could jeopardize Bridgewater’s ability to reward investors.
Since taking office for the second term, Trump has made tariffs a key part of his government’s economic policy. He issued an executive order on his first day in office and threatened 25% tariffs on all goods from China, Canada, and Mexico. The tariffs escalated through Liberation Day in April. All this time, the S&P 500 was taking one hit after another. For instance, the broad market index pulled back 12% between April 2 and April 8, 2025. April 2 happens to be the day of Trump’s Liberation Day speech that marked a major tariff escalation.
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Although the equity market appears to be correcting as of May 1, 2025 (the S&P 500 is up 12% since April 8), Dalio believes that Trump’s tariffs have wrought irreversible damage. According to a post on X on Monday, Dalio said that many of his indicators tell him that “we are on the brink of the monetary order, the domestic political and the international world orders breaking down due to unsustainable, bad fundamentals.”
While appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show recently, Dalio sustained his dissatisfaction with Trump’s tariffs. According to the billionaire investor, President Trump’s actions are pushing the US to the brink of recession, or potentially “something worse.” He specifically pointed out the chaotic implementation of tariffs, which have caused global market volatility and economic uncertainty.
If Dalio is trying to say that the market is spooked, he is not wrong. According to the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX (which measures market sentiment), investors are very frightened. The index rose to the highest level in five years after the Liberation Day speech but climbed down afterward. Nevertheless, the index is still up 14% from where it was 30 days ago.
Amid the heightened fear in the equities market, Dalio’s Bridgewater continues to register gains. In Q1 2025 alone, the fund rose 9.9%. That the fund can post such growth in a difficult market speaks volumes about its management. This is why it is prudent to learn more about the billionaire’s stock picks with huge upside potential. This post provides the top 10 picks.
Our Methodology
We sifted through Bridgewater Associates SEC Q4 2024 13F filings. We focused on the fund’s most valuable equities holdings (excluding ETFs and options) and then ranked the stocks based on analyst price targets (as of May 2). We picked stocks with an upside potential of at least 30% and then ranked them in ascending order.
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).
Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater’s 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential
10. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $167,976,419
Upside Potential as of May 2: 31.32%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 162
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is a cloud computing company best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Its suite of products—like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud—helps businesses manage everything from sales and marketing to customer service, all in one place. The company also offers tools for data analysis (Tableau), integration (MuleSoft), and team collaboration (Slack).
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has fully embraced AI with its Agentforce digital labor platform. The company’s AgentExchange platform, a marketplace for AI solutions, enables AI agents to work proactively in the background without constant human oversight. The Agentforce platform already shows impressive results. It has handled 380,000 conversations on help.salesforce.com and achieved an 84% resolution rate, with only 2% requiring human escalation.
In its Q4 2025 earnings report, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) demonstrated how the AI strategy is driving the strengthening of its bottom line. The company’s annual revenue increased by 9% year over year to $37.9 billion. The Data Cloud and AI segment’s annual recurring revenue reached $900 million, a remarkable 120% increase compared to the previous year. For fiscal year 2026, the company projects revenue between $40.5 billion and $40.9 billion, a 7-8% growth. The management also anticipates an improved GAAP operating margin of 21.6% and a non-GAAP operating margin of 34.0%. On April 25, 2025, Needham analysts maintained their Buy rating and a $400.00 price target for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM). The analysts believe the AI strategy is capable of guiding the company to a more robust financial performance.
9. QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $138,354,627
Upside Potential as of May 2: 32.80%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) is a technology company that designs and sells chips and wireless technology for mobile phones and other smart devices. Its main products include the Snapdragon processors and modem chips. The company works with major phone makers, automotive companies, and various electronics manufacturers.
In Q2 fiscal 2025, QUALCOMM Incorporated’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) revenues reached $11.0 billion, a 17% year-over-year increase. The company’s non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) was $2.85, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.80. Management said in an earnings call that this growth was largely driven by the company’s diversification strategy. And they committed to sticking with this approach: “Our top priorities remain executing our diversification strategy and continuing to invest in areas that drive long-term value.”
The company is also making significant strides in artificial intelligence (AI). On May 1, 2025, QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) launched the “Design in Saudi Arabia with AI” (DISAI) accelerator program. The project is a collaboration with Aramco and Saudi Arabia’s Research, Development, and Innovation Authority. It aims to empower early-stage startups in AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and wireless technologies.
On May 1, 2025, Benchmark analyst Cody Acree maintained a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. However, he lowered the price target from $240.00 to $200.00, citing the headwinds emanating from a deepening trade war between the US and China.