10 AI Stock Picks and Performance of Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller

#7 AMD (NASDAQ:AMD)

Druckenmiller Stake as of Q2: $42.3 Million

Year to Date Performance (through November 9): +127%

Return since June 30th: -12.5%

AMD is Nvidia’s biggest rival in AI chips. Druckenmiller opened this position in the second quarter by buying 72,900 shares. The stake made up 0.81% of his portfolio. The stock is up 137.5% this year through November 9. It fell sharply over the past month and then rose on November 9 as Google Cloud picked AMD’s EPYC server chips for its new TPU system, and Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to outperform.

The case for AMD rests on one question: can it win AI customers from Nvidia? The latest evidence says yes. It has started shipping Helios, its full-rack AI system, to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle and Anthropic, and it has multi-year supply deals with OpenAI and Meta. Its server processors are also in demand, because AI agents need them to coordinate work. Management expects sales to grow more than 80% in 2027.

The stock already prices in much of that. It trades at 55.5 times expected earnings, against a sector median of about 19. Free cash flow fell last quarter as inventory piled up ahead of the Helios launch, and warrants issued to customers could dilute shareholders by up to about 16%. Nvidia’s software lead and custom AI chips from big customers are the other threats.

White Falcon Capital Management’s fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter laid out how AMD could keep climbing, after Jim Cramer praised CEO Lisa Su for moving the company aggressively into data centers. Read both views here.

#6 SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK)

Druckenmiller Stake as of Q2: $79.4 Million

Year to Date Performance (through November 9): +222%

Return since June 30th: -61%

SanDisk makes flash memory, the storage inside phones, laptops and AI data centers. Druckenmiller’s fund owns 34,900 shares, which made up 1.52% of his portfolio. He trimmed the stake in the second quarter by selling 3,255 shares.

Bears say the company’s growth will fade. Analysts forecast earnings growth of 221% in fiscal 2027 and only 27% in fiscal 2028. The stock trades at 3.7 times expected earnings, against a sector median of 19.6, which tells you investors do not trust these profits to last.

Bulls point to a real shortage. AI data centers need huge amounts of storage, and data center sales are SanDisk’s fastest-growing business. That demand drove the stock up this year.

Bears say shortages end. Chip makers in the US, South Korea and China are building new NAND factories, and China’s state-owned YMTC is already the world’s third-largest NAND maker by shipments. Data center spending could peak around 2028 as borrowing gets harder, just when that new supply arrives. In past NAND cycles, industry profits fell deep into losses after the boom. The stock is already about 60% below its June high.

SanDisk has long-term contracts with minimum prices that cover about half of next year’s output, but those contracts have never been tested in a memory downturn. Click to see the full bull and bear case.

#5 Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX)

Druckenmiller Stake as of Q2: $117.7 Million

Year to Date Performance (through November 9): +76%

Return since June 30th: -47.5%

Seagate makes the large hard drives that data centers use to store data. Druckenmiller more than doubled his stake in the second quarter by adding 71,300 shares. His fund now owns 122,000 shares, which made up 2.26% of his portfolio, up from 0.59% in the first quarter.

AI creates huge amounts of data, and Seagate’s largest drives are in short supply. The shortage lets Seagate raise prices, which has pushed its profit margins and cash flow to records. Its 2027 prices are already locked in, and Morgan Stanley thinks demand could grow even faster than the companies say.

The risk is 2028. Western Digital, Toshiba and parts suppliers are all adding capacity, just as Seagate sets its 2028 prices. Analysts still expect margins to keep rising. If AI spending slows, drive orders would feel it a few quarters later. The stock trades at 11.5 times expected earnings, a low multiple that shows investors expect profits to peak.

Seagate dropped more than 10% in a single day on a report that Toshiba plans to add hard drive supply, because more supply from a rival can weaken Seagate’s pricing power. See whether the dip is a buying chance.