In this piece, we will take a look at Billionaire Druckenmiller’s 10 stocks picks with huge upside potential.
Wall Street is overflowing with data. If companies are not releasing their earnings, economic data flows almost daily. This abundance of data can be overwhelming, making it easy to miss important signals. That’s why investors monitor billionaires who’ve made and continue to make their fortunes on Wall Street. The list of these billionaires is long, but a few, such as Warren Buffett and Stanley Druckenmiller, stand out.
Druckenmiller is a former Soros protégé who, after 12 years at Soros Fund Management, opted to exit and focus fully on his own hedge fund, Duquesne Capital, in 2000. He later transitioned this outfit into a family office – Duquesne Family Office – in 2010. Over the past eight quarters (up to Q4 2024), the family office has consistently outperformed the S&P 500. The top 20 holdings weighted have returned 81.63% in three years (cumulatively) and 22.01% (annualized).
READ ALSO: Top 10 Growth Stocks in David Tepper’s Portfolio and Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top 13 Growth Stock Picks.
This billionaire is widely respected across Wall Street for many things, but most of all, his market acumen, integrity, and agility. One should recall that he was part of the Soros Fund Management crew that shorted the British pound in the early 1990s to the point of almost breaking the Bank of England. His genius in the market has been noticed by many. Ken Langone, another billionaire, described Druckenmiller as the best investor he’s ever known.
Druckenmiller is also influential. The Financial Times reports that the veteran investor could significantly influence the direction of the current US government economic policies. Scott Bessent, the current Treasury secretary, and Kevin Warsh, a possible successor to Jerome Powell at the Fed, are Druckenmiller’s proteges. According to the FT, these three “have a great relationship”, which implies that Druckenmiller has a direct line to the country’s most crucial economic thinkers.
Druckenmiller’s investing strategy is to chase value over hype. In other words, the 71-year-old billionaire focuses on investing in undervalued stocks rather than jumping on trendy ones. Simply put, he prefers solid opportunities over flashy ones. Just recently, he exited two of the most high-profile artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. This is an eye-brow-raising move, but if the billionaire’s genius is anything to go by, there must be value he is chasing.
Our Methodology
To compile this list, we reviewed the Duquesne Family Office’s SEC Q4 2024 13F filings. We picked 10 stocks that have the highest upside potential from their current levels based on average analyst price targets (as of April 11). Finally, we organized the stocks in ascending order based on their highest analyst upside potential while also outlining hedge fund sentiment regarding these stocks as of Q4 2024.
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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s Top 10 Stocks Picks with Huge Upside Potential
10. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)
Upside Potential as of April 11: 55.77%
Duquesne Capital’s Stake Value: $49.47 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84
Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) is one of the world’s largest airlines. The carrier provides passenger air transportation services to customers across six continents. It operates over 5,000 daily flights to more than 290 destinations worldwide.
Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) posted full-year 2024 revenue of $61.6 billion, reflecting a 6.2% rise compared to FY 2023. However, earnings per share (EPS) fell short of analyst projections by 11%. The company has reaffirmed its 2025 earnings guidance, citing strong peak season demand and declining fuel prices as factors likely to influence the full-year performance positively. Delta anticipates earnings exceeding $7.35 per share and free cash flow (FCF) above $4 billion for 2025.
Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) is expanding its international presence with new routes to North Africa. It recently announced service to Marrakech, Morocco, starting October 25, 2025. The carrier will also add flights connecting its Atlanta hub to Accra, Ghana, beginning December 1, complementing existing service from New York-JFK. It will also expand premium leisure travel offerings with additional holiday frequencies to Hawaii for winter 2025-2026. As of March 29, analysts hold a consensus Buy opinion on the stock, and their 12-month average price target points to a 64.49% upside from current levels.
9. American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL)
Upside Potential as of April 11: 66.04%
Duquesne Capital’s Stake Value: $16.03 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 59
American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) offers passenger flights, cargo services, loyalty programs, and airport lounges to clients from across six continents. It serves more than 350 destinations across more than 60 countries.
In Q4 2024, the airline reported a record quarterly revenue of $13.7 billion. The full-year income was also record-setting, coming in at $54.2 billion. More importantly, the carrier generated $4 billion in full-year operating cash flow and a record free cash flow of $2.2 billion. According to management, the healthy financial figures are a result of successfully re-engineering the airline business.
Commenting on the results, the company’s CEO Robert Isom said: “The American Airlines team achieved several important objectives in 2024. We continue to run a reliable operation, and we are reengineering the business to build an even more efficient airline. That, coupled with our commercial actions, resulted in strong financial performance in the fourth quarter.”
The airline is also expanding its international presence for winter 2025-2026. It recently announced five new routes to Cancun, Mexico, and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, starting in November and December 2025. The company will operate more than 270 peak daily departures to beach destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America — more than any other airline. Additionally, the carrier is resuming service to Kona, Hawaii, and extending seasonal service on select European routes.
