Billionaire Philippe Laffont is Selling These 10 Stocks

Published July 27, 2022 at 9:11 am EDT Updated September 7, 2026 at 11:34 am EDT

In this article, we discuss the 10 stocks that billionaire Philippe Laffont is selling.

Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management suffered massive losses this year on the back of the market wide tech selloff, and as of May 2022, the hedge fund had lost 17% in value. Had Philippe Laffont not shifted his strategy in January, the losses would have reached 40% through May and put Coatue in the same league as other major funds like Melvin Capital and Tiger Global. However, Laffont has always dealt with market crashes by cutting down on equity exposure and accumulating higher cash reserves to survive. His portfolio, as of May 2022, consisted of 80% cash and 20% stock positions. One of Philippe Laffont’s strategies to generate gains for his hedge fund is to invest in private startups, and aim for massive returns when the firms go public.

Although the hedge fund posted double digit losses, it has fared better than the tech-heavy Nasdaq benchmark, which has declined almost 27% year to date as of July 26. The Q1 2022 portfolio of Coatue Management is worth $13.6 billion, down from $22.5 billion in the last quarter. The hedge fund focuses its investments in the healthcare, finance, information technology, consumer discretionary, and communications sectors.

Securities filings for the first quarter of 2022 reveal that billionaire Philippe Laffont bought 12 new stocks, made additional purchases in 20, sold out of 35 companies, and slashed existing stakes in 18 holdings. Some of the most notable stocks that Philippe Laffont discarded in Q1 2022 include Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE).

Billionaire Philippe Laffont is Selling These 10 Stocks

Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management

Our Methodology

We used Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management portfolio as of Q1 2022 for this analysis, selecting the 10 most prominent securities that the hedge fund disposed of during the quarter.

Billionaire Philippe Laffont is Selling These Stocks

10. Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 54

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) is a California-based camera and social media company. On July 21, the company posted disappointing June quarter results. Snap Inc. reported a GAAP loss per share of $0.21 and a revenue of $1.11 billion, below Street consensus by $0.05 and $23.09 million, respectively. On July 25, Argus analyst Jim Kelleher downgraded Snap Inc. to Hold from Buy without a price target after the company announced Q2 results. The analyst sees signs of lower advertising spending “amid still-high costs”. He cited soft digital ad-spending trends, paired with changes to ad tracking on Apple iOS that have impacted advertiser flexibility and demand for the downgrade.

Billionaire Philippe Laffont owned 2.4 million Snap Inc. shares in the fourth quarter of 2021, worth $113.78 million, representing 0.50% of the total 13F holdings. The hedge fund manager disposed of his stake entirely in the first quarter of 2022.

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 54 hedge funds were long Snap Inc. in the first quarter of 2022, compared to 55 funds in the earlier quarter. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital is the leading position holder in the company, with 18.4 million shares worth $664.4 million.

In addition to Activision Blizzard, Inc., Mastercard Incorporated, and Pfizer Inc., billionaire Philippe Laffont gave up on Snap Inc. in the March quarter.

Here is what Baron Opportunity Fund has to say about Snap Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Snap Inc. is the leading social network among teens and young adults in North America and a growing number of overseas markets, including Western Europe and India. Shares fell this quarter on a greater-than anticipated impact from Apple’s new privacy changes for iOS mobile devices. These changes made it more difficult for Snapchat to measure the effectiveness of ads shown on its platform. We believe this is a near-term, industry-wide issue for which Snap is already developing a solution. Longer term, we continue to view Snap favorably as the company sustains its rapid pace of product innovation and expands its premium partnerships with advertisers.”

9. Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) is a Georgia-based payment technology firm that offers software solutions for digital payments. Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management first invested in Global Payments Inc. in Q2 2019 and in the fourth quarter of 2021, the hedge fund held about 1.3 million shares of the company worth $174.8 million. In Q1 2022, Coatue Management dumped the stake entirely.

On July 25, Oppenheimer analyst Dominick Gabriele lowered the price target on Global Payments Inc. to $152 from $176 and maintained an Outperform rating on the shares. The analyst, keeping in mind the macro risk, has a cautious outlook on the spending patterns in the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023. He sees incremental forex-related headwinds on both revenue growth and margins compared to Global Payments Inc.’s total 2022 EPS estimates. The diverse verticals of the Payments space can potentially survive the storm while mono-line startups could stumble, the analyst added. Credit Suisse analyst Timothy Chiodo on July 22 downgraded Global Payments Inc. to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $145, down from $180, citing deteriorating macro conditions.

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management featured as the leading position holder in the company, with 5.5 million shares worth about $763 million. Overall, 64 hedge funds were bullish on Global Payments Inc. at the end of Q1 2022, compared to 47 funds in the prior quarter.

Here is what Oakmark Fund has to say about Global Payments Inc. in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Global Payments is a leading provider of merchant acquiring services. The company is also one of the largest providers of payment processing and related technology solutions to credit card issuers. We believe Global Payments’ merchant acquiring business is well positioned given its strength in software-driven payments. This is one of the fastest growing parts of the industry as small business customers are increasingly recognizing the efficiency benefits of having payments seamlessly integrated into the software they use to run their businesses. In addition, Global Payments benefits from the broader secular shift away from cash and toward electronic payment methods. Together, these tailwinds have the potential to drive low-double-digit revenue growth and even faster earnings growth. With this strong outlook and with management returning a significant portion of free cash flow to shareholders via repurchase, we think the stock looks attractive at its current valuation of just 12.5x next year’s expected EPS.

8. Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 68

Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management disposed of its Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) stake in the first quarter of 2022. The hedge fund owned 34,753 shares of Twitter, Inc. in Q4 2021, worth $1.5 million. Philippe Laffont first invested in the company in Q3 2017, and held the position consistently till Q4 2018. After that, the billionaire was inconsistent with his stake over the quarters.

On July 25, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said Twitter, Inc. will continue to be a highly challenged company as it makes its way through the cyclically shrinking ad market, while dealing with an ill-conceived acquisition deal, managing internal turmoil, and employee turnover, as well as simultaneously focusing on primary platform initiatives. The analyst reaffirmed his Neutral rating and a $33 price target, which reflects a 20% weighting of the deal concluding at the original offer price.

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 68 hedge funds were long Twitter, Inc. at the end of Q1 2022, down from 83 funds in the preceding quarter. Paul Singer’s Elliott Management is the largest stakeholder of the company, with 10 million shares worth about $387 million.

Here is what RGA Investment Advisors has to say about Twitter, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Twitter had an eventful quarter. The company started the year seemingly ready to fly for the first time as a public company. Consensus estimates for 2023 revenue started the year at barely north of $5b and by the end of the year were just shy of $7.5b, a target the company offered at their first investor day in years. Unfortunately, it was a second target offered at that same investor day that did them in: 330 million mDAUs by the end of 2023. Typically stocks follow revenues, but mDAUs became the noose around the stock, and perhaps even Jack Dorsey’s tenure as CEO. With each quarter reported following the investor day, the mDAU target became increasingly harder to achieve as the user base grew below the run-rate required to get there in straight-line fashion. Although the company stated this would happen, investors were left wondering how an already lofty target could be achieved with a higher hurdle. Importantly, however, the revenue target continued to look increasingly achievable with each passing quarter. Taking a step back, people came into the year convinced Twitter had a monetization problem, but exited the year focused on their user base growth.

As always, the Street is incredibly myopic about the company, but we are far more sanguine. The user base will exit the year growing at what we thought was a more appropriate quarterly run-rate (6-7 million quarterly new users), consistent with the acceleration that began before the COVID-induced bump in Q1-Q2 of 2020. As it stands today, Twitter is trading near its lowest multiples as a public company (on both EV/S at ~4.5x forward and EV/EBITDA at ~18x), at a time when it will report its fastest growth rate as a public company and over the next two years is expected to report two of its next three fastest growing years. Altogether, the years 2021-2023 should be the company’s fastest three-year CAGR period by a lot, meanwhile the last time Twitter traded at multiples this low was in 2017 when revenue actually contracted 3.41% during the year. There is little that can actually justify such a disconnect where the company’s growth is as swift as ever, but its multiple is consistent with negative growth periods. Twitter remains drastically under monetized, has a long runway of opportunity ahead on both the user growth side and monetization, and has optionality in pursuing subscription, data and/or service extensions of the core offering.”

7. Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72

Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) is a Canadian e-commerce company. Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management initially invested in Shopify Inc. in the second quarter of 2017. The hedge fund has been largely consistent with its position over the years, apart from one quarter. In Q4 2021, Philippe Laffont owned 2.3 million Shopify Inc. shares, worth $321.60 million, representing 1.42% of the total holdings. The billionaire disposed of his stake entirely in Q1 2022.

On July 26, Oppenheimer analyst Ken Wong assumed coverage of Shopify Inc. with an Outperform rating and a price target of $45, down from $50. Shopify Inc. is optimally positioned to capitalize on the ongoing shift towards digital consumer spending via personalized channels, the analyst observed.

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 72 hedge funds were bullish on Shopify Inc. at the end of Q1 2022, down from 86 funds in the earlier quarter. Christopher Lyle’s SCGE Management is the leading stakeholder of the company, with 932,000 shares worth about $630 million.

Here is what Rowan Street has to say about Shopify Inc. in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Tobias Lutke, Shopify Founder and CEO

When Tobias Lütke opened an online snowboarding store in 2004, he realized how painfully cumbersome e-commerce software was. So he decided to create Shopify – a platform that made it easy for anyone to open up an online store.

Tobi has built Shopify into one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the world, with $175 billion in GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) and $4.6 billion in revenues in 2021. SHOP went public in 2015, when revenues were just slightly above $200 million, and the stock is up 1,233% since its IPO. Shopify stock peaked in November 2021 (traded at astronomical 47x sales), which coincided with peak enthusiasm for the tech-driven, “stay-home” stocks. Since then, the stock is down almost 80% and is currently trading at just 6x 2023E sales. We believe that Mr. Market is offering us an exceptional value, at current price levels, for an exceptional company led by a very talented, visionary founder/CEO.”

6. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is a California-based company that offers manufacturing equipment and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. Billionaire Philippe Laffont’s hedge fund owned about 1.8 million Applied Materials, Inc. shares worth $297.2 million in Q4 2021, representing 1.31% of the total securities. The fund sold off its stake completely in Q1 2022.

On July 25, Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis lowered the price target on Applied Materials, Inc. to $95 from $125 and maintained an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The current semiconductor rally should fade as it is “way too early to buy the dip,” the analyst informed investors. The analyst believes the sector is still in for a “substantial reset” and he toned down wafer fab equipment estimates.

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 74 hedge funds were bullish on Applied Materials, Inc. at the end of the first quarter of 2022, down from 78 funds in the earlier quarter. David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management is the leading shareholder of the company, with 4.25 million shares worth about $561 million.

Like Activision Blizzard, Inc., Mastercard Incorporated, and Pfizer Inc., Philippe Laffont pulled out of Applied Materials, Inc. in 2022.

Here is what Davis Opportunity Fund has to say about Applied Materials, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Within technology and communication services, we own a number of online businesses and semiconductor related companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, Applied Materials and Texas Instruments. Within the realm of high technology, we believe that leadership positions reflect enduring and widening competitive advantages over smaller competitors, with few exceptions. This is because online businesses, as well as semiconductor companies, benefit from economies of scale. An online search and advertising engine will, in general, be more profitable per unit of cost as it grows larger in terms of users and advertising dollars. It is a hub-and-spoke model, in other words, where it is generally not necessary to grow expenses at the same rate that revenues grow beyond a certain threshold. Therefore, returns on capital tend to be higher, the larger and more dominant the online search company is.”

5. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79

Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational biopharmaceutical firm that commercializes medicines, biosimilars, and vaccines. Philippe Laffont owned 10.3 million shares of Pfizer Inc. in the fourth quarter of 2021, worth about $609 million, representing 2.70% of the total portfolio. The billionaire’s hedge fund dumped the position entirely in Q1 2022.

Morgan Stanley analyst Terence Flynn on July 8 lowered the price target on Pfizer Inc. to $49 from $52 and kept an Equal Weight rating on the shares after adjusting estimates ahead of the company’s Q2 report. He expects biopharma revenues to remain robust if economic activity dampens and continues to believe firms that can deliver revenue growth are best positioned among the group, the analyst said.

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management is the leading position holder in the company, with 10.70 million shares worth over $554 million. Overall, Pfizer Inc. was part of 79 hedge fund portfolios at the conclusion of Q1 2022, down from 83 funds in the preceding quarter.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Value Equity Strategy has to say about Pfizer Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“While the level of general turnover abated as we progressed through 2021, it remained high in one area: post-COVID-19 recovery plays. The concept behind this investment thesis was, and still is, straightforward: with the advent of effective vaccines, the path from pandemic to endemic is just a matter of time. As this transition occurs, the estimated excess savings of over $2 trillion built up on U.S. consumer balance sheets will unlock dramatic pent-up demand for experiences, especially global travel. This investment case seemed especially compelling when the Pfizer vaccine positively surprised markets in November 2020. As a result, we made post-COVID-19 stocks (which were trading well below our estimate of recovery value) a sizable theme within the portfolio. We understood this to be a more aggressive tilt in positioning because it required a major improvement in demand to catalyze fundamentals and drive price toward higher business values. While we accepted that recovery would not be smooth and that it would take time to deploy vaccines both domestically and globally, we decided that recovery was the logical path of least resistance and we were being well compensated for these risks.

What we did not account for, however, was vaccine hesitancy and the risk of further infection waves. As a result, the first variant wave, Delta, was a negative surprise to both the market and our team. When the risk surfaced, we immediately updated our probability-driven models and debated how we should react. The resulting conclusion was that the recovery would be delayed and that we should reduce our exposure quickly, subsequently targeting the most aggressive recovery stocks such as cruise lines. We again acted swiftly and decisively to the positive surprise that Pfizer had delivered a high-efficacy antiviral COVID-19 pill. This pill should greatly reduce COVID-19 severity risks globally, increasing the probability of a global travel recovery in 2022. While this is still true, the emergence of the highly mutated Omicron variant set off another infection wave which spurred us to again act quickly and further reduce our risk exposure. This back-and-forth may sound exhausting, but it highlights our compulsion to act if we determine a surprise has a large enough impact on the probabilities that power our valuation-driven investment cases.

4. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 80

Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American interactive entertainment company. On July 25, MoffettNathanson analyst Clay Griffin upgraded Activision Blizzard, Inc. to Outperform from Market Perform with an unchanged price target of $95. The merger arbitrage spread has been wide ever since Microsoft agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc. for $95 per share, observed the analyst. Given an approximately 20% discount to the deal price, purchasing Activision Blizzard, Inc. stock at this point is “an uncorrelated return opportunity that we find increasingly compelling,” he added.

Philippe Laffont initially invested in Activision Blizzard, Inc. back in Q4 2014 and consistently held the position until the end of 2019. In Q1 2020, the billionaire’s fund disposed of its Activision Blizzard, Inc. stake and purchased back shares of the company in Q4 2021, only to dump the $60 million position again in Q1 2022.

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 80 hedge funds were bullish on Activision Blizzard, Inc. at the end of Q1 2022, up from 70 funds in the prior quarter. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway featured as the biggest stakeholder of the company, with 64.3 million shares worth $5.15 billion.

Here is what FPA U.S. Core Equity Fund has to say about Activision Blizzard, Inc. in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“One of the Fund’s biggest winners in the first quarter was Activision Blizzard. On January 18, 2022 Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) agreed to purchase ATVI for $95.00 per share in an all-cash transaction. The Fund has been invested in ATVI since the second quarter of 2018.

The investment thesis was threefold. First, the greater than $200 billion gaming industry is the largest and fastest growing form of entertainment in the world. More than three billion people play games currently and the population of global gamers is expected to grow faster than global population growth this decade.14 Second, ATVI has some of the best intellectual property in the gaming industry including Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Candy Crush in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. Third, ATVI has had a pristine balance sheet with net cash over the past four years, generated robust free cash flow and traded at an undemanding valuation.

ATVI closed the quarter at $80.11—a nearly 16% discount to the acquisition price. Assuming it takes about a year for the deal to close, a 18.6% return seems to be good upside relative to the risk of a deal not closing due to anti -trust concerns. If the transaction closes it would make Microsoft the third-largest company in gaming by revenue behind Tencent and Sony. There is plenty of competition from these larger players as well as smaller competitors such as EA, Take-Two Interactive, Roblox and Epic Games’ Fortnite. The Fund remains invested in ATVI given the significant discount, but should the discount narrow in the coming quarters the Fund could reduce or eliminate the position.”

3. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) manufactures and sells integrated circuits and semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and the United States. Coatue Management added Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited to its portfolio in Q4 2021 by purchasing 858,277 shares worth $103.26 million. The hedge fund discarded the stock in the next quarter.

Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini on July 14 lowered the firm’s price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited to $88 from $90 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. The analyst observed the company’s robust revenues in 2022 actually make the 2023 estimates more challenging. He told investors that it is encouraging to hear Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited announcing a wide inventory correction, but said the 1H23 inventory correction will be more difficult than anticipated.

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 81 funds were long Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited at the end of March, up from 72 funds in the earlier quarter. Fisher Asset Management is the largest stakeholder of the company, with more than 26 million shares valued at $2.73 billion.

Here is what Baron New Asia Fund has to say about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. detracted in the first quarter due to rising geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic uncertainties, and concerns over softening demand for consumer electronics. We retain conviction that Taiwan Semi’s technological leadership, pricing power, and exposure to secular growth markets, including high-performance computing, automotive, and IoT, will allow the company to deliver above its 15% to 20% revenue growth target over the next several years.”

2. Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 82

Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) is a New York-based data monitoring and analytics platform. Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management added Datadog, Inc. to its portfolio initially in the third quarter of 2019. The hedge fund held the stake consecutively until disposing it in Q3 2021. Coatue Management purchased 62,193 shares of Datadog, Inc. in Q4 2021, which it dumped entirely in Q1 2022.

On July 25, RBC Capital analyst Matthew Hedberg lowered the price target on Datadog, Inc. to $115 from $167 on shrinking peer multiples but maintained an Outperform rating on the shares ahead of its Q2 results. After a “strong” Q1, the analyst is focused on the company’s macro outlook, the effect of consumption pricing, ongoing success around its platform strategy, and multiple product adoption. He added that he still likes the potential for long-term growth and margin improvement at Datadog, Inc..

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 82 hedge funds were bullish on Datadog, Inc. at the end of March 2022, up from 73 funds in the last quarter. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital is the largest stakeholder of the company, with roughly 3 million shares worth $449.15 million.

Here is what Baron Global Advantage Fund has to say about Datadog, Inc. in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Another example is Datadog, the leading infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring and log management software platform. Datadog’s stock declined 15% during the quarter, despite reporting sparkling operational results, with revenues accelerating to a growth rate of 84% year-over-year with 33% free cash flow margins, while guiding for 2022 significantly above expectations. Datadog added 4,600 new customers in the quarter, while existing customers continued to increase their spending on Datadog products at a rapid pace with the number of customers using four or more products increasing to 33% from 22% last year. While Datadog’s stock was down, its intrinsic value has undoubtedly increased. This is enabled by rapid innovation (Datadog released 13 new products in 2021) into a market that is benefiting from the secular growth in cloud, digital transformation, and the explosion in complexity as the number of vendors, diversity of technologies and related infrastructure continued to expand.”

1. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 136

Mastercard Incorporated is an American multinational financial services corporation that provides payment-related products and services worldwide. Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management held 777,508 Mastercard Incorporated shares in the fourth quarter of 2021, which it disposed of completely in Q1 2022.

On July 26, Citi analyst Ashwin Shirvaikar lowered the price target on Mastercard Incorporated to $415 from $453 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst expects “good” June quarter results from Mastercard Incorporated and his estimates exceed Street consensus. While the aggregate spend environment “appears to remain encouraging” particularly for the richer demographic, there might be a potential spending slowdown in certain geographies. The analyst updated models to account for conservatism regarding the macro environment and future spend patterns.

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 136 funds were bullish on Mastercard Incorporated at the end of Q1, down from 144 funds in the last quarter. Charles Akre’s Akre Capital Management held the leading position in the company, with 5.85 million shares worth over $2 billion.

Here is what Polen Global Growth Fund has to say about Mastercard Incorporated in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“We added to both Visa and Mastercard during the final quarters of 2021, based on the belief that both businesses were trading at attractive prices and poised to deliver double-digit returns over the next three to five years. Cross-border transactions–a highly profitable business segment for both companies–represent roughly 10% of Visa and Mastercard’s volumes and 25% of their gross revenues, so lockdowns have severely impacted this segment due to stifled travel. While it was impossible to know when people would begin traveling again, we accepted this reality with the belief that travel would eventually return. Both companies have commented that as soon as a country or geography reopens, cross-border volumes reignite, amplifying each business’s growth and profitability. We think these near- term headwinds have created an attractive long-term investment opportunity.”

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