In this article, we discuss Brad Gerstner and his top 5 stock picks. If you want to read about some more stocks in the Gerstner portfolio, go directly to Brad Gerstner Stock Portfolio: 10 Top Stock Picks.
5. Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 36
Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) owns and runs a data platform that provides real-time analytics. According to the latest disclosures, Altimeter owned over 16.6 million shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) at the end of the third quarter of 2023 worth $491 million, representing 9.33% of the total portfolio.
On November 8, Capital One analyst Connor Murphy upgraded Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) stock to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $27, backing the firm to pull off a multi quarter recovery in the coming months.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, New York-based firm Tiger Global Management LLC is a leading shareholder in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) with 5.1 million shares worth more than $153 million.
4. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 300
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a Washington-based technology company. Latest 13F filings show that Altimeter Capital Management owned over 1.6 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of September 2023 worth $521 million, representing 9.9% of the portfolio.
On November 20, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced that Sam Altman, the former CEO of OpenAI, would be joining an advanced AI team of the firm, alongside long standing AI partner Greg Brockman.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Texas-based investment firm Fisher Asset Management is a leading shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) with 24 million shares worth more than $7.8 billion.
In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Jackson Peak Capital, an investment management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“The Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)/Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) merger arbitrage came to a successful conclusion with the court denying the FTC’s preliminary injunction request. The deal subsequently received approval from the UK CMA and closed in October. The ATVI position was an example of “staying around the hoop” of a significant arb opportunity. At first, the position led to a small loss in Q2 when the UK CMA initially blocked the deal in April, but we stayed close to the case, analyzed the FTC trial and scaled up the ATVI position as it became apparent FTC had a weak case, meaning the probability of the deal going through was mispriced by the market since the companies would likely find a solution to work with the UK CMA (only global regulator who had an issue) if the FTC lost.”
3. Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 144
Uber Technologies, Inc.(NYSE:UBER) develops and operates proprietary technology applications worldwide. Securities filings show that Altimeter Capital Management owned over 13.3 million shares of Uber Technologies, Inc.(NYSE:UBER) at the end of September 2023 worth $613 million, representing 11.64% of the portfolio.
On November 9, Citi analyst Ronald Josey maintained a Buy rating on Uber Technologies, Inc.(NYSE:UBER) stock and raised the price target to $67 from $60, noting the firm was executing really well and margins would continue to expand.
At the end of the second quarter of 2023, 144 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $7.6 billion in Uber Technologies, Inc.(NYSE:UBER), the same as in the preceding quarter worth $5.6 billion.
In its Q3 2023 investor letter, RiverPark Funds, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER): UBER was the top contributor in the quarter following a better-than-expected 2Q23 earnings report and 3Q23 guidance. Gross bookings of $33.6 billion were up 16% year over year. Mobility gross bookings of $17 billion grew 25% over last year driven by a combination of product innovation and driver availability. Delivery gross bookings of $16 billion were up 12% from last year. 2Q Adjusted EBITDA of $916 million, up $552 million year over year, significantly beat Street estimates of $845 million and the company generated $1.1 billion of free cash flow. Management guided to continuing growth in 3Q Gross Bookings (17%-20% growth) and Adjusted EBITDA (of $975-1,025 million).
UBER remains the undisputed global leader in ride sharing, with a greater than 50% share in every major region in which it operates. The company is also a leader in food delivery, where it is number one or two in the more than 25 countries in which it operates. Moreover, after a history of losses, the company is now profitable, delivering expanding margins and substantial free cash flow. We view UBER as more than just ride sharing and food delivery, but also as a global mobility platform with the ability to sell to its 130 million users (by comparison, Amazon Prime has 200 million members) and penetrate new markets of on-demand services, such as package and grocery delivery, travel, and worker staffing for shift work. Given its $4.3 billion of unrestricted cash and $4.4 billion of investments, the company’s enterprise value of $95 billion equates to just over 20x next year’s estimated free cash flow.”
2. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 225
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a tech firm that owns and runs social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Even though Instagram is immensely popular, currently certain features, like downloading content easily, are missing, sparking up start-ups like instadll.com. Instagram has more than 500 million daily users and more than 2 billion monthly active users. Latest 13F filings show that Altimeter Capital Management owned 2.4 million shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) at the end of September 2023 worth $721 million, representing 13.7% of the portfolio of the fund.
At the end of the second quarter of 2023, 225 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $30 billion in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), compared to 220 in the preceding quarter worth $25 billion.
In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Weitz Investment Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“As for other quarterly contributors, Alphabet, Inc., (GOOG) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) added to their exceptional year-to-date returns. Meta Platforms and Alphabet were the true year-to-date standouts. After steep declines in 2022, both stocks rebounded sharply due to a combination of solid fundamentals, disciplined operational execution, and improved sentiment. Despite outsized gains and attention, we think both Alphabet and Meta remain undervalued.”
1. Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 65
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) owns and runs a cloud-based data platform. Regulatory filings show that Altimeter Capital Management owned 15.4 million shares of Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) at the end of September 2023 worth $2.3 billion, representing 44.65% of the portfolio of the fund.
On November 20, Citi analyst Tyler Radke maintained a Buy rating on Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) stock with a price target of $191, noting that fieldwork on the firm suggests easing optimizations and early new product traction.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Omaha-based investment firm Berkshire Hathaway is a leading shareholder in Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) with 6.1 million shares worth more than $935 million.
Here is what ClearBridge Investments has to say about Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:
“While the ClearBridge Multi Cap Growth Strategy has limited mega cap exposure, which has been a recent headwind to relative performance, we own several companies that stand to benefit from the explosive growth in generative AI. These holdings play key roles in building out the necessary infrastructure and helping customers leverage capabilities enabled by this emerging technology.
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW), a cloud-based data platform company, is positioned well to help enterprises better leverage their own data to get the most out of AI models. Though it is still early days in terms of adoption, Snowflake saw workloads for data science, machine learning, and AI use cases grow more than 90% year-over-year in its most recent quarter.”
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