We recently published a list of Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Marshall Wace LLP. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stands against other top stocks to buy according to Marshall Wace LLP.
Marshall Wace LLP is a prominent British hedge fund established in 1997 by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace. Headquartered in London, the firm has grown to become one of the world’s leading hedge funds. The firm operates as a unified global team, dedicated to fostering long-term client relationships built on trust and integrity, with a culture centered on continuous innovation and improvement.
Sir Paul Roderick Clucas Marshall, known simply as Paul Marshall, serves as the chairman and chief investment officer of Marshall Wace. Born in London, England, he studied history and modern languages at St John’s College, Oxford before earning an MBA from INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau, France. Prior to co-founding Marshall Wace, Marshall was the Head of European Equities at Mercury Asset Management.
Beyond finance, Marshall is best known as a philanthropist and media baron. He expanded his influence into media by owning UnHerd and The Spectator and co-owning GB News. His philanthropic efforts are equally notable; he was named the top donor on The Sunday Times Giving List in 2024 after donating a hefty sum to various causes including the London School of Economics to establish the Marshall Institute. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for his contributions to education and philanthropy.
Politically, Marshall was initially a member and donor of the Liberal Democrats, co-editing the influential Orange Book in 2004 alongside key party figures. However, his stance shifted in 2015 when he left the party due to his support for Brexit. He later became a major donor to the Brexit campaign and the Conservative Party. His ownership of UnHerd and GB News has positioned him as a significant right-wing media figure in the UK.
Ian Gerald Patrick Wace serves as the firm’s chief executive officer and chief risk officer. Despite not holding a college degree, he has achieved exceptional success in the finance industry, earning recognition as “perhaps the only person without a college degree to ever qualify” for Institutional Investor’s Rich List. Wace began his career at S.G. Warburg & Co., where he spent 11 years and became the firm’s youngest director at the age of 25. His rapid ascent continued as he was appointed head of European equity sales in 1988, head of proprietary trading in 1993, and head of international trading in 1994. In 1995, he joined Deutsche Morgan Grenfell as head of equity and derivative trading, further establishing his expertise in the financial sector before co-founding Marshall Wace in 1997.
Marshall Wace LLP manages quantitative, systematic, and fundamental investment strategies, with a primary focus on long/short equity. These strategies are implemented on a global scale, utilizing proprietary systems and processes to optimize performance. For over two decades, technology and data have been central to the firm’s operations. In 2002, Marshall Wace introduced MW TOPS, its Trade Optimized Portfolio System and the world’s first ‘Alpha Capture’ application. This revolutionized the way investment insights were harnessed and contributed largely to its prominence in the hedge fund industry. Today, the firm remains committed to innovation and excellence, continuously refining its methodologies to maintain a competitive edge in the financial markets. Despite its success, Marshall Wace has faced recent challenges; in the fiscal year ending February 2024, the firm’s revenues declined substantially, leading to a nearly 64% drop in profits.
Marshall Wace LLP’s Q4 2024 13F filing reported over $83 billion in managed 13F securities, with its top 10 holdings accounting for 34.5% of the total portfolio.
Our Methodology
The stocks discussed below were picked from Marshall Wace LLP’s Q4 2024 13F filings. They are compiled in the ascending order of the hedge fund’s stake in them as of December 31, 2024. To assist readers with more context, we have included the hedge fund sentiment regarding each stock using data from over 1,000 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey in the fourth quarter of 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).
A customer entering an internet retail store, illustrating the convenience of online shopping.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4: 339
Marshall Wace LLP’s Equity Stake: $2.48 Billion
Amazon’s stock fell 2.66% on March 14, 2025, closing at $193.91, as investors reacted to growing concerns over potential tariff impacts following new policy discussions from the Trump administration. While Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) doesn’t primarily deal in alcoholic beverages, the announcement of a possible 200% tariff on European imports raised broader fears about trade policies affecting major retailers. This drop extends Amazon’s challenging start to 2025, with shares down 11.7% year-to-date and nearly 20% below their February peak of $242.06. However, Amazon’s financial health remains strong, reporting a return on equity of 24.68% and a return on assets of 10.49%. With a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, near its 10-year low, this could serve as a top stock to buy for long-term investors.
Despite recent stock volatility, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) delivered record-breaking financial results in 2024. The company’s operating income for Q4 surged to $21.2 billion from $13.2 billion the previous year, while net income doubled to $20 billion. For the full year, Amazon’s net sales grew 11% to $638 billion, and operating income nearly doubled to $68.6 billion. The main driver of this success was Amazon Web Services (AWS), which saw a 19% jump in quarterly revenue to $28.8 billion. With enterprises increasingly turning to AWS for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the cloud division remains a critical component of Amazon’s long-term growth strategy.
However, investor concerns over Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s aggressive capital expenditures have weighed on the stock. The company plans to increase capital spending to $100 billion in 2025, up from $77.7 billion in 2024, with most of the investment focused on expanding AI infrastructure for AWS. While CEO Andy Jassy remains confident in the strategy, investors worry that such high spending could pressure profit margins, especially as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) projects its full-year 2025 operating income to decline by $700 million.
Parnassus Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, lifting investor confidence in the e-commerce giant’s ability to generate margin while continuing to invest into its large AI and retail end markets.
Amazon’s shares experienced volatility throughout the year as IT spending and the company’s margin structure came under scrutiny. Despite this, the stock outperformed as sentiment and results improved across both the overall environment for Amazon Web Services and the company’s ability to show margin.”
Overall, AMZN ranks 3rd on our list of top stocks to buy according to Marshall Wace LLP. While we acknowledge the potential for AMZN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMZN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
