Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s Top 10 Stock Picks

2. Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG)

Duquesne Capital’s Stake Value: $287,139,000

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56

Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) is a technology company that provides retail, restaurant delivery, video streaming, and fintech services to customers around the world under brands that include Coupang, Coupang Eats, Coupang Play and Farfetch. The online retail company sells beauty, skincare, snacks, electronics, and clothing items on its platform, Coupang Marketplace. The company celebrates a strong e-commerce infrastructure, boasting more than 100 unique fulfillment centers covering more than 47 million square feet.

In the third quarter of 2024, the company logged $7.9 billion in net revenues, up by 27% year over year. Coupang’s product commerce revenue increased by 16% year-over-year and active customers by 11% in the third quarter of 2024 During the same quarter, CPNG generated $64 million in net income and operating cash flow for the 12 months ended September 30 was $1.8 billion. Apart from its strong e-commerce infrastructure, Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) is a customer favorite, as evidenced by its 22.5 million strong customer base.

Appalaches Capital stated the following regarding Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG)  in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

“A new core holding of the portfolio that may appear confusing is Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG). Coupang mainly provides a first-party marketplace in South Korea and Taiwan that is similar to Amazon here in the U.S. Coupang additionally has other digital services such as Coupang Play (streaming), Coupang Eats (food delivery), and Coupang Pay (payments). Coupang has a dominant position in South Korean e-commerce, with nearly half of the population represented as an active customer on the platform. At first glance, the company appears marginally profitable and very expensive against current earnings, so it certainly appears to be an outlier against the rest of the portfolio.

A couple of months ago, I shared an article addressing this very subject. As a value investor, I aim to buy shares in businesses trading at a discount to their intrinsic value. This intrinsic value is simply the present value of future cash flows, which can be materially different from the cash flows of the business today. Clearly, I believe this is the case with Coupang…” (Click here to read the full text)