In this article, we will take a look at Billionaire George Soros’ Top 10 Stock Picks.
The Man Who Broke the Bank of England
When it comes to financial lore, you’d struggle to find an investor who is as controversial as George Soros. With a net worth of $7.2 billion, Soros has made a name for himself by correctly spotting market trends, which has led to millions, if not billions, of dollars in strategic savings or profits. He cemented his reputation in financial legend, for instance, when he famously shorted the British pound in 1992 and made off with $1 billion profit in a single day. Soros is also known for overseeing the Quantum Fund, which from 1970 to 2000 produced an outstanding average yearly return of 30%.
Having founded his hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, back in the 1970s, Soros’ investment philosophy is centered around his concept of “reflexivity”. Soros believes that players in the market can influence the market themselves, causing feedback loops that can cause price deviations. The investor makes use of this idea to single out mispricings in the market to create returns. The best application for this concept is during economic bubbles. According to Soros, “When I see a bubble forming, I rush in to buy, adding fuel to the fire”. Of course, that doesn’t mean one can always hit the bullseye; we saw this during the dot-com era almost 25 years ago where Soros admitted to being beaten by billions of dollars in losses.
Soros Fund Management’s 13F portfolio contained $6.92 billion in securities as of September 30, up from $5.56 billion a quarter earlier. About 9.8% and 7.4% of those securities were in the technology and services sectors, respectively, down from 11.7% and 10.6% from the quarter prior. Healthcare, basic materials, and financials also constituted a sizable portion of the fund’s portfolio as of the third quarter of 2024.
Soros’ Opposition to AI
It’s no surprise to anyone who has followed George Soros over the years that the billionaire has a certain disdain for artificial intelligence. Soros claims that the technology poses a significant threat, especially to what he calls “open societies”, simply because AI can not only produce instruments of surveillance, but it can also be liable in its misuse. In Soros’ ideal world, AI regulations would have to be globally enforceable, though he admits that such a dream might not be realized because of the dynamics of governance across the globe. In a MarketWatch article from 2023, Soros outlined some of his thoughts regarding the technology. Here’s what he wrote:
“We, human beings, are both participants and observers in the world in which we live. As participants we want to change the world in our favor; as observers we want to understand reality as it is. These two objectives interfere with each other. I regard this as an important insight which allows me to distinguish between right and wrong.
AI destroyed this simple schema because it has absolutely nothing to do with reality. AI creates its own reality and when that artificial reality fails to correspond to the real world –which happens quite often — it is discarded as hallucination.
This made me almost instinctively opposed to AI and I wholeheartedly agree with the experts who argue that it needs to be regulated. But AI regulations have to be globally enforceable, because the incentive to cheat is too great; those who evade the regulations gain an unfair advantage.”
Having learned about George Soros and his approach to investing, let’s take a look at his top 10 holdings as of Q3 2024.
George Soros of Soros Fund Management
Our Methodology
For this article we scanned Soros Fund Management’s Q3 portfolio and chose its top 10 stock picks. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the fund’s stakes in them.
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).
10. EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS)
Soros Fund Management’s stake as of Q3: $54.37 million
Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) is a multinational provider of television entertainment, connectivity, and technology. The company is responsible for a number of famous brands, such as Sling TV, DISH TV, and Boost Mobile.
In an update in November, a Buy rating was maintained on Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) as TD Cowen lowered the price target on the stock from $37 to $30. This followed a tough quarter for the company, having recorded disappointing figures across each of its business sectors. On the other hand, the company is making progress across its PayTV business in fiscal Q3 2024, owing to its initiatives that were focused on cost optimization and ARPU growth.
Notably, there were some wins on the subscriber front. Sling TV added 145,000 new customers in Q3, rising from 117,000 last year. Retail wireless subscribers also grew by 62,000 while broadband satellite customer losses shrank to 43,000 compared to 59,000 from a year ago.
9. CRH plc (NYSE:CRH)
Soros Fund Management’s stake as of Q3: $54.4 million
CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) is a leading global provider of building materials solutions, providing a portfolio that includes aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, and construction services. With businesses in 28 countries, CRH plays a vital role in road and critical utility infrastructure, commercial building projects, and outdoor living through its range of materials and products.
Earlier on December 10, Goldman Sachs began coverage of CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) with a Neutral rating and a price target of $112. The firm praised CRH plc’s strong track record of value-driven capital allocation, noting the company’s 18% CAGR in earnings per share over the past decade, fueled by strategic acquisitions. That said, Goldman Sachs flagged potential challenges ahead, including a projected slowdown in U.S. non-residential construction spending that could temper growth.
In Q3 2024, the company delivered strong financial results, with total revenue increasing by 4% year-over-year to $10.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA rising 12% to $2.5 billion. Earnings per share also grew by 10%, driven by effective cost controls, and strategic acquisitions, such as a $2.1 billion deal in Texas. Additionally, CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, reflecting a 5% annual increase.
