5 Most Famous Hedge Fund Managers and Their Top Stock Picks

In this article, we discuss 5 most famous hedge fund managers and their top stock picks. If you want to see more hedge fund managers, check out 15 Most Famous Hedge Fund Managers and Their Top Stock Picks. 

5. Michael Burry 

Michael Burry is an American investor, physician, and hedge fund manager. He created the hedge fund Scion Capital, which he operated from 2000 to 2008, and then shut it down to concentrate on his personal investments. Michael Burry gained from the subprime mortgage crisis by betting against the 2007 mortgage bond market, earning $100 million for himself and $700 million for his investors. At the end of the third quarter of 2022, Burry’s stock portfolio was worth $41.3 million. The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) is the biggest position in Burry’s portfolio, with 2 million shares valued at $15.5 million. 

Miller Value Partners released its Q1 2021 investor letter and mentioned The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) in it. Here is what the fund said: 

“GEO Group (GEO) declined 9.8% during the period as President Biden’s Executive Order directing the Department of Justice not to renew contracts with private prisons at the Federal level offset solid Q4 results. GEO reported Q4 revenue of $578.1M, in-line with consensus while EBITDA of $107.9M topped estimates of $87.7M by 23%. Adjusted Funds from Operations (AFFO) of $0.62/share fell 6% Y/Y and provided coverage of 2.5x on the quarterly dividend of $0.25/share (13.5% annualized yield). The company exited the quarter with ample liquidity of $420M and remains committed to paying down $75M-$100M of debt annually. Management introduced 2021 guidance with revenue of $2.24Bn-$2.27Bn, EBITDA of $386M-$400M, and AFFO of $1.98-$2.08, all of which assumes Bureau of Prison contracts with optional expiration periods in 2021 will not be renewed. Additionally, GEO announced a $200M convertible notes offering due 2026 with net proceeds funding the redemption of the 5.875% unsecured notes due 2022.”

4. Chris Hohn

Chris Hohn is an activist investor who established The Children’s Investment Fund, a hedge fund based in London in 2003. As of January 29, Hohn’s net worth came in at $7.9 billion. The Children’s Investment Fund engages in long-term investments in companies worldwide. At the end of the third quarter of 2022, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the biggest position in TCI Fund’s portfolio, with 52.4 million shares valued at $5 billion. 

Here is what L1 Capital International Fund has to say about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“Two companies, Amazon.com (Amazon) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), detracted more than 0.5% (in AUD) from the Fund’s returns. Both companies reported Q3 2022 quarterly results that were modestly below our expectations. Alphabet’s share price was impacted by concerns that macroeconomic pressures will impact advertising spend, increased commentary that Alphabet’s core search business could be disrupted by open artificial intelligence technologies, particularly from OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot (Microsoft is rumored to be investing $10 billion in OpenAI with the aim of incorporating the technology into Bing, Word and email). Alphabet’s growth in employee numbers is also expected to pressure profitability in a more subdued economic environment.

We have allowed for a softening in advertising in our base case expectations and believe Alphabet’s management will be under increasing pressure to take action to manage its cost base, as many other technology businesses have already done, including Amazon. Disruption to search remains an issue to monitor. However, we consider Alphabet to be at the forefront of developments in artificial intelligence and well placed to defend its core franchise.”

3. Ken Griffin

Ken Griffin established and manages Citadel Investment Group, a hedge fund based in Miami, which has a Q3 2022 portfolio worth approximately $439 billion. Citadel LLC is distinct from Citadel Securities, even though both were established and owned by Griffin. He is one of the most famous Wall Street money managers. At the end of September last year, Griffin’s largest stock holding was Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), with 9.25 million shares worth $1 billion. 

Here is what Distillate Capital has to say about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“The fund’s relative outperformance occurred despite a nearly 2.5% headwind from being underweight the energy and utilities sectors where cash flow instability and leverage tend to limit our holdings domestically. By individual stock, the largest contributors to relative outperformance were unowned positions in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Tesla which declined around 50% and 65% during the year, respectively.”

2. George Soros

George Soros is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. In 1992, Soros made a bet against the British pound and gained a profit of $1 billion. He achieved notoriety as the person who caused the Bank of England’s collapse. George Soros is a renowned hedge fund manager who oversaw client funds in New York from 1969 to 2011 via Soros Fund Management. Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) is the biggest position in Soros’ portfolio, with 16.36 million shares worth $538.40 billion. 

Baron Funds made the following comment about Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) designs, manufactures, and sells consumer and commercial electric vehicles (EVs). Shares of Rivian were up 28% in the third quarter driven by second quarter production that beat expectations, a new partnership with Mercedes Benz, and the positive potential impact of the recently announced Inflation Reduction Act on accelerating broader EV adoption. While Rivian continues to be impacted by supply-chain issues that are causing delays in its production ramp, it is addressing the challenges by diversifying its supply chain to alleviate shortages while also consolidating the number of variants in development to reduce cash burn (the company guided that current cash will be enough to support the company’s future platform launch R2 in 2025). The company also recently reported stronger than-expected third quarter production results while reiterating its annual guidance of producing 25,000 units. As semiconductor shortages ease, we believe the company will be able to rapidly ramp its production. While we retain conviction in the shares given the company’s vision, product positioning, relationship with Amazon.com, and strong balance sheet, we have reduced the size of our position.”

1. Warren Buffett 

Warren Buffett, who is referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha,” is one of the most accomplished investors in history. Buffett manages Berkshire Hathaway, which owns multiple companies like Geico, Duracell, and Dairy Queen. On January 29, Buffett’s net worth came in at $108 billion. In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates initiated the Giving Pledge, which encourages billionaires to pledge to give away at least half of their wealth to charitable causes. Buffett’s hedge fund has a portfolio worth $296 billion as of Q3 2022, and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) are the largest holdings, with positions worth $123.6 billion and $30.5 billion, respectively. 

Ariel Investment made the following comment about Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“We initiated three new positions in the quarter. We added leading financial institution Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) which serves individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management, and other financial and risk management products and services. The current company was formed through various mergers including NationsBank, FleetBoston, US Trust, Countrywide Financial, and Merrill Lynch with the legacy commercial bank to form a national banking powerhouse and bulge bracket investment firm. As one of the ‘Big Four’ U.S. banks it enjoys scale driven cost advantages and economies of scale which provide meaningful competitive advantages and potential for strong returns in the largely commoditized banking industry. A survivor of the financial crisis, BAC has emerged with a solid capital base and stands to benefit from a rising interest rate environment.”

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