Below is the list of top 5 stock picks of Brad Gerstner. For a detailed discussion about Brad Gerstner’s biography and track record please see Brad Gerstner’s Top 10 Stock Picks.
5. Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER)
Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) is Altimeter’s fifth-largest holding, accounting for slightly less than 5% of the entire portfolio. Brad Gerstner’s fund has been holding a stake in the ride-hailing company well before it went public in May of 2019. The firm has also substantially lifted its stake in the company after it went public.
4. Altimeter Growth Corp. (AGCUU)
Altimeter Growth Corp. (AGCUU) is led by Brad Gerstner and is a newly organized blank-check company formed to complete a share exchange, merger, asset acquisition, reorganization, or similar transaction with one or more businesses or entities.
3. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a member of Altimeter’s portfolio since 2018. As of December, it held around 1.76 million shares in the company. The stake in the technology giant appears to be working for Altimeter as its shares appreciated sharply in the past four years. In addition, the company returned a hefty amount to shareholders in the form of dividends.
In the fourth quarter investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, mentioned a few stocks including Microsoft. Here is what ClearBridge Investments stated:
“Despite these mixed emerging growth results, the ClearBridge Global Growth Strategy outperformed the benchmark due to resilience among our secular and structural growth holdings. The bulk of these contributions came from U.S. mega-cap growth stocks Apple and Microsoft which continued to uniquely act both offensively and defensively as they have through most of the pandemic.”
2. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is the long-running stock holding of Altimeter Capital. The firm first initiated a position in the company in 2012 and steadily increased its stake over the years. It is the second-largest stock holding of the Boston-based hedge fund as of December. Shares of Meta Platforms are up 66% in the past five years. Although Meta Platform’s stock price slid strongly in the past six months, Brad Gerstner has appreciated Meta’s management business strategies.
In the fourth quarter investor letter, Boyar Value Group, an investment management firm, mentioned a few stocks including Meta Platforms. Here is what Boyar Value Group stated:
“Corporate executives can have many different reasons for selling shares (anticipation of tax law changes, philanthropy, diversification, and much more), but the sheer number of billionaire founders who sold shares in 2021 should raise eyebrows and might well be signaling a market top. Bloomberg’s Ben Steverman and Scott Carpenter report not only that Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) sold shares in his company almost every day last year but also that the founders of Google sold ~$3.5 billion worth of stock (the first time either Sergey Brin or Larry Page has sold shares since 2017).”
1. Snowflake Inc. (NASDAQ:SNOW)
Brad Gerstner is the leading and oldest stakeholder in Snowflake Inc. (NASDAQ:SNOW). His investment firm took part in its funding rounds and initiated a stake in the company well before it went public in 2019. The firm, however, started selling stakes in the cloud computing-based data warehousing company since the beginning of 2021 to capitalize on the recent share price run. Despite that, Altimeter still held 17 million shares of the company, representing 54.76% of the overall portfolio weight.
In the fourth quarter investor letter, Guardian Fund, an investment management firm, highlighted a few stocks including Snowflake. Here is what Guardian Fund stated:
“When we read the quarterly earnings updates, we continue to be impressed by the magnitude of the reallocation of resources within society. For instance, cloud spending is expected to nearly triple by 2025. The migration to the public cloud is a massive opportunity for Snowflake, as well as dozens of companies that are still small private ventures today. The markets for digital commerce, payments, advertising, streaming of content, and information intelligence, are likely to keep compounding at double digit growth rates for the foreseeable future.
No wonder there is much excitement and people feel increasing pressure to participate in wealth creation that is taking place in those fields. While many intelligent capital allocators understand the value that is to be found in investing in internet-enabled businesses, the fear of timing and valuation has been high for years. The shift in thinking and the new mental models required to transition from linearly growing companies to some of the most scalable business models is hard. It becomes even harder when having to do the homework in an echo chamber of worried market observers constantly pointing at rising stock prices combined with the ‘I told you so’ crowd that are flourishing nowadays.
All in all, we are convinced that the podium on which we are focused – the data-driven, cloudnative, founder-led, businesses that enable people to play and work digitally – is where the magic happens for a long time to come. What matters to us is whether the businesses are worth at least double in 2025. We think that when we will be looking back at today’s prices in 2030, they will likely look like bargains for several businesses.”
You can also take a look at 10 Monthly Dividend Stocks to Buy in April and 10 Consumer Technology Stocks to Invest In According to Ken Fisher
