Billionaire Jim Simons’ 2023 Portfolio: Top 5 Stock Picks

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

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 240

Renaissance Technologies’ Stake Value: $929,707,000

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the top stock picks of Jim Simons. In Q1 2023, Jim Simons’ hedge fund held 9 million shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) worth $929.70 million, representing 1.23% of the total 13F portfolio. 

On May 18, Amazon Web Services announced its intention to allocate approximately $12.7 billion for expanding its cloud infrastructure in India, driven by the increasing customer demand for cloud services in the country. This investment is expected to make a significant economic impact, contributing around $23.3 billion to India’s total GDP by 2030 and supporting approximately 131,000 jobs annually. Prior to this announcement, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) had already invested approximately $3.7 billion in India between 2016 and 2022. With this new commitment, the total investment by AWS in India is projected to reach $16.4 billion by 2030.

Loop Capital analyst Rob Sanderson on May 8 maintained a Buy rating and a price target of $140 on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) following its Q1 results. The stock’s performance is being hindered by apprehensions about the slowdown at Amazon Web Services and uncertainties regarding the long-term impact of artificial intelligence adoption on the selection of cloud vendors. However, the analyst believes that the slowdown at AWS is temporary and anticipates a recovery. Loop Capital is also optimistic due to positive feedback received from industry experts and expects a rebound as cost reduction initiatives are implemented.

According to Insider Monkey’s fourth quarter database, 240 hedge funds were bullish on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), compared to 269 funds in the prior quarter. Harris Associates is a prominent stakeholder of the company. 

Arch Capital made the following comment about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:

“Replacing our Wix investment is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a company we are sure you have heard of before. We believe the company’s long-term growth runway, profit potential, and competitive advantages were being vastly underrated in early January when its market cap was well below $1 trillion. We think early January was one of those rare times you could buy a special business like Amazon at a discounted valuation. Our hope is that – if we are right about its competitive advantages in retail and cloud computing – our Amazon stake will end up being a permanent holding in the limited partnership.”