10 Tech Stock Picks of Cristan Black’s Empirical Capital

Published November 29, 2021 at 2:40 pm EST Updated August 19, 2026 at 5:43 am EDT

In this piece, we will take a look at the 10 tech stock picks of Cristan Black’s Empirical Capital.

Empirical Capital Management, LLC is a small hedge fund located in the United States. It was founded by Mr. Cristan Blackman in 2000. The fund is located in Mr. Blackman’s hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee.

The hedge fund is known for buying shares of companies that it believes are worth investing in. Unlike some other funds, which limit themselves to specific sectors, such as real estate, biotechnology, or general technology, Empirical Capital has a more diverse portfolio.

It is one of the more smaller hedge funds, with a portfolio worth a modest $95 million.

Little is known about Mr. Blackman himself, who keeps a low profile. He has decades of experience in the financial sector and prior to his time at Empirical, he worked at the Nashville office of Morgan Keegan & Company. He also gained fame last year, when he and his wife, Tina Blackman, purchased a house owned by the legendary American artist Johnny Cash. The Blackmans paid a cool $3.2 million for the house in which Cash and his wife spent 20 years. In an interview given to the Hendersonville Standard, Blackman outlined that the house held a special place in his heart as he used to look at it in awe as a child.

Empirical Capital’s largest investments are in retailers and transportation companies, but he also expands his focus to others. Some of the famous companies in his portfolio are Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR), while the largest holding of the $95 million portfolio is in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT).

Photo by Nick Chong on Unsplash

Our Methodology

In order to work out Mr. Blackman’s investment thought process, we sifted through Empirical Capital’s 13-F filings for the third quarter of 2021. From these, we extracted his top ten technology investments, and for the companies, we analyzed their earnings reports, analyst ratings, other large shareholders, and hedge fund investor letters mentioning them. Finally, we also surveyed 867 hedge funds for Q3 2021 to see how many others had invested in the technology firms.

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

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $329,000

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 0.34%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 242

Amazon.com, Inc. is one of the biggest online retailers in the world that is known for its digital marketplace. The company has also ventured into other areas such as datacenter and cloud computing and it has its own satellite internet arm, Kuiper. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.

Amazon.com, Inc. missed both revenue and GAAP EPS analyst estimates during its Q3, by posting $110 billion in revenue and $6.12 in earnings per share. Credit Suisse reduced the company’s price target to $4,200 in an October 2021 note, as it was worried about higher costs.

As Q3 2021 came to an end, Mr. Black’s Empirical Capital held 100 Amazon.com, Inc. shares, in a stake worth $329,000 and representing 0.34% of its portfolio. During the same time period, 242 of the 867 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had holdings in the retailer.

Amazon.com, Inc. largest shareholder is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management who owns 1.9 million shares worth $6.3 billion.

In its Q3 2021 investor letter, investment management firm Madison Funds mentioned Amazon.com, Inc. and outlined that:

“We did add a modest new position weight to the portfolio in the quarter in Amazon.com, Inc. stock (AMZN). We acknowledge that many aspects of Amazon’s merit as an investment are well appreciated. However, our work leads us to conclude that shares are attractive. Leadership positions in both e-commerce and cloud computing provide the company with significant durable competitive advantages in industries that we think can produce above average growth over the next decade. Over the past year, AMZN shares have trailed the market as investors debate near-term growth prospects following the pandemic-induced e-commerce demand. Additionally, margins have been depressed due to Amazon’s unprecedented increases in spending to build out fulfillment and in-house logistics capabilities – Amazon will build out more square footage this year and last than it did cumulatively over the previous 10 years, more than doubling its in-house delivery capacity. We like the investments Amazon is making and believe they will further advantage the company relative to other retailers, making it nearly impossible for competitors to match the same level of delivery speed and convenience. With its large and frequently engaged customer base, Amazon has multiple mechanisms to make money, including selling advertising and enhanced subscription services. Within the cloud business, we forecast Amazon Web Services (AWS) leveraging its strengths in Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to move into higher value segments of cloud computing (such as platform-as-a-service: PaaS), allowing the company to continue outgrowing the overall IT sector with strong profitability. While Amazon shares have performed extremely well over the long-term, we think near-term concerns about whether Amazon will earn a return on its accelerated investments provide an opportunity now for investors willing to look through the investment period. Our view is that the investments likely earn strong returns and extend Amazon’s competitive advantages and above average growth.”

Amazon.com, Inc. is one of Mr. Blackman’s favorite investments, just like Twitter, Inc. and Walmart Inc..

9. Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $1.5 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 1.64%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 57

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) is an American television streaming company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides a streaming platform, advertising, content distribution, and licenses its own smart televisions.

For its third quarter, Roku, Inc. reported $680 million in revenue and $0.48 in GAAP EPS, beating analyst estimates for EPS only. Truist lowered the streaming provider’s price target to $360 in a November 2021 note, outlining that short term supply chain effects on advertisement revenues are headwinds for the company.

Mr. Black’s Empirical Capital held 5,000 Roku, Inc. shares as the third quarter of this year came to an end. These were worth $1.5 million and represented 1.64% of the investment firm’s portfolio. 57 of the 867 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey for Q3 2021 also had stakes in the company.

Roku, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ROKU) biggest shareholder is Catherine D. Wood’s ARK Investment Management with 4.7 million shares worth $1.4 billion.

Investment firm Alger mentioned Roku, Inc. in its Q3 2021 investor letter and outlined that:

“Long position Roku, Inc., was among top detractors from performance. Roku is a leading connected TV streaming platform company whose technology has helped change the way consumers consume entertainment. The coronavirus pandemic accelerated adoption of streaming content and we believe the company’s market share gain has been durable. Advertising buyers are reallocating spending toward Roku to reach this growing segment of customers who no longer watch TV via traditional cable to broadcast services. Roku’s high unit volume growth is supported by distribution agreements with major media companies that are organizing content distribution strategies around streaming. In our view, the agreements are strong evidence that Roku is now understood to be an increasingly important part of the connected TV ecosystem. Roku’s revenues grew over 100% in the recently reported quarter, but the shares reacted negatively to lower-than-expected active account additions and hours of content streamed as Roku lacked the positive benefit of last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns. With the widescale administration of COVID-19 vaccines and the end of lockdowns, many individuals have increased their traveling and outdoor activity, which has created a headwind for indoor viewing of connected TV offerings.”

8. Sonos, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONO)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $1.6 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 1.7%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 49

Sonos, Inc. (NASDAQ:SONO) develops and sells speakers, home theater systems, and their accessories in North America and globally. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.

Empirical Capital held 50,000 Sonos, Inc shares by Q3 2021 end, in a stake that was worth $1.6 million and represented 1.7% of its portfolio. Similarly, by the third quarter of 2021 end, 49 of the 867 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had investments in the company.

Sonos, Inc. brought in $359 million revenue and -$0.07 in GAAP EPS for its fourth fiscal quarter, beating analyst estimates for EPS only. Its price target was raised to $53 by Morgan Stanley in November 2021, with the bank impressed by the company’s strong guidance.

Sonos, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SONO) largest shareholder is D. E. Shaw’s similarly named firm D E Shaw who holds 2.3 million shares worth $74 million.

Investment firm Greenlight Capital mentioned Sonos, Inc. in its Q3 2021 investor letter and outlined:

“We expanded what was a small position in Sonos (SONO) to a size that makes it worthwhile to discuss. We’ve owned SONO, which manufactures multi-room wireless smart home sound systems, for about a year. We were initially attracted by the strength of the brand and IP, SONO’s ecosystem dynamics, and signs that the company was under-earning. We’ve been impressed with management’s ability to consistently outperform both guidance and expectations amidst a rapidly changing macro environment. We think that there is a long-term household penetration story here: SONO products are currently in approximately 11 million homes globally, a number that has grown by at least 20% in each of the last 4 years and stands to grow further as SONO adds more accessible price points, expands into new verticals, and introduces new products and services. While we acknowledge that there are near-term headwinds in the form of supply chain disruptions and a cyclical normalization in consumer electronics demand, we think these will prove to be temporary distractions in an otherwise bright growth story. Between an elevated backlog of orders that will support demand well into the next year and strong pricing power, we see earnings growing close to 25% annually for the next few years. The stock currently trades at just over 15x FY2021 adjusted earnings net of the $5 cash per share on the balance sheet today. We purchased our stake at an average price of $28.45 per share. SONO shares ended the quarter at $32.36.”

7. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $2.4 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 2.52%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 35

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) is an American national security service software platform provider. Its products allow its users to effectively manage large data sets to generate insights from intelligence.

Palantir Technologies Inc. reported $392 million in revenue and -$0.05 in GAAP EPS for its Q3 earlier this month, beating analyst estimates for both. Credit Suisse set a $25 price target for the company in November, outlining that a limited customer base can introduce financial uncertainty.

As the third quarter of this year came to an end, Mr. Black’s Empirical Capital held 100,000 Palantir Technologies Inc. shares. These were worth $2.4 million and represented 2.52% of its investment portfolio. During the same time period, 35 of the 867 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had holdings in the software firm.

Catherine D. Wood’s ARK Investment Management is Palantir Technologies Inc.’s (NYSE:PLTR) largest shareholder through holding 37 million shares worth $895 million.

6. comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $2.6 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 2.74%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 19

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR) is a media analytics provider based in Reston, Virginia, United States. It provides ratings and planning products alongside services that allow its customers to measure advertising and customer behavior.

Empirical Capital owned 669,646 comScore, Inc. shares by Q3 2021 end. The shares were worth $2.6 million and represented 2.75% of the firm’s overall holdings. During the same time period, 19 of the 867 funds polled by Insider Monkey had stakes in the company.

In its Q3, comScore, Inc. earned $92 million in revenue and -$0.02 in GAAP EPS, beating analyst estimates for both. Craig-Hallum set a $7 price target for the company in June, highlighting that pandemic challenges present a unique opportunity for the company.

comScore, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SCOR) largest shareholder is Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates who owns 3.3 million shares worth $13 million.

comScore, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SCOR) joins Mr. Blackman’s hot stocks, alongside Twitter, Inc. and Walmart Inc..

5. Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $2.64 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 2.77%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) is an American social media company known for its smartphone application Snapchat. This application allows its users to share highlights and events from their daily lives with friends and followers.

For its third quarter, Snap Inc. revealed that it had earned $1 billion in revenue and $0.17 in non-GAAP EPS, beating analyst estimates for EPS only. Its price target was lowered to $65 by Morgan Stanley in November 2021, which was worried that the social media sector will face several headwinds in the upcoming year.

Mr. Black’s investment firm held 35,776 Snap Inc. shares as of the end of Q3 2021, which were worth $2.64 million and represented 2.77% of its portfolio. 78 of the 867 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey held stakes in the company during the third quarter of 2021.

Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital is Snap Inc.’s (NYSE:SNAP) biggest shareholder via holding 22 million shares worth $1.6 billion.

In its Q3 2021 investor letter, Jefferies Group mentioned Snap Inc., stating that:

“We believe SNAP may be one of the best positioned virtual platforms in the development of the Metaverse. In order to better understand SNAP’s leadership position, we examine the significance of four key product areas; 1) the camera and augmented reality, 2) virtual avatars, 3) the Snap Map, and 4) hardware.

• Camera and Augmented Reality: SNAP distinguishes itself from its peers by building products that leverage camera and AR technology as the principal drivers of engagement and user generated content. Currently, SNAP has 290M+ DAUs who create on average 5B snaps per day, open the app on average 30 times per day, and regularly use AR lenses to communicate with friends and brands (200M+ DAUs using AR). As we mentioned in the “Virtual Platforms” section of this report, the Metaverse is enabled by platforms that provide the “picks and shovels for content creation, the ongoing maintenance of live experiences, user interface, and social interactions”. We believe SNAP is beginning to successfully democratize its AR tool sets through its recently launched Lens Studio and Camera Kit. We highlight that the Lens Studio enables a community of 200K+ creators to build their own AR experiences using their own machine learning models. The Camera Kit makes the tools from the Lens Studio interoperable with partner apps like Zoom, the MLB, and Disney. In our view, SNAP is one of few platforms making AR technology easily accessible both inside and outside its App, which should support the company’s AR leadership for years to come…”

4. Change Healthcare Inc. (NASDAQ:CHNG)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $2.7 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 2.84%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50

Change Healthcare Inc. (NASDAQ:CHNG) is a data analytics services provider that targets the American healthcare industry. Its products allow customers to manage their revenue and workflow among other tasks.

By the end of this year’s third quarter, Mr. Black’s Empirical Capital held 129,160 Change Healthcare Inc. shares. These were worth $2.7 million and represented 2.84% of its portfolio. Similarly, 50 of the 867 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey for Q3 2021 held a stake in the company.

Change Healthcare Inc. reported $828 million in revenue and $0.35 in non-GAAP EPS for its Q2, missing analyst estimates for both. In August 2021, Piper Sandler kept the company’s price target at $25.75.

Change Healthcare Inc.’s (NASDAQ:CHNG) largest shareholder is David Abrams’s Abrams Capital Management who holds 16.9 million shares worth $355 million.

3. Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $3.3 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 3.54%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50

Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX) is a software company that provides a digital environment, or platform, in which its users can interact with each other without leaving their homes. It is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

Empirical Capital owned 44,650 Roblox Corporation shares by Q3 2021 end, which were worth $3.3 million and represented 3.54% of its portfolio. Out of the 867 hedge funds Insider Monkey surveyed for the same time period, 50 had holdings in the company.

Roblox Corporation reported $509 million in revenue and -$0.13 in GAAP EPS for its Q3, beating EPS analyst estimates. In an October 2021 note, Truist reduced the company’s share price target to $92 outlining that Chinese gaming curbs spelled uncertainty for the company.

Roblox Corporation’s (NYSE:RBLX) biggest shareholder is Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC. It holds 17 million shares worth $1.3 billion.

In its Q3 2021 investor letter, Jefferies Group mentioned Roblox Corporation. It stated that:

“If we look at the Metaverse concept with more lenient guidelines for interoperability, then it becomes easier to see why certain companies are being referred to as Metaverse. On the virtual side, we’d point to companies like Epic Games, TakeTwo and Roblox. In augmented reality, it would be Niantic and SNAP. These are the large capitalized players in the space but albeit, not the only ones. We expect new mulit-billion dollar companies will rise as the
Metaverse becomes more mature.

Roblox is a good example. The content is almost entirely user generated, the engine that powers the developer studio is provided by Roblox and developers/creators share in almost all the money that users spend on the platform. In addition, many of the items that you purchase in the avatar marketplace, or even a branded experience like Vans World, can be taken across experiences. Roblox talks a lot about platform extension, which would move the platform beyond just gaming/leisure experiences and into education and workplace offerings. The developer community has the capability to build tools for other developers, there are professional studios being built on the platform and many consumer-facing brands/content are partnering with Roblox to ensure a virtual presence. Roblox actually has a lot of the pieces for our utopian definition of Metaverse, but things like technology, interoperability with outside platforms and a dynamic, two-way economy are what’s missing. However, given our thesis that full interoperability is somewhat unrealistic, it’s easy to see how Roblox fits the definition…

Many already consider RBLX a Metaverse, or at least an early iteration of one, and here’s why. The platform offers all the tools required for content creation in a low-code / no code format and handles publication, language translations, billing, collections, safety and security of the environment and more. It’s hard to find a platform that makes the creative process easier for developers than Roblox; we see this as very supportive of creator
economy.

The content is almost entirely user generated and developers/creators share in almost all the money that users spend on the platform. The developer community has the capability to build tools for other developers, there are professional studios being built on the platform and many consumer-facing brands/content are partnering with Roblox to ensure a virtual presence. Roblox talks a lot about platform extension, which would move the platform beyond just gaming/leisure experiences and into education and workplace offerings. Lastly, many of the items that you purchase in the avatar marketplace, or even a branded experience like Vans World, can be taken across experiences. In essence, the RBLX ecosystem includes creator economy, a virtual platform, picks and shovels of the Metaverse and some interoperability – many of the key enablers for Metaverse.

However, there’s always work to be done. We would expect to see a more dynamic economy emerge with resale moving beyond limited items and premium members, particularly with newer gaming models such as play-to-earn. Increasingly, gamers are going to want somereturn for the time and money invested on a platform. Advancements in technology will allow for truly shared experiences among a larger and larger group of people. We remain
skeptical on the reality of interoperability; RBLX could very well end up being one of many Metaverses.”

2. Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $6 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 6.34%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 94

Twitter, Inc. is a social media platform headquartered in the United States. A global phenomenon, it allows its users to communicate with friends and followers by sharing briefly worded messages.

In its third fiscal quarter, Twitter, Inc. reported $1.2 billion in revenue and -$0.67 in non-GAAP EPS, missing analyst estimates for both. Morgan Stanley lowered its price target to $62 in a November 2021 analyst note, outlining that higher investment spending and lower advertisement revenues mark headwinds for the company.

Mr. Black’s investment firm held 100,000 Twitter, Inc. shares as Q3 2021 came to an end. These were worth $6 million and represented 6.34% of its portfolio. Similarly, by Q3 2021 end, 94 of the 867 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey held a stake in the social media firm.

Twitter, Inc.’s (NYSE:TWTR) largest shareholder is Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital via owning 21 million shares worth $1.3 billion.

ClearBridge Investments said the following about Twitter, Inc. in its Q1 2021 investor letter:

“Media has been another bright spot for the Strategy, boosted by the return of live events and subsequent rebound in advertising as well as good initial traction for several of our companies new streaming services. Twitter was also a solid contributor on strong results and better-than-expected projections for future user and revenue growth.”

1. Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS)

Empirical Capital’s Holdings: $7.8 million

Percentage of Empirical Capital’s Portfolio: 8.27%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 58

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) is an American firm that operates an image aggregation platform. This platform allows its users to upload images and allows others to browse through them through keyword search.

By Q3 2021 end, Empirical Capital held 154,650 Pinterest, Inc. shares, which were worth $7.8 million and represented 8.27% of its portfolio. During the same time period, 58 of the 867 funds polled by Insider Monkey had holdings in the company.

Pinterest, Inc. reported $623 million in revenue and $0.28 on GAAP EPS for its third quarter, beating analyst estimates for both. Its price target was reduced to $53 by Morgan Stanley in a November 2021 analyst note, which shared that digital companies will have to deal with several headwinds in the future.

Pinterest, Inc.’s (NYSE:PINS) largest investor is Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global. The fund holds 7.2 million shares worth $368 million.

Investment firm Alger mentioned Pinterest, Inc. in its Q3 2021 investor letter outlining that

“Pinterest is an image sharing and social media service designed to help consumers discover product information and save the information on the internet using images and, on asmaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of Pinboards. The company shows consumers visual recommendations, called Pins, based on their personal tastes and interests. Pinterest provides advertisers with information on consumer activities, such as becoming inspired by images, as well as other points along the sales funnel, which is the process in which potential customers become purchasers of products. Shares of Pinterest underperformed after the company reported a larger-thanexpected decline in monthly active users (MAU) and provided guidance for the third quarter that included revenue growth of 40%, which was in line with consensus. Management didn’t provide MAU guidance for the third quarter due to engagement headwinds. These headwinds resulted from the economy reopening, which means consumers may spend less time online because they are commuting and venturing out for shopping, entertainment and social events. We believe the company appears to be losing its pandemic tailwinds that involved increased online shopping. We have sold the position.”

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