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David Tepper Goes Full Bull Mode: Top-Ranked Stocks He is Buying

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As one of Wall Street’s leading independent thinkers, David Tepper seems to always be one step ahead of everyone else. Evident from his 13f filing, a quarterly report filed by institutional investment managers, Tepper has initiated some big bets, and many of them have top Zacks Ranks.

David Tepper is a prominent hedge fund manager who has garnered the highest respect from the investing community, and rightfully so. Tepper takes a no-nonsense approach and has built an extremely impressive investment record, averaging ~25% annually over several decades. Tepper is a somewhat active investor, holding positions for a few quarters at a time, and often catching the meat of the move most years.

Going All in on Tech

In Q2 2023, he became exceedingly bullish, adding several billion dollars of exposure to mostly Technology and Semiconductor stocks.

He added massively to his largest portfolio positions, including more than 5xing his largest position in Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) , adding to Meta Platforms (META - Free Report) , Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) , Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) , and Uber Technologies (UBER - Free Report)  and opening new positions in Marvell Technologies (MRVL - Free Report) , Broadcom (AVGO - Free Report)  and Lam Research (LRCX - Free Report)  among others. Clearly Tepper isn’t afraid to chase momentum as many of these stocks are already up massively this year, demonstrating his strong conviction in these trades.

Tepper manages a fairly concentrated portfolio with the top ten holdings making up 62.5% of the total. The five largest positions are Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alibaba in that order.

Many of these stocks have top Zacks Ranks, so we will cover some of the best picks below.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks With Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)

Nvidia has been the unequivocal winning stock this year, as the best performing company in the S&P 500. Thanks to its leading chip technology, NVDA is several steps ahead of the competition in supplying semiconductors for the AI revolution.

Earnings are expected to blast higher over the coming quarters, and paired with upward revisions to earnings estimates, Nvidia enjoys a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) rating. Current quarter earnings are projected to climb 304% YoY to $2.06 and have been revised higher by 1% over the last month.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Uber Technologies has seen its earnings estimates absolutely explode higher over the last two months. Current quarterly earnings estimates have been upgraded by 225% and are projected to climb 121% YoY to $0.13 per share.

EPS for Uber Technologies are expected to grow by 44.5% annually over the next 3-5 years and sales are expected to increase in the high teens over the next two years.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Amazon too has seen some stunning upgrades to its earnings estimates. Current quarter earnings estimates have been revised higher by 44% and are expected to grow 180% YoY to $0.56 per share while FY 23 earnings estimates have been upgraded by 38.5% and are forecast to grow 204% YoY to $2.16 per share.

EPS are expected to increase by 34% annually over the next 3-5 years for Amazon.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks With Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)

Tepper obviously wants to own more semiconductor stocks. In addition to Nvidia, he also bought stakes in Marvell Technology, Broadcom, and Lam Research.

He also doesn’t seem nervous about owning Chinese shares, or at least from its technology sector as he increased his Alibaba position by 4,400% and added a new position in JD.com (JD - Free Report) .  

Honorable Mention

While they don’t current boast top Zacks Ranks, David Tepper also bought shares in leading mega cap technology stocks, including Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , and Apple (AAPL - Free Report) . It is hard to go wrong buying shares in these top-tier American companies.

Bottom Line

It is worth noting that this is exclusively hist equities portfolio, which is balanced by investments across asset classes. Additionally, the 13f released only quarterly, so the activity in between reports could completely shift the portfolio positioning and should be taken with a grain of salt. However, I believe it is clear Tepper is taking some big swings here, and his trades are valuable data.

With a heavy tilt toward technology and semiconductors, I think Tepper is keen on a continuation in the Artificial Intelligence boom. Nvidia, Microsoft, are Alphabet of course leading the way in this emerging sector, but AI will likely influence most if not all technology companies moving forward.

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