Here is How Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s Top 10 Picks Crushed The Market

In this article, we will discuss Here is How Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s Top 10 Picks Crushed The Market.

Billionaire Philippe Laffont, a protege of legendary investor Julian Robertson, has evolved his strategy over the years. Once focused mainly on fundamentals and long-only growth investing, the French billionaire now believes that approach is becoming outdated as more high-growth companies stay private longer. His firm, Coatue Management, is pushing into private markets with a new hybrid fund, according to a Bloomberg report.

The fund will invest in both publicly traded stocks and late-stage private startups, with around 20% allocated to private companies. Artificial intelligence and technology remain a key focus. Coatue’s assets under management reached about $70 billion in 2026, up from roughly $10 billion in 2016, the report said.

During a CNBC interview in November, Laffont said that investing in public markets comes with a key caveat: investors must constantly assess whether catalysts are already priced in. He added that private markets offer strong potential, but require greater patience and a longer time horizon.

“On the private side usually things take longer,” he said. “You have to be more right. You have to be more patient. You have to be active in your companies. You have to support the founders or the CEOs a lot. So I would say that if you can do both, great.”

For this article, we picked the top 10 stock holdings of Coatue as of the end of Q4. Based on a cumulative equal-weight basis, these 10 stocks as a whole are up about 17% year to date, compared with the S&P 500’s 4.8% return. The performance was driven by AI semiconductor names, among others. 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 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).

Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management

10. Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)

YTD Stock Performance: +35%

Philippe Laffont’s Stake: $1.67 Billion

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) has been one of the biggest winners in the portfolio during the AI boom because it’s a key pick-and-shovel name. The company makes wafer fabrication equipment, mainly etch and deposition systems, which are essential steps in building advanced chips. These tools are used repeatedly in the production of AI chips, including GPUs, high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and advanced logic semiconductors. The company’s equipment is critical as AI data center demand accelerates, chip designs are becoming more complex, especially with the shift toward 3D architectures and smaller process nodes.

Only a few global players compete at the highest level in etch and deposition technology, which means a strong moat for Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX). Once a chipmaker qualifies Lam’s tools for its production process, switching costs are extremely high due to the sensitivity of advanced manufacturing.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) customers include major semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung, Intel, Micron, SK hynix, and SMIC, along with other global foundries and memory chip producers. These companies use Lam’s equipment to build advanced logic chips and memory products, especially for AI data centers.

Parnassus Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX), a designer and maker of semiconductor processing equipment, continues to see strong demand for its industry-leading process tools and equipment to support semiconductor manufacturing driven by the AI megatrend.”

9. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

YTD Stock Performance: +12%

Philippe Laffont’s Stake: $1.71 Billion

NVIDIA’s stock has been a target of skeptics ever since the AI hype debate started taking over Wall Street. Despite concerns around AI spending and valuation, the company has repeatedly beaten analyst estimates and raised guidance. What bears may have underestimated is that Nvidia is no longer just a GPU company. The AI buildout is creating an ecosystem where Nvidia sits at the center.

Beyond its Blackwell GPUs and upcoming Vera chips, the company has growth catalysts like CPUs (Grace) and deeper infrastructure with NVLink and InfiniBand networking. Networking has become one of its fastest-growing segments, with revenue more than doubling year over year, driven by strong demand for systems like Spectrum-X that connect large AI data centers.

Nvidia is also moving into full rack-scale systems such as GB200 NVL72, which combine compute, networking, and memory into complete data center units. This shifts Nvidia closer to a full infrastructure provider rather than just a chip designer. Gross margins have stayed strong at around 75%, supported by higher-margin networking and software. The stock has a forward PE ratio of 24x, which is decent given Nvidia’s growth, ecosystem expansion, and strong competitive moat.

Nightview Capital stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

“The AI efficiency selloff in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) earlier this year gave us an opportunity to add to our position. Our view: the demand for AI compute is not declining; the efficiency of that compute is improving. These are not contradictory trends. Jevons’ Paradox is real and relevant here — as the cost per unit of AI output falls, the total demand for AI output rises. More compute gets consumed, not less. NVIDIA’s H100 and Blackwell architectures remain the preferred infrastructure for training and inference at scale. The company’s software ecosystem, from CUDA, cuDNN, to the broader developer platform, represents a switching cost that is rarely fully appreciated in market discussions.”

8. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

YTD Stock Performance: +22%

Philippe Laffont’s Stake: $1.90 Billion

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is up about 22% so far this year amid rising demand for custom AI chips. Tech companies spending billions on AI infrastructure want chips made for their needs and intend to cut reliance on expensive Nvidia hardware. This has made AVGO chips popular. According to a Deloitte report, the custom AI chip market is expected to exceed $50 billion in 2026.

Broadcom Inc’s (NASDAQ:AVGO) moat is strong and wide because there are only a few companies capable of delivering high‑performance custom chips tailored for large‑scale AI workloads. Broadcom designs application‑specific ASICs and XPUs. These chips are preferred by hyperscalers for massive inference tasks because they can reduce the total cost of ownership by roughly 40–60% compared with GPU clusters.

Networking is another area where Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is strongly positioned to benefit from the AI boom. The company’s Tomahawk and Jericho switching chips are widely used in hyperscale data centers to connect large clusters of GPUs, enabling fast data movement inside AI training systems. Industry estimates suggest Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) holds a dominant position in high-end data center switching silicon, often cited in the ~70–90% range depending on how the segment is defined.

Clearbridge Dividend Strategy stated the following regarding Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

“In IT, we exited Oracle and trimmed Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO). On the semiconductor side, we modestly reduced our position in Broadcom to fund our new investment in Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC). While Broadcom remains well positioned, and we remain constructive on the stock, the risk-reward outlook has diminished as the shares have tripled over the last two years. Further, whereas TSMC prospers regardless of who wins the semiconductor race (TSMC manufacturers chips for all the major semiconductor companies), one can conceive of scenarios where Broadcom could become less relevant in the future.”

7. Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG)

YTD Stock Performance: -15%

Philippe Laffont’s Stake: $2.08 Billion

Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) stock is up about 40% over the past 12 months but is down roughly 13% this year as optimism around its nuclear growth story has cooled. Investors were disappointed that no major new data center power deals were announced recently on its investor day, even though management said they are in the pipeline. Second, the Three Mile Island restart project — a key nuclear asset being revived to supply electricity to Microsoft data centers — has faced a major setback, with grid operator PJM indicating it may not connect to the grid until 2031, much later than expected.

The company’s full-year earnings guidance also came in slightly below estimates. But long-term optimists for the stock say the bull case is intact.

Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) is one of the biggest winners from the AI electricity boom because data centers are massively increasing demand for power. The company operates nuclear power plants, which are large facilities that generate constant, reliable electricity by using nuclear reactions. These plants provide steady, 24/7 electricity, which is exactly what AI data centers need. Management also expects earnings to grow at more than 20% annually through 2030, driven by rising electricity demand, higher pricing on new contracts, and restarting nuclear capacity. The moat is strong because nuclear power is extremely hard to replace. Building a nuclear plant takes huge capital, strict government approval, and many years.

Aristotle Atlantic Core Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Constellation Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:CEG) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Constellation Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:CEG) is the largest producer of carbon-free energy in the United States, operating the nation’s largest nuclear fleet alongside natural gas, geothermal, wind, solar and hydro assets. The company was spun off from Exelon in 2022 and serves over 2.5 million customers, generating revenue through a diversified mix of power generation and energy sales across regulated and deregulated power markets. The pending acquisition of Calpine will significantly expand its generation portfolio, combining 24/7 nuclear power with additional dispatchable gas capacity. Constellation is central to the U.S. energy transition and provides reliable, affordable and sustainable power critical to electrification, decarbonization and AI-driven data center growth.

We see Constellation well-positioned as a leading player in the energy sector, with excellent operational performance, strong cash flow generation and significant financial flexibility. The company benefits from favorable legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which provides tax credits for nuclear energy and support for clean hydrogen. Additionally, the company is expanding its nuclear fleet at low cost, securing long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with major tech companies and enhancing its asset mix through strategic acquisitions. These factors collectively validate nuclear energy as a preferred clean power source for large-scale operations and data centers. The shares of Constellation trade at a modest premium to their historical average. We view this premium as justified by the company’s clean energy profile, long-duration PPAs with hyperscalers, strong cash flow generation and leverage to the ongoing structural shift in U.S. energy demand largely driven by electrification, decarbonization and digital infrastructure investment.”

6. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

YTD Stock Performance: +10%

Philippe Laffont’s Stake: $2.14 Billion

Despite fears that AI would crush Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) bread and butter (Google search business), the stock is up more than 100% over the past 12 months. But can it keep running?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is using the obstacle as a way of growth. It proactively embraced AI and used its giant ecosystem to its advantage. Google still has over 90% of the total market share in search. Google Gemini App has reached 750 million monthly active users (MAU)—a massive surge from the 450 million seen at the start of 2025. Alphabet shows ads in about 25% of these AI results to capture users with strong intent for shopping.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is also foraying into the AI hardware space. Google is reducing its reliance on expensive Nvidia chips by developing its own hardware, known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). A long-term deal with Broadcom secures this chip supply through 2031, helping Google lower costs while building a massive AI infrastructure. External companies are already buying into this system, with Anthropic planning to use 3.5 gigawatts of Google’s TPU power starting in 2027. This shift shows that Google is successfully turning its custom silicon into a high-demand product for the broader AI market.

L1 Capital International Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

Portfolio adjustments during the March 2026 quarter were relatively modest, but deliberate. We trimmed investments in AerCap, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), HCA Healthcare and Weir Group at prices around the top end of our assessed fair value range, with all of these businesses benefitting from positive sentiment intra-quarter. Alphabet’s share price has more than doubled over the past 12 months. This reflects strong performance in core Search, continued momentum in Google Cloud Platform, and better-than-expected progress in AI (Gemini). Today Alphabet has a market capitalisation approaching US$4 trillion. Share prices and fair value are not always aligned, even for the world’s largest companies.

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