We recently published a list of 10 Best Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Chris Rokos. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other best stocks to buy according to billionaire Chris Rokos.
Chris Rokos is a highly respected British hedge fund manager who co-founded Brevan Howard Asset Management in 2002 before departing to establish his own firm in 2015, Rokos Capital Management, which now stands as one of the world’s largest macro hedge funds. After graduating from university, Rokos joined UBS in London. Within a year, he joined Goldman Sachs, where he spent three years, first in derivative structuring, then swap market making, and finally proprietary trading. Later on, he would join the budding Brevan Howard Asset Management, becoming one of the firm’s most successful traders, delivering almost $4 billion in profits for the fund during his time there. He later brought this expertise over to his own fund, with Rokos Capital specializing in global macroeconomic strategies, utilizing the billionaire’s skill in trading interest rates and currencies.
Rokos Capital Management’s 13F assets had risen to more than $6 billion by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, placing it among Europe’s largest hedge funds. While it seems contradictory, the hedge fund’s main selling point might be the volatility of its returns. The firm went through a 44% rise in 2020, which was followed by a 26% decline in 2021. Later in 2022, when the S&P 500 fell more than 18%, the hedge fund enjoyed its best year on record, rising 51%.
According to Bloomberg, Chris Rokos’ hedge fund climbed 4.5% in the first two weeks of April as bond rates rose after President Trump’s announcement of punitive tariffs aimed at reshaping global trade. These gains increased Rokos’ returns this year to 8%. Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement shook global markets, with uncertainty spreading even to Treasuries, which are typically seen as a safe haven. A variety of explanations have been proposed as to what triggered the turbulence, including foreign governments dumping US debt and hedge funds unwinding highly leveraged deals. That said, this isn’t the first time Rokos has benefited from Trump’s presidency. The billionaire made almost $1 billion in profit in a single day in November, one of his largest trading sessions since establishing his firm in 2015, as Trump’s election triumph spurred a global spike in asset prices.
Our Methodology
For this list, we picked stocks from Rokos Capital Management’s 13F portfolio as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024. These equities are also popular among other hedge funds.
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 development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Rokos Capital Management’s Stake as of Q4 2024: $290.6 million
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 317
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a major technology company known for its main software products, which include the Windows operating system, the Microsoft 365 suite, and the Edge browser.
On April 17, KeyBanc analysts cut Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares from Overweight to Sector Weight, citing uncertainty regarding the timing of artificial intelligence demand and monetization. Microsoft has made huge investments in AI and its cloud computing service Azure, which have become key components of the company’s development plan. The decision comes as analysts forecast considerable capital expenditures with limited flexibility in the coming year, which might have an impact on margins in the short term.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a 12.27% year-over-year revenue gain in its recent earnings report, hitting $69.63 billion, with earnings per share of $3.23 climbing above market forecasts. This performance was mostly driven by the strength of its cloud segment, which accounted for about 43% of total revenue in fiscal year 2024.
Alger Spectra Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. The company operates through three segments: Productivity and Business Processes (Office365, LinkedIn, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (Server Products and Cloud Services, Azure, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (Windows, Devices, Gaming, and Search). During the quarter, shares detracted from performance as Azure revenue growth missed analyst estimates, marking the third consecutive quarter of modest disappointment in this segment. However, AI-related sales growth exceeded expectations, accounting for 13% of Azure’s quarterly growth. Management also maintained their fiscal third quarter earnings guidance while highlighting improved operating profitability and lower tax rates. Despite the disappointing quarter, we remain confident in Microsoft’s ability to sustain its leadership position in AI.”
Overall, MSFT ranks 2nd on our list of stocks to buy according to billionaire Chris Rokos. While we acknowledge the potential for MSFT 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. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this 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.
