We recently compiled a list of the Billionaire David Tepper’s 10 Long-Term Stock Picks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) stands against the other long-term stock picks of Billionaire David Tepper.
David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management is a multi-billion dollar hedge fund that was co-founded by billionaire Carolina Panthers owner Tepper in 1993. The fund was initially launched with a focus on distressed debt, which Tepper had years of experience in following a seven-year run as a credit analyst and head trader at Goldman Sachs.
Appaloosa quickly built a name for itself on the backs of those distressed equities and Tepper’s aggressive investment style, returning 57% within its first six months of operation and has delivered impressive compound returns of greater than 25% since inception. It was managing $800 million in assets within five years of launching, which has since grown to $16.8 billion as of late 2023.
That figure would be much greater if not for the fact that Tepper began transitioning his fund into a family office in 2019, beginning the process of returning money to outside investors. By 2022, nearly 90% of Appaloosa’s assets were owned by either Tepper, his family, or Appaloosa employees.
Appaloosa’s 13F portfolio contained just 38 long positions heading into the final quarter of 2024, and was valued at $6.73 billion, up from $6.18 billion at the end of June. The fund added four new positions to its portfolio during Q3, while unloading three former holdings.
Tech stocks held a dominant position in the fund’s portfolio for the third straight quarter, accounting for 38.5% of its value. The fund also had significant exposure to both communications and consumer discretionary stocks, at 24.6% and 23.1% respectively.
Appaloosa’s exposure to various sectors was markedly different just five quarters earlier, when tech stocks accounted for just 7.1% of its 13F portfolio, while energy and utilities stocks came in at 15% and 21.7% respectively. The fund also had much greater exposure to healthcare stocks at that time, which accounted for 9.2% of its portfolio value, compared to just 2.4% at the end of September 2024.
Of particular note is not just the sector allocations of Tepper’s fund, but also where those stocks originate from. Appaloosa’s top two stock picks are both Chinese stocks, as are 4 of its top 12 equity holdings. The fund has also built a stake in a major Chinese large-cap ETF. The bulk of those China-based additions to Appaloosa’s portfolio have come within the past five quarters, just ahead of major stimulus initiatives and economic policy shifts by the Chinese government that have helped spur in a rebound in the world’s second-largest economy.
In a September interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Tepper noted that despite some recent gains in Chinese stocks, they are still trading significantly below past valuations and at just single-digit earnings multiples despite double-digit growth rates. He contrasted that to the S&P trading at a 20+x multiple to highlight the ongoing attractiveness of Chinese stocks. Tepper added that the Chinese government has exceeded expectations when it comes to its stimulus plans, which should bode very well for the Chinese economy in the months and years to come.
Given Appaloosa’s highly concentrated portfolio and the relatively short timeframes with which it overhauls its holdings, there is notable value in focusing on those stocks that the fund has held on to for several years.
Our Methodology
The following data is gathered from Appaloosa Management’s latest 13F filing with the SEC.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here). That’s why you should pay close attention to this important indicator.
Note: All hedge fund data is based on the exclusive group of 900+ active funds tracked by Insider Monkey that filed 13Fs for the Q3 2024 reporting period.
Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER)
Value of Appaloosa Management’s 13F Position (9/30/2024): $106 million
Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (9/30/2024): 137
Ride-hailing and delivery platform Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) closes out the first half of David Tepper’s top ten long-term stock picks, with the billionaire money manager owning a stake in the company since Q2 of 2021. Overall hedge fund ownership of UBER has remained remarkably consistent throughout that three-plus year period, coming in at 139 13 quarters ago and 137 in the latest quarter.
Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) shares have stalled this year as investors appear to be taking a breather from the stock to allow it to grow into its lofty valuation, which still stands at 28.9x earnings. And while Uber has diversified its income streams in recent years, most notably with delivery services, there is still long-term concern about the company’s place in a perhaps-not-too-distant future where autonomous vehicles are criss-crossing the globe in perfect driverless harmony.
In the meantime, Uber is expected to grow at an impressive near-term rate, with a projected CAGR on the revenue front of 17% between 2024 and 2026, while EBITDA growth will be even more robust at 30%.
And not every market analyst is convinced of Uber’s impending doom under the tires of a fleet of merciless robotaxis. Oppenheimer considers UBER a top stock pick for 2025 and points out several major hurdles facing robotaxis, most notably the excessive costs of up to $40 billion to build and maintain a fleet of them. The firm even opines that robotaxis could actually increase Uber’s addressable market ever so slightly, by pushing the company to drive deeper into consumer car expenses. Oppenheimer has an $85 price target and ‘Outperform’ rating on UBER shares.
The RiverPark Large Growth Fund broke down Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER)’s impressive market reach in the fund’s Q4 2023 investor letter:
“Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER): UBER was a top contributor in the quarter following better than expected 3Q23 earnings and 4Q23 guidance. Gross bookings of $35.3 billion were up 21% year over year. Mobility gross bookings of $17.9 billion grew 30% over last year driven by a combination of product innovation and driver availability. Delivery gross bookings of $16 billion were up 16% from last year and continued to be strong throughout the quarter. 1Q Adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 billion, up $576 million year over year, was better than management’s guidance of $1 billion, and the company generated $900 million of free cash flow, up from $358 million last year. Management guided to continuing growth in 4Q Gross Bookings (23.5% growth) and Adjusted EBITDA (of $1.2 billion).
UBER remains the undisputed global leader in ride sharing, with a greater than 50% share in every major region in which it operates. The company is also a leader in food delivery, where it is number one or two in the more than 25 countries in which it operates.1 Moreover, after a history of losses, the company is now profitable, delivering expanding margins and substantial free cash flow. We view UBER as more than a ride sharing and food delivery service; we also see it as a global mobility platform with 142 million users (by comparison, Amazon Prime has 200 million members) and the ability to penetrate new markets of on-demand services, such as package and grocery delivery, travel, and hourly worker staffing. Given its $5.2 billion of unrestricted cash and $5.1 billion of investments, the company today has an enterprise value of $128 billion, indicating that UBER trades at 21x our estimates of next year’s free cash flow.”
Overall, UBER ranks 6th among Billionaire David Tepper’s 10 Long-Term Stock Picks. While we acknowledge the potential of UBER, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UBER but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
