Ken Fisher’s Top 15 Stock Picks

Published August 27, 2023 at 9:09 am EDT Updated September 7, 2026 at 12:02 pm EDT

In this article, we will take a look at Ken Fisher’s top 15 stock picks.

Markets are still in a wait-and-see more as risks of inflationary pressures continue to haunt investors. Many believe the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation is not over yet and if the central bank caps off its rate-hike spree to soon, chances are that inflation will make a comeback and haunt the economy for years. Amid the stock market rally this year, investors thought the stock market bears were on the retreat as recession warnings were going in the background. But as markets become jittery and pressures in the banking sector and China become visible, bear calls are getting more attention. A Bloomberg report recently cited Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of the Boston-based investment firm Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo, who reiterated his recession warnings. Otterloo said that his earlier recession warning was proven to be wrong because of the AI-led rally. But he believes “it’s perhaps too little too late to save us from a recession.”

Many other analysts have been calling the AI-led rally short-lived. They say AI as entered the hype territory and pushed the valuations of tech stocks to dangerously high levels. There are signs telling that the AI rally is about to end. The same Bloomberg report cited Emmanuel Cau, a strategist at Barclays Plc, who said in a note that the markets are facing a “perfect storm” amid bad news from China, “poor summer liquidity” and rate hikes.

What’s Behind Ken Fisher’s Optimism?

Despite the recession warnings, long-term analysts and successful investors like Ken Fisher believe now is the time to take opportunity from market swings. Markets rise and fall and it’s up to investors how they use these swings to their advantage. Billionaire Ken Fisher has been consistently optimistic over the past several months despite rate hikes, inflation, banking crisis and other doom and gloom calls. Other investors like Fisher who like to see their money stay invested in the market and enjoy the compounding effect also have the same stance. But why and how these investors can stay optimistic? A report by Russell Investments takes a look at the importance of “staying invested” in the stock market. The report analyzes stock market data spanning ten years. A hypothetical investment of CAD 100,000 in S&P/TSX Composite Index would surge to $239,816 in ten years assuming that the investor remains invested in all days, including the bad and worst days. On the other hand, if the investor misses on just 10 “best days” the initial investment would surge to $147,184. The report mentions the results of missing other windows of best days, showing how important it is to stay invested in the stock market if ones does not want to miss out on the real gains of market upswings. The report adds:

Stocks have historically outperformed bonds when based on average rolling returns over one, three, five, 10 and 20 years. Just as compelling is the traditional ability of a balanced portfolio to produce positive returns. … A global balanced portfolio of equities and bonds has not produced a negative return over any five-year rolling period since 1979. The bottom line is that, although there are no guarantees the future will resemble the past, history tends to favour long-term investors.

Seen in this perspective, it truly does not matter what happens to the market in the next few weeks. Given that one is invested in the right stocks or ETFs and let the market perform its wonders, short-term volatility should not affect the long-term investment outlook. Let’s see in what stocks billionaire Ken Fisher is invested in in the current environment.

Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management

Our Methodology

For this article, we scanned Ken Fisher’s second quarter of 2023 portfolio and picked his top 15 holdings. The list is ranked in ascending order of Fisher’s stake value in these companies.

Ken Fisher’s Top 15 Stock Picks

15. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2 billion

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) ranks 15th in our list of the top 15 stock picks of billionaire Ken Fisher. Fisher’s hedge fund had a stake worth over $2 billion in Visa Inc.. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 171 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Visa Inc.. Visa Inc. recently posted solid quarterly results driven by upbeat consumer spending. Visa Inc. is benefitting from summer tourism and a broader recovery in travel.

Manole Capital Management made the following comment about Visa Inc. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“We like to start out all of our discussions by telling investors who we are. We are FINTECH investors, and we define Fintech as “anything utilizing technology to improve an established process.” We realize that half of Fintech is financial, but we don’t invest in traditional, credit sensitive banks. Having managed money during the Financial Crisis, we learned firsthand how certain opaque and balance sheet intensive financials could go bankrupt or insolvent.

We prefer transaction-based businesses, generating recurring revenue, with sustainable margins, and significant cash flow. From our perspective, the perfect example of a FINTECH business is the secularly growing payments industry. Names like Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) or Mastercard, that generate revenue and profit per swipe or transaction, without the underlying credit sensitivity or risk associated with that underlying line of credit.”

14. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2 billion

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) ranks 14th in our list of the top stock picks of Ken Fisher in 2023. Fisher Asset Management owns a $2 billion stake in the payments giant.

American Express Company’s US consumer credit card delinquency rate was 1.1% in July, unchanged from June.

ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy made the following comment about American Express Company in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:

” Other financial holdings were among the top contributors, such as American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), whose business is less sensitive to changes in the yield curve than most financials, and Progressive, which has minimal interest rate mismatch exposure.”

13. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2.2 billion

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) ranks 13th in our list of the top 15 stock picks of billionaire Ken Fisher. In July Freeport-McMoRan Inc. posted Q2 results. Adjusted EPS in the quarter came in at $0.35, missing estimates by $0.02. Revenue in the quarter jumped 5.9% year over year to $5.74 billion, beating estimates by $80 million. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, Ken Fisher’s hedge fund had a $2.2 billion stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc..

Diamond Hill Large Cap Strategy made the following comment about Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

“Other top contributors during the quarter were copper producer Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) and health care facilities operator HCA Healthcare. With little fundamental news to report, Freeport-McMoRan’s share price advance in Q4 reflected a rebound in copper prices, driven by the recognition that copper inventories are low relative to historical norms. We believe the company continues to have meaningful price and volume leverage in a copper constrained world.”

12. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2.21 billion

Ken Fisher upped his stake in Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) by 3% in the second quarter, ending the period with a $2.21 billion stake in the company.

As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 84 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported owning stakes in Oracle Corporation. This was much higher than 67 hedge funds that had stakes in Oracle Corporation as of the end of March 2023. This shows Oracle is being favored by smart money investors. Year to date Oracle Corporation shares have gained about 37% in value.

Oracle Corporation made news earlier this year after the company launched some AI features for its HR-related product.

Madison Sustainable Equity Fund made the following comment about Oracle Corporation in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) reported a solid fiscal fourth quarter and provided guidance for the first quarter that continued to support solid growth for the company. Revenues grew 17% and were primarily driven by Cloud Services (up 29%) with Oracle’s cloud infrastructure (OCI) business growing 89% in the quarter. Oracle has messaged that this business has price-performance advantages as compared to the other infrastructure companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Google) and appears to be winning business as a result. On the earnings call, management made the case that OCI will play a significant role in the Generative AI workloads which bodes well for continued growth.”

11. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2.4 billion

Another stock that is getting buoyed on the back of the AI boom, Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) is up about 51% year to date. Ken Fisher has been benefitting from this rally as he has a $2.4 billion stake in Adobe Inc.. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 109 hedge funds out of the 910 tracked by Insider Monkey were long Adobe Inc., compared to 99 funds in the previous quarter. This clearly shows hedge funds increased their bets on Adobe Inc. amid the AI boom.

BofA recently upgraded Adobe stock citing AI potential. BofA analyst Brad Sills upped his rating for Adobe Inc. to Buy from Neutral and also increased his price target to $630 from $575.

The analyst noted that Adobe is ahead of the curve in AI and Adobe Inc. is expected to see growth in fiscal 2024.

Polen Global Growth Strategy made the following comment about Adobe Inc. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“While Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)’s growth has moderated from high teens to low teens during the past couple of years, Adobe continues to deliver solid growth, and management raised its full-year guidance during the most recent quarter. The company also introduced some AI product enhancements, which seem to have helped shift the narrative from “AI is going to be bad for Adobe” to “AI is going to be good.” Finally, the company continues to work towards the Figma acquisition.

It’s still uncertain whether antitrust regulators will allow this acquisition to close. That said, the stock seems to have been recovering from the initial reaction that the pricey acquisition indicated something more troubling about Adobe’s growth and competitive position. Solid ongoing fundaments have helped dispel that notion. We think it would be a big positive if the acquisition closes, but we remain confident in Adobe’s business even if it doesn’t.”

10. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2.7 billion

Ken Fisher’s hedge fund owns about $2.7 billion worth of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) shares as of the end of the second quarter of 2023. The Home Depot, Inc. recently posted weak Q2 results. Operating income in the period fell 6.6% to $6.59 billion. Net earnings fell about 9.9% to $4.66 billion. EPS in the period came in at $4.65, compared to $5.05 a year ago and missing estimates of $4.45.

For the full-year 2023, The Home Depot, Inc. sees its comparable sales down 2% to 5% versus the consensus estimate of a 3.9% decline.

Madison Sustainable Equity Fund made the following comment about The Home Depot, Inc. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) celebrates 30 years of giving back. Team Depot was created in 1993 as a way of organizing associates who were eager to volunteer in their communities. For 30 years, Team Depot associates have worked side by side with non-profits around the United States. Focus areas include spending time with the elderly and activities with at risk youth. Team Depot also improves the homes and lives of veterans and helps communities impacted by natural disasters.

During the quarter, Home Depot set a goal for battery-powered products to represent over 85% of outdoor lawn equipment sales in the U.S. and Canada by the end of fiscal 2028. Push lawn mowers and handheld leaf blowers and trimmers will run on rechargeable battery technology instead of gas. This will reduce 2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.”

9. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2.9 billion

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares have gained about 8% over the past one year. Ken Fisher’s hedge fund reported owning a $2.9 billion stake in Salesforce, Inc. at the end of the June quarter.

As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 122 hedge funds out of the 910 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database reported owning stakes in Salesforce, Inc..

Ithaka US Growth Strategy made the following comment about Salesforce, Inc. in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is the largest pure-play cloud software company, holding a leading market share in customer relationship management applications and a top-five market share position in the company’s other clouds (Marketing, Service, Platform, Analytics, Integration, and Commerce). The company’s software subscription term-license model differs from the traditional perpetual-license software model in two respects: (1) the software is hosted on centralized servers and delivered over the internet, as opposed to traditional enterprise software that is loaded directly onto customers’ hard drives or servers; and (2) the revenue model is subscription-based, typically charging monthly fees per user as opposed to charging one-time licensing fees. The stock’s strong relative performance followed a strong F4Q23 earnings release that easily beat Street expectations on the top- and bottom-lines. In addition to the beat, management announced a number of initiatives that activist investors have been clamoring for, specifically a halt to large M&A transactions and a focus on operating profitability.”

8. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $2.99 billion

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) ranks 8th in our list of the top stock picks of Ken Fisher. Ken Fisher’s hedge fund owns a $2.99 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited’s net revenue in July jumped about 13.6% month-over-month to about NT$177.62B.

A total of 121 hedge funds out of the 910 funds in Insider Monkey’s database reported owning stakes in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited. The biggest stakeholder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited during this period was

Baron Emerging Markets Fund made the following comment about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) contributed in the first quarter due to easing geopolitical concerns and expectations for end-demand recovery later in 2023. We retain conviction that Taiwan Semi’s technological leadership; pricing power; and exposure to secular growth markets, including high-performance computing, automotive, 5G, and IoT; will allow the company to sustain strong earnings growth over the next several years.”

7. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $3 billion

While Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) shares have gained about 61% year to date, the stock has been under pressure over the past few days amid concerns that NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) will remain the market leader in the chips industry amid the edge it has in the AI space. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is also down due to a broader downturn in semiconductor stocks.

Ken Fisher owns a $3 billion stake in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. as of the end of the second quarter of 2023.

L1 Capital International Fund made the following comment about Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“During the June 2023 quarter the AI bubble continued to inflate. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), as a key challenger to Nvidia, will benefit from increased demand for its next generation semiconductor chips. AMD’s share price is reflecting very bullish sentiment and the share price has run ahead of a reasonable base case valuation. Accordingly, we divested our entire position and moved AMD to our Bench.”

6. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $3.5 billion

Netherlands-based semiconductor company ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) ranks 6th in our list of the best stocks to buy according to billionaire Ken Fisher. Fisher Asset Management owns a $3.5 billion stake in ASML Holding N.V..

Overall, 55 hedge funds out of the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long ASML Holding N.V. as of the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Saltlight Capital made the following comment about ASML Holding N.V. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) has no competitor. We’d characterise it as a monetary ‘apex’ predator. This privileged position allows the company to capture value within the semiconductor ecosystem. You can see it in their margins and operating leverage. ASML’s customers are so eager for their products that they are willing to pay upfront, two years before a machine is even delivered! This is a testament to the company’s unrivalled capabilities and the high demand for its unique offerings. It will keep this privileged position as long as it continues to push the frontiers of chip density.

ASML announced, this quarter, that their first High-NA machines (costing $200m per machine) are going to start shipping in 2024. This is a new source of its technological moat and earnings for the next decade. For the curious reader, we recommend looking up Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography tools to truly grasp how this technology could be considered ‘magic’ for what it accomplishes.”

5. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $3.6 billion

Wall Street continues to remain bullish on NVIDIA Corporation despite the stock’s huge bull run this year on the back of the generative AI boom. Raymond James analyst Srini Pajjuri recently reiterated his bullish take on NVIDIA Corporation as he believes demand for GPUs is “significantly” outpacing supply amid a huge spending boom in AI.

Ken Fisher has been enjoying huge gains from NVIDIA Corporation this year since he has a $3.6 billion stake in the company.

Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund made the following comment about NVIDIA Corporation in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company focused on designing chips and software for gaming and accelerated computing. Shares continued their torrid first quarter rise, increasing 52.3% in the second quarter (now up 190% year-to-date), after the company reported a meaningful acceleration in demand for its data center GPUs, which drove a material guidance beat with revenues expected to increase from $7.2 billion to approximately $11 billion sequentially. This unprecedented acceleration is driven by growing demand for GenAI. We are at the tipping point of a new era of computing with NVIDIA at its epicenter. While the opportunity within the datacenter installed base is already large at approximately $1 trillion, the pace of innovation in AI in general, and GenAI in particular, should drive a significant expansion in the addressable market, as AI creates a new way for human-computer interaction through language, and as companies are better able to utilize their data for decision-making. We remain shareholders as we believe NVIDIA’s end-to-end AI platform and the ecosystem it has cultivated over the last 15 years will benefit the company for years to come.”

4. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $5.11 billion

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) ranks 4th in our list of the top stock picks of Ken Fisher. The billionaire’s hedge fund owns a $5.11 billion stake in Alphabet Inc.. In July, data showed that smartphones made by Alphabet Inc. saw a rise in sales during the second quarter in the US. A report by Counterpoint Research said that shipments of Google Pixel phones jumped 48% year over year in the second quarter.

As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 204 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Alphabet Inc.. The biggest stakeholder of Alphabet Inc. was Harris Associates.

Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund made the following comment about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“The year-to-date’s top contributors Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (also a top quarterly contributor) have generated an enormous volume of AI-centric headlines. Both are at the vanguard of introducing AI-powered technologies into consumer-facing products, most notably their respective search engine. We trimmed several of the year’s winners on strength, including Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, CoStar Group, Inc. (CSGP), and CarMax.”

3. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $5.3 billion

Ken Fisher has a $5.3 billion stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Amazon.com, Inc. in early August beat Q2 earnings results and gave a strong guidance after which the stock jumped and the company received praise from Wall Street analysts. Needham analysts Laura Martin and Dan Medina upped their price target for Amazon.com, Inc. to $160 from $150. The analysts praised Amazon.com, Inc.’s focus on profits and margins, high margins in advertising and cost cutting.

Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund made the following comment about Amazon.com, Inc. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the world’s largest retailer and cloud services provider. During the quarter, Amazon’s shares increased 26.2% as a result of improving investor perception regarding the company’s advancements in AI, as well as an anticipated slowdown in customer cloud optimization initiatives, which is expected to pave the way for the reacceleration of growth in Amazon Web Services in the latter part of 2023. We are also optimistic about Amazon’s ability to significantly enhance the profitability of its core North American retail segment in the short to medium term. This optimism stems from the company’s transition to a new regionalized fulfillment network, the rightsizing of its infrastructure from the increased spending levels during the early stages of the pandemic, and its rapidly growing advertising business, which is margin accretive. Looking further ahead, Amazon’s potential for growth in e-commerce remains substantial, considering it currently captures less than 15% of its total addressable market. Amazon also remains the clear leader in the vast and growing cloud infrastructure market, with large opportunities in application software, including enabling GenAI workloads.”

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $8.32 billion

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) remains the most popular stock among the over 900 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. Based on latest filings, 300 hedge funds out of the 910 funds in Insider Monkey’s database had stakes in Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corporation beats the second most popular stock among hedge funds (Amazon) by a wide margin of 22 hedge funds. Ken Fisher’s hedge fund had an $8.32 billion stake in Microsoft Corporation as of the end of June.

Baron Opportunity Fund made the following comment about Microsoft Corporation in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a software company traditionally known for its Windows and Office products. Over the last five years, it has built a $60-plus billion cloud business, including its infrastructure-as-a-service Azure business, Office 365, and Dynamics 365 (Microsoft’s customer relationship management offering). Shares increased on financial results that exceeded consensus with Azure beating guidance for the second time in four quarters, coming in one point ahead of forecasts at 31% constant-currency growth. Forward quarterly guidance for Azure landed a full two points ahead of expectations (26% to 27% constant-currency growth), with the company highlighting “stable trends” from January persisting through April. In the Q&A section of the call, the CEO noted that the company was seeing a good balance of new workloads and ongoing optimizations, with the CFO following up that “at some point, workloads just can’t be optimized much further, and when you start to anniversary that, you do see that it gets a little bit easier in terms of comps year-over-year. And so, you even see that a little bit in our guidance, some of that impact.” Microsoft is executing at a high level, navigating a challenging macro backdrop while aggressively investing in long-term growth. The company’s proven ability to innovate is only getting stronger with continued enhancements across the portfolio including business analytics, cybersecurity, and, more recently, AI, with the launch of Azure OpenAI services and Copilots across its application portfolio.”

1. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Ken Fisher’s Stake: $10.24 billion

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the biggest stockholding of Ken Fisher. Ken Fisher’s hedge fund owns a $10.24 billion stake in Apple as of the end of the second quarter of 2023. Apple Inc.’s new iPhone launch date is coming closer and some analysts believe the company will crush it with the new iPhone 15. Citi analyst Atif Malik recently maintained his Buy rating and said the upcoming iPhone launch could be a catalyst for Apple Inc. shares.

As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 135 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database reported owning stakes in Apple Inc..

Choice Equities Capital Management made the following comment about Apple Inc. in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Dramatic valuation differences across market cap sizes continue. This has been the case for some time now. Perhaps I have spent too much time discussing these dichotomies, as generally, I feel like if we pick the right stocks and manage market exposures thoughtfully, our equities- oriented portfolio will prosper across various market cycles. However, when markets become as lopsided as they have lately, I feel additional discussion on the market environment is worthwhile, if only to help highlight the opportunities that are available and the likely path forward. I expect future discussions to soon be focused again on our moderately concentrated portfolio. But for now, let’s take one last in-depth look at how far reaching these valuation dichotomies have again become.(Please note: charts that accompany the following can be found in the Appendix.)

Take Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for example. It is the largest stock by market cap, and fairly considered one of the best companies in the world. The company has been extraordinarily successful and improved standards of living everywhere in the process with their ubiquitous products. Along the way, shareholders have been richly rewarded, with shares increasing nearly fourteen-fold over the last ten years while generating an annualized total shareholder return of 31%, including dividends.

On the back of another big quarter for large cap tech, it is now the first stock to surpass the $3T market cap threshold. This makes its weighting in the ~$37T market cap of the S&P 500, ~8%. It also means this one stock’s market cap is larger than that of the entire ~$2.98T market cap of the Russell 2000 index, the first time in history a single stock has outweighed the Russell 2000 – aside from two brief days in September 2020 when Apple’s market cap then accomplished the same…” (Click here to read the full text)

You can also take a peek at 10 Best Consumer Staples ETFs and 10 Korean Stocks Listed in the U.S.