In this article, we will take a look at billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s 2023 portfolio and his top 5 stock picks. To see more such companies, go directly to Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s 2023 Portfolio: Top 10 Stock Picks.
5. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW)
Hedge Fund Stake Value: $206.8 million
Idaho-based food processing company Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) ranks 5th in our list of the top stock picks of billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) shares have gained about 74% over the past one year. Stanley Druckenmiller’s hedge fund has a $207 million stake in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) as of the end of March.
In April, Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) posted fiscal Q3 results. Adjusted EPS in the period came in at $1.43, beating estimates by $0.44. Revenue in the period jumped about 31% year over year to $1.25 billion, beating estimates by $90 million. For fiscal 2023, Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) said it expects net sales to come in between $5.25 billion to $5.35 billion, up from the previous guidance of $4.8 billion to $4.9 billion. The consensus estimate for this figure was $5.15 billion.
As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, 51 hedge funds had stakes in Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW), up from 42 hedge funds in the previous quarter, according to Insider Monkey’s database. This shows that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) saw an increase in hedge fund sentiment in the last quarter of 2022.
4. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Hedge Fund Stake Value: $208.2 million
Billionaire Druckenmiller cut his stake in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) by 17% in the first quarter of 2023. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is still his hedge fund’s fourth biggest holding. Duquesne owns a $208.2 million stake in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY). Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) shares have gained about 43% over the past one year. Recently, The New England Journal of Medicine published results for a phase 2 trial of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)’s rheumatoid arthritis drug peresolimab. The drug met its main goal of efficacy.
As of the end of the last quarter of 2022, 76 hedge funds had stakes in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), according to Insider Monkey’s database of 943 hedge funds. The biggest stakeholder of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) was GQG Partners of billionaire Rajiv Jain which owned a $603 million stake in the company.
Alger Spectra Fund made the following comment about Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company with core franchises in diabetes, obesity, neurology, and oncology. The company offered exposure to therapeutics in obesity and diabetes via the launch of Mounjaro, as well as in Alzheimer’s via Donanemab which was filed in November 2022 for accelerated Phase 3 approval in mid-2023. While the company reported decent fiscal fourth quarter results, shares detracted from performance after a modest miss in their obesity and diabetes drug. Mounjaro. Moreover, investors became skeptical of potential regulatory scrutiny around Donanemab and its efficacy relative to Biogen’s competing offering.”
3. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Hedge Fund Stake Value: $210.2 million
It seems Druckenmiller was highly impressed by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s performance earlier this year amid the company’s partnerships with OpenAI, its plans for Bing search engine and more. Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller opened a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) worth $210.2 million in Q1. MSFT shares have gained about 34% year to date.
Insider Monkey’s database of 943 hedge funds shows that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the most favorite stock pick of elite hedge funds. 259 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) as of the end of the fourth quarter of last year.
Alger Spectra Fund made the following comment about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. Microsoft’s CEO expects technology spending as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to jump from about 5% now to 10% in 10 years and that Microsoft will continue to capture market share within the technology sector. The company operates through three segments: Productivity and Business Processes (Office. LinkedIn, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (Server Products and Cloud Services. Azure, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (Windows Devices, Gaming, and Search). While the company reported decent fiscal second quarter results, their investment in OpenAl’s ChatGPT captured the attention of investors. contributing to positive performance. Throughout the quarter. Microsoft surprised investors with continual rollouts of new Al capabilities across the company’s portfolio (e.g., Bing, GitHub. Teams, Office 365). Furthermore, the company announced Microsoft 365 Copilot, which leverages GPT-4, a large language model, combined with the Microsoft Graph of data to provide Al virtual assistance. We believe Microsoft’s investment in OpenAl provides a first-mover advantage in the Al transformer model space. Despite challenges in the early days of Al-powered applications, the pace of Al innovation is faster than any other enterprise technology previously observed, in our view.”
2. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Hedge Fund Stake Value: $219.8 million
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller upped his stake in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) by 35% in the first quarter of 2023. His hedge fund now owns a $220 million stake in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been in the spotlight this year as analysts believe the company would be one of the biggest winners in the AI boom. AI applications and chatbots like ChatGPT need massive processing power to answer and process queries. This is where NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) comes in. Earlier this year, UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri said that ChatGPT used 10,000 Nvidia GPUs to train its model. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s huge investments in OpenAI also went to NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) for the purchase of enterprise-grade GPUs like the A100 and H100.
Alger Spectra Fund made the following comment about NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a leading supplier of graphics processing units (GPUs) for a variety of end markets, such as gaming, PCs, data centers, virtual reality and high-performance computing. The company is leading in most secular growth categories in computing, and especially artificial intelligence and super-computing parallel processing techniques for solving complex computational problems. Simply put. Nvidia’s computational power is a critical enabler of Al and therefore critical to Al adoption, in our view. As such, we believe Nvidia is a long-term high unit volume growth opportunity. During the period, NVIDIA reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that met expectations, as the company navigated. through an inventory correction associated with the broad macroeconomic slowdown. Moreover, management gave fiscal year earnings guidance that was better than analyst estimates. noting strong year-over-year growth in gaming and data centers. Management’s constructive assessment of 2023 prospects. coupled with the rapid rollout and adoption of generative Al offerings, led to positive share price performance.”
1. Coupang, Inc.(NYSE:CPNG)
Hedge Fund Stake Value: $302.4 million
South Korean e-commerce company Coupang, Inc.(NYSE:CPNG) tops the list of the top stock picks of billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller. The billionaire owns a $302.4 million stake in Coupang, Inc.(NYSE:CPNG) as of the end of the first quarter, unchanged when compared to the previous quarter.
Coupang, Inc.(NYSE:CPNG) shares have gained 16% over the past one year.
Earlier in May, Coupang, Inc.(NYSE:CPNG) posted its first quarter results. GAAP EPS in the period came in at $0.05, in-line with estimates. Revenue in the period jumped 13.3% year over year to $5.8 billion, beating estimates by $160 million.
You can also take a peek at 20 Fastest-Growing Cities in the Southeast and 25 Best US Cities for People With Allergies.
