In this article, we will discuss Unknown Billionaire Phill Gross’ 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential.
Phillip “Phill” Gross is a seasoned investor and influential figure in the world of institutional asset management, best known as the Co-founder, Managing Director, and Healthcare Portfolio Manager of Adage Capital Management. While Robert Atchinson, his longtime collaborator and fellow Co-founder, serves as the firm’s Portfolio Manager, Gross’s leadership and strategic vision have played a foundational role in shaping Adage’s long-term investment philosophy and reputation. The two met in the mid-1980s while working as Harvard University’s endowment analysts. Their professional synergy led them to leave Harvard Management Company in the 1990s, following public scrutiny over performance-based bonuses. With the backing of an initial $1.8 billion investment from Harvard and an agreement for the university to receive 10% of the firm’s earnings, they launched Adage Capital Management in 2001 alongside an 18-person team.
Under Gross’s co-leadership, Adage has become a key player in managing assets for prominent institutional clients such as Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, the American Red Cross, and the Getty Foundation. The firm specializes in long/short equity strategies guided by fundamental analysis and engages in risk arbitrage and event-driven opportunities when market conditions are favourable. Adage Capital Management and its predecessor, the Select Equity Group at Harvard Management Company, have consistently outperformed broader market benchmarks by an average of 3.5% over the past 15 years. This is a testament to the disciplined, research-driven investment framework that Gross helped instill.
Gross himself brings a deep background in healthcare investing, having served for nearly two decades at Harvard Management Company in various roles, including Healthcare and Retail Analyst, Equity Research Director, and Partner. His academic credentials include a B.S. in finance and economics (1982) and an M.S. in investments (1983), both from the University of Wisconsin. He remains actively engaged with his alma mater, serving on the advisory boards of the Steve Hawk Center for Applied Securities Analysis and the Nicholas Center for Applied Corporate Finance. In recognition of his professional accomplishments and ongoing contributions, Gross received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Wisconsin Business School in 2006.
Beyond finance, Gross is a committed philanthropist. He co-founded Strategic Grant Partners, an organization focused on driving systemic change in education and family services throughout Massachusetts. He also serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for Youth Enrichment Services, a nonprofit that provides urban youth with outdoor recreational experiences. In addition, he holds board positions with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, where he is Vice-Chair of the Investment Committee, and with the T2 Foundation.
Adage Capital Management’s latest 13F filing for Q4 2024 reported $57.19 billion in managed securities, with the top 10 holdings comprising 31.7% of the total portfolio, demonstrating a strategic yet diversified approach to asset allocation. While Atchinson oversees day-to-day portfolio management, Gross’s enduring influence and expertise, particularly in healthcare investing, continue to shape the firm’s long-term success and institutional credibility.
With that context in mind, let’s analyze Phill Gross’ 10 stock picks that have huge upside potential according to analysts.
Phillip Gross of Adage Capital
Our Methodology
We searched through Adage Capital Management’s Q4 2024 13F filings to identify unknown billionaire Phill Gross’ stock picks with the highest upside potential. We compiled the equities with upside potential higher than 34% at the time of writing this article and discussed why they stood out as strong potential investments. Finally, we ranked the stocks based on the ascending order of their upside potential. To assist readers with more context, we mentioned the hedge fund sentiment around each stock using data from 1,009 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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 363.5% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 208 percentage points (see more details here).
Unknown Billionaire Phill Gross’ 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential
10. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4: 86
Adage Capital Management’s Equity Stake: $428.23 Million
Upside Potential as of May 2: 34.90%
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is a global leader in independent exploration and production, with operations spanning the exploration, production, transportation, and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas. Despite a year-over-year earnings decline in 2024, the company maintained a disciplined approach to capital allocation and shareholder value. In Q4 2024, ConocoPhillips reported earnings of $2.3 billion, or $1.90 per share, down from $3.0 billion, or $2.52 per share, in the same quarter of the prior year. Annual earnings totalled $9.2 billion, or $7.81 per share, a decrease from $11.0 billion, or $9.06 per share, in 2023. Nevertheless, the company delivered solid operational results, returned $9.1 billion to shareholders, and strengthened its portfolio through the strategic acquisition of Marathon Oil. With a strong balance sheet that includes $6.4 billion in cash and short-term investments and $1.1 billion in long-term investments, the company’s stock has an expected price increase of 34.9%, which positions it among Phill Gross’ 10 stock picks that have huge upside potential.
Looking ahead to 2025, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is targeting shareholder returns of $10 billion, reaffirming its commitment to delivering consistent value through dividends and share repurchases. To that end, the company declared a first-quarter ordinary dividend of $0.78 per share. CEO Ryan Lance emphasized the company’s focus on a returns-driven strategy underpinned by operational efficiency and disciplined growth.
In a related development that underscores the value of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)’s operated assets, Rising Phoenix Capital, a boutique investment firm focused on oil and gas mineral royalty acquisitions, announced a strategic acquisition of mineral interests in Ector and Midland Counties, Texas, within ConocoPhillips-operated acreage. This acquisition enhances Rising Phoenix Capital’s position in the basin, offering investors a low-risk opportunity for sustained monthly cash flow and long-term upside. The move reflects investor confidence in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)’s operations and the long-term value of its core Permian assets.
Diamond Hill Large Cap Strategy stated the following regarding ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Other bottom contributors in Q2 included CarMax, Target Corporation and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP). Shares of oil and gas exploration and production company ConocoPhillips declined against a backdrop of lower oil prices in Q2, as well as concerns about the expensive though strategically sound acquisition of Marathon Oil.”
9. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4: 117
Adage Capital Management’s Equity Stake: $220.82 Million
Upside Potential as of May 2: 35.66%
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE), headquartered in San Jose, California, stands as a global leader in creative and digital software solutions. The company is widely recognized for its flagship Creative Cloud suite, which encompasses a comprehensive array of tools for photo and video editing, vector graphics, web and print design, animation, mobile app development, and audio production. Adobe has consistently set industry benchmarks with its software offerings and continues to advance rapidly into the realms of artificial intelligence and generative media, further cementing its influence across creative and technological industries.
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) has also taken significant steps forward in the field of generative AI, particularly through enhancements to its Firefly platform. The recently launched Firefly Image Model 4 introduces major upgrades in image quality, speed, and creative control. It allows for refined manipulation of visual elements such as camera angles, zoom effects, and stylistic precision, and supports high-resolution outputs up to 2K. A more advanced version, Image Model 4 Ultra, further elevates output quality, enabling the generation of complex scenes with detailed structures and nuanced stylistic accuracy, thanks to more intensive computational training.
For the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) delivered record-breaking financial results, reporting revenue of $5.71 billion, demonstrating a 10% increase year-over-year. Operating income for the quarter reached $2.16 billion, and the company posted GAAP diluted earnings per share of $4.14, with a net income of $1.81 billion. Cash flows from operations were robust at $2.48 billion, underscoring Adobe’s strong financial health and operational efficiency. Reflecting its commitment to shareholder returns, the company repurchased approximately 7 million shares during the quarter.
With strong quarterly performance, pioneering developments in generative AI, and continued investment in content authenticity and advanced technology, Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) is well-positioned to maintain its leadership in creative software while expanding its footprint in the emerging AI sector. The company currently holds an upside potential of 35.66%, placing it among billionaire investor Phill Gross’s stock picks with significant upside potential.
Aristotle Value Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE), the leading provider of content creation and publishing software, was a notable detractor during the quarter. This came despite the company reporting record revenue of over $5.7 billion in the first quarter—a 10% year-over-year increase, with double-digit increases across both its Digital Media and Digital Experience segments. The disconnect between strong fundamentals and share price weakness reflects ongoing market concerns around intensifying competitive threats from generative AI and lower-cost design platforms. Market sentiment has remained cautious around the perceived disruption risk posed by new AI-driven entrants, including OpenAI’s Sora for video generation and platforms like Canva, which cater to the broader prosumer and small and medium-sized business segment. However, we continue to view these as largely non-overlapping with Adobe’s core base of creative professionals, enterprises and agencies—audiences that demand precision, control and integration within larger workflows. Canva, while expanding its feature set, remains limited in its enterprise readiness and depth. Sora, meanwhile, remains early-stage and experimental, with limited commercial application at this point. Crucially, Adobe is not standing still. The company is actively embedding generative AI across its ecosystem through Firefly, which is commercially safe (i.e., free of copyrighted sources to train its models) and integrated natively into Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator. Firefly has shown strong early traction, generating $125 million in annualized recurring revenue, with management expecting that figure to double by year end. While modest in size relative to Adobe’s total revenue, Firefly’s monetization strategy is still in its early innings, with further potential through upselling, usage-based pricing and expanded use cases. Beyond monetization, AI integration enhances Adobe’s long-term competitive moat through product functionality, stronger customer engagement and increased switching costs. Adobe’s unique access to proprietary data, content workflows and creative content allows it to fine-tune models that serve the high-end needs of professionals—capabilities that generic AI models lack. Strategic partnerships with Microsoft (e.g., Firefly in Microsoft 365 Copilot) and ongoing momentum in Adobe Express further extend its reach into new user segments. Ultimately, we believe Adobe has a durable competitive advantage, underpinned by a large installed base, subscription-led business model, strong brand equity and a long track record of innovation. While short-term concerns over AI disruption have weighed on the stock price, we believe Adobe is well-positioned to harness AI as a driver of value rather than being displaced by it.”
