Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Investor Chris Rokos

Published March 6, 2022 at 4:24 pm EST Updated August 19, 2026 at 12:32 pm EDT

In this article, we present the list of top 10 stocks to buy according to billionaire investor Chris Rokos.

Large call option positions on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), and Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) represented the largest holdings in British billionaire Chris Rokos’ 13F portfolio at the end of 2021.

The esteemed money manager raised over $1 billion from investors early this year despite a bruising 2021 that saw his hedge fund Rokos Capital Management lose 26% of its value, the fund’s worst annual performance to date. Surging inflation and rising interest rates lead to a rough year for the short-bond market, which contributed heavily to Rokos’ losses last year.

It was a sharp reversal of fortunes for Rokos and his fund, which thrived during 2020 to the tune of 44% gains, the best annual showing for the London-based fund since it was launched in 2015. Prior to launching his own fund, Rokos co-founded Brevan Howard alongside Alan Howard and was instrumental in some of that fund’s most successful years, single-handedly generating close to one-third of the fund’s substantial profits in both 2007 and 2011.

Rokos left Brevan Howard in 2012 over a financial dispute and was forced to sit on the money managing sidelines for three years due to his contractual obligations with Brevan Howard. Those issues were resolved in 2015, allowing him to launch his own fund.

With his fund’s coffers somewhat restored thanks to outside investors, Rokos, who manages about $13 billion in assets, will look for a big rebound in 2022. Rokos Capital sold off a significant number of positions during Q4 according to the fund’s 13F filing for the December 31 reporting period, 80 in total, while adding less than half as many new holdings. The value of its 13F portfolio stood at $1.66 billion, down from $4.68 billion a quarter earlier.

In this article, we’ll look at the ten stocks that Chris Rokos had the most conviction in heading into 2022, several of which were added to his portfolio during Q4.

Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Investor Chris Rokos

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Our Methodology

We follow hedge funds like Rokos Capital Management because Insider Monkey’s research has uncovered that their consensus stock picks can deliver outstanding returns. The following list is ranked in order of the value of Rokos Capital Management’s long positions as of December 31, 2021. All hedge fund data is based on the exclusive group of 900+ funds tracked by Insider Monkey that filed 13Fs for the Q4 2021 reporting period.

Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Investor Chris Rokos

10. Paypal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $20.64 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 112

Chris Rokos’ Rokos Capital Management opened a new position in Paypal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) during Q4, buying 108,300 shares of the digital payments provider. Hedge fund ownership of Paypal has fallen by 29% since Q3 2020.

Paypal Holdings, Inc. shares have been battered since the middle of 2021, losing 61% of their value amid the investor selloff of tech and growth stocks. Investors were also alarmed by the company’s 48.9 million net new active accounts in 2021, which came in well below the previous guidance of 55 million despite being bolstered by the acquisition of Paidy, which contributed over 3 million of those NNAs in Q4.

While his Paypal Holdings, Inc. stake is dwarfed by his call option positions on Microsoft Corporation, Alibaba Group Holding Limited, and Pinterest, Inc., Rokos’ conviction in Paypal is certainly noteworthy given that he was selling far more stocks than buying ones in Q4.

9. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $20.98 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 146

Just one quarter after taking a large stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), Rokos unloaded 72% of the position during Q4, leaving his fund with 57,971 shares. That was good enough to rank the stock as his ninth-largest long equity position on December 31. Billionaires Warren Buffett, Stephen Mandel, and Ken Fisher are among the other wealthy investors with large Mastercard holdings.

Mastercard Incorporated shares are down by 3% in 2022 despite the credit card payments processor releasing very strong Q4 results in January. Mastercard grew net revenue by 27% year-over-year to $5.2 billion while its non-GAAP net income shot up by 41% to $2.3 billion. Mastercard expects cross-border travel to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022, which would further boost the company’s top and bottom lines.

Weitz Investment Management, Inc. downplayed the risk to Mastercard Incorporated that could be posed by new fintech companies, having this to say about the matter in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Reports to investors usually focus on the winners that prove the worthiness of the managers. It’s possible that we’ve been guilty of that on occasion, despite our best efforts to accurately convey what has worked and what hasn’t. This time, though, we are going to celebrate the great businesses we own that “went nowhere” in 2021. In a generally expensive market facing potentially strong headwinds in 2022, we find it very encouraging to own a number of proven winners whose stocks have been “resting” for the last year or so. They will not necessarily save us from markdowns during broad-based corrections, but they are companies that we believe can survive and grow business value through almost anything. They are the kinds of businesses that allow us to sleep well at night and not be tempted to sell at the wrong time. Here are some examples:

Established payments companies have been out of favor recently. Cross-border payments have been depressed with COVID disrupting international travel. These types of payments are particularly lucrative for Mastercard and their absence has impacted earnings. Further, we believe investors have overestimated the negative competitive impact of new fintech companies that have emerged over the past few years. Many of these “disrupters” depend on the Mastercard “rails” over which electronic payments travel, and these wily incumbents have a way of acquiring, copying or otherwise competing with upstarts.”

8. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $25.08 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 95

Chris Rokos’ hedge fund initiated a new position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during Q4, buying 44,200 shares of the productivity and creativity software developer. Hedge fund ownership of Adobe fell by 14% in 2021.

One of the 5 Jim Cramer Stocks to Buy in Q1 2022, Adobe Inc. shares have been battered by the selloff of tech and growth stocks like so many others in recent months, sliding by 31% since the end of November. CNBC’s Cramer called Adobe Inc. “one of the greatest stock performers of our era” in September, and called shares’ modest pullback at the time “a buying opportunity that we don’t deserve.”

Adobe shouldn’t be overly affected by rising interest rates, which could hurt less established growth stocks that have a greater reliance on debt to fuel their growth than Adobe, which generates plenty of free cash flow. While Adobe’s revenue growth isn’t as impressive as other growth stocks, it’s no slouch either, coming in at an annual average of 41% over the past three years.

7. Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $25.29 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 74

Rokos also opened a new stake in integrated circuits manufacturer Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) during Q4, snapping up 144,366 shares. He’s one of several money managers that added ADI to their portfolios in 2021, as hedge fund ownership of the stock jumped by 37%.

Analog Devices, Inc. delivered record revenue for the fourth straight quarter in its fiscal 2022 first quarter, pulling in $2.68 billion. That rising revenue didn’t come at the cost of operational excellence either, as the company also hit record highs in EPS at $1.94, adjusted gross margin, and operating margin.

With Analog Devices, Inc.’s profit reaching new highs, the company raised its quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.76 in the middle of February, which helped lift ADI shares’ dividend yield to 1.90% as of March 1.

6. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $26.38 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 111

Closing out the first half of the list is NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which Rokos Capital Management bought 89,285 shares of during the fourth quarter, taking a new position in the graphics processing unit manufacturer. Rokos wasn’t the only fund snatching up Nvidia shares, as hedge fund ownership jumped by 26% during Q4 to a record high.

NVIDIA Corporation grew its revenue by 61% year-over-year during its fiscal 2022 ended January 31, with the company’s gaming unit enjoying an identical 61% revenue spike to $12.5 billion. Nvidia’s data center segment has also been a strong growth driver, with revenue rising by 58% year-over-year to $10.6 billion in fiscal 2022. That company-wide growth was in spite of supply chain issues that has left Nvidia with a huge backlog of outstanding inventory purchase and long-term supply obligations, which ballooned to $9 billion at the end of its fiscal 2022 compared to just $2.5 billion a year earlier.

Rokos’ NVIDIA Corporation holding may not be nearly as large as his call option positions on Microsoft Corporation, Alibaba Group Holding Limited, and Pinterest, Inc., but it’s a stock he was buying in Q4 when he was otherwise selling off so many others. Check out the other stocks Chris Rokos was buying in Q4 in the second half of this article.

5. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $31.72 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 67

Hedge fund ownership of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) has plummeted over the past year, falling by 59%. Chris Rokos’ was one of the exceptions to that trend, taking a 504,627-share stake in the pharmaceutical giant during Q4.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company delivered 8% sales growth in Q4 on top of double-digit non-GAAP EPS gains, highlighted by the strong performance of blood clot medication Eliquis, sales of which climbed 20% year-over-year, and cancer treatment Opdivo, which was launched for new indications during the year and sales of which climbed 11%..

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company expects to launch three first-in-class medications in 2022, Mavacamten, deucravacitinib, and relatlimab, each of which the company believes could hit $4 billion in sales by 2029. The company is also in a very strong financial position, with $17 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of 2021.

4. Denbury Inc. (NYSE:DEN)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $45.14 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 32

Hedge fund ownership of Denbury Inc. (NYSE:DEN) has shot up by 220% over the last five quarters and Chris Rokos was one of the fund managers adding DEN to his portfolio, buying 592,565 shares in Q4.

Denbury Inc. averaged 48,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day in volume during the fourth quarter, a slight decrease quarter-over-quarter due to unexpected downtime in December at some of its fields. The company also expects sales volumes to be down slightly in 2022. Nonetheless, the company expects to generate up to $500 million in free cash flow during the year based on a $70 oil price.

Denbury Inc. reduced its debt by $100 million in 2021 and will use its growing financial liquidity to invest in its growth initiatives, with plans to reach 1.2 billion tons of storage capability by the end of 2022 by building storage facilities at key points across its pipelines.

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

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $47.73 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 281

Rokos has been an Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shareholder since Q4 2020, but decided to make a much bigger splash in the stock a year later, hiking his position by 1,081% to 14,221 shares. Amazon is one of the most popular stocks among hedge funds, with a record 281 funds long AMZN shares on December 31.

Amazon.com, Inc. shares have hit a rare flat period, being down by 4% since the summer of 2020. That could make it the perfect time to buy the stock, as the company’s own management feels, having bought back shares earlier this year for the first time in a decade. Investors are concerned about Amazon’s slowing sales growth, which was just 9% in Q4, especially as the pandemic continues to fade. The company’s free cash flow was also $15 billion in the red in 2021 as a result of a hefty $61 billion in capital expenditures.

There’s plenty of potential upside coming out of this pandemic period for Amazon, however. Third Point Management believes Amazon.com, Inc. is at an important inflection point that is likely to improve several of the company’s key metrics and likewise boost its share price. The fund discussed its views on the stock in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“We have long admired Amazon as investors (and appreciated its myriad benefits as consumers) and have owned shares several times in the past. We acquired a sizable position during the early innings of the pandemic ahead of what we believed would be a structural acceleration in revenue for the group. After lagging tech peers for most of last year, we significantly increased the size of our investment, reflecting our conviction that Amazon is at an important crossroads as new management considers its long-term strategic plan to move the company forward, which may include several bold initiatives that are the subject of wide market speculation at the proverbial investor water cooler.

Amazon’s most recent quarterly results bolstered our view that the company is now at an inflection point that should usher in an improvement in various metrics, as well as an upturn in the company’s share price. The long-term secular growth drivers for the company—cloud adoption and eCommerce penetration—remain firmly intact. Sales growth ought to reaccelerate as revenue comps ease. Fixed cost leverage should improve after a large investment cycle that effectively doubled the fulfillment capacity of the company over the past two years. Excess costs associated with the Covid pandemic, labor shortages, and supply chain disruption should start to disappear as the external environment normalizes. And, shares are still trading at the lower end of the company’s historical multiple range. It’s not often that you get to buy shares in a high-quality company at the low end of its valuation range ahead of a meaningful reacceleration in growth at a 30%-40% discount to its present intrinsic value with an almost unlimited runway of potential to compound in value.

While the fundamental outlook for shares looks bright, we were encouraged by two additional developments this quarter. First, we noted the Board repurchased shares in January 2022 for the first time in a decade. It is not hard to imagine that Amazon, like some of its peers, may start returning more capital to shareholders, especially as the balance sheet approaches a net cash position and free cash flow improves. Second, we noted the introduction of additional disclosure from management, specifically breaking out advertising revenue and detailing capital expenditures by category. Amazon is a large and complex company and greater financial disclosure will no doubt help investors better understand the various parts of the business and significant sum-of-the-parts value. We expect these shareholder-friendly moves may be just the tip of the iceberg as Amazon’s talented and focused new CEO Andy Jassy sets out his plan for the Company’s future.”

2. PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $48.43 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 65

Rokos Capital Management slashed its PG&E Corporation holding by 21% during the fourth quarter, leaving it with even 4 million shares. Despite the selling, the company still represents Rokos’ second-largest long equity position as of December 31.

PG&E Corporation has fallen out of favor with hedge funds over the last year and a half, with ownership of the company sliding by 31% during that time. Billionaire money managers George Soros and Seth Klarman both sold off their stakes in PCG during the fourth quarter, while Steve Cohen and David Abrams unloaded their positions a quarter earlier.

PG&E Corporation issued GAAP earnings guidance of between $0.89 and $1.23 per share for 2022, which includes non-core items of up to $380 million owing to the expected costs related to wildfire damages triggered by its power lines and pending lawsuits. PG&E has taken major steps in recent years to improve its safety procedures, including expanding its usage of underground power lines.

1. salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Value of Rokos Capital’s 13F Position: $60.21 million

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 113

Topping the list of stocks to buy now according to billionaire investor Chris Rokos is salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), which became the fund’s top long equity position in Q4 one quarter after Rokos first took a large stake in the company. Hedge fund ownership of CRM rose by 13% in 2021.

salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) has a dominant position in the customer relationship management industry, capturing more market share (23.9%) in the first half of 2021 than its four largest competitors combined. Salesforce has been the industry leader for eight years running and expects to double revenue over the next four years to $50 billion. There are signs of strong and growing demand for its services among the company’s partners over the next two years, which should eventually push shares well above current levels.

Polen Capital’s Polen Focus Growth downplayed some of the fears surrounding salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s MuleSoft weakness and the company’s guidance in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Salesforce reported solid revenue growth, including accelerated growth in the company’s largest and most mature product, Sales Cloud. However, shares underperformed due to unexpected weakness in the company’s MuleSoft application integration business that we believe is attributable to temporary missteps in the company’s selling efforts. The company also provided slightly weak guidance for billed but not earned business growth. In our experience, this metric can be influenced by timing issues and is often not fully representative of underlying demand for the company’s offerings.”

For more on the latest trades made by some of the biggest hedge fund managers in the world, check out 10 Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy for 2022 and 10 EV Charging Stocks to Buy Now.

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