Important data releases happen with frequency on Wall Street. A seemingly endless parade of earnings reports, economic data releases, and policy changes from the Donald Trump administration, can make it easy for something important to get overlooked by investors.
Arguably the most-telling of all data releases occurred three weeks ago on May 15. This marked the deadline for institutional investors overseeing at least $100 million in assets to file Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A 13F provides investors with a snapshot of which stocks Wall Street's smartest money managers bought and sold in the latest quarter (in this case, the first quarter).
While Warren Buffett is the most-followed asset manager on Wall Street, he's far from the only billionaire investor with a phenomenal track record. Coatue Management's Philippe Laffont, who closed out March with $22.7 billion in assets under management, has a propensity for making money in the stock market.
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Whereas Buffett is a staunch value investor, Laffont leans heavily into growth stocks and companies riding the latest technological waves, such as the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.
Although Laffont ended March overseeing 70 stocks, just four of these positions (all AI stocks) account for roughly 30% of Coatue's invested assets. Interestingly enough, AI leader Nvidia (NVDA 1.75%) isn't among these top AI assets, with Laffont persistently selling shares of Nvidia over the last two years. Though Nvidia was Coatue's largest holding from April 1, 2023 – Dec. 31, 2023, a combination of profit-taking and other possible nefarious factors has led to a notable reduction in this position.
Meta Platforms: 9.5% of invested assets
In four of the last five quarters, social media titan Meta Platforms (META 1.43%) has been billionaire Philippe Laffont's top holding. Coatue's more than 3.75-million-share stake equated to almost $2.2 billion in market value at the end of March.
While Meta is wagering heavily on an AI future, the lion's share of its revenue and profits are currently derived from advertising. In March, Meta's family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and Facebook Messenger, attracted an average of 3.43 billion daily active people. Since no other social platform comes particularly close to luring as many people on a daily basis, businesses are eager to advertise on Meta's social media sites. In turn, Meta often enjoys significant ad-pricing power.
Mark Zuckerberg's company is already deploying generative AI solutions within its advertising platform. Giving businesses access to generative AI allows them to personalize their message(s) to specific users, with the hope of improving click-through rates.
Meta Platforms also has the luxury of an enviable treasure chest. Its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities collectively topped $70 billion at the end of March, and the company's operations generated over $24 billion in net cash through the first three months of the year. Meta has the luxury of aggressively investing in AI, as well as slow-stepping the rollout of new services, thanks to its pristine balance sheet.
Image source: Amazon.
Amazon: 9% of invested assets
The only quarter where Meta Platforms wasn't the No. 1 holding for Coatue Management since the start of 2024 (the fourth quarter of 2024) saw e-commerce kingpin Amazon (AMZN 1.88%) take hold of the top spot. Amazon has been a top-four holding for Laffont's fund for eight consecutive quarters.
Coatue's billionaire chief is more than likely attracted to the rapid growth in Amazon's cloud infrastructure service platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). According to estimates from tech analysis firm Canalys, AWS entered 2025 accounting for a 33% share of global cloud infrastructure service spending. Based on Amazon's first-quarter operating results, AWS is pacing $117 billion in annual run-rate revenue.
Amazon hasn't been shy about incorporating generative AI solutions into AWS. It's also giving customers the tools to build and deploy large language models (LLMs). LLMs can be used to answer queries as virtual agents and summarize text, while generative AI can improve various marketing aspects for businesses.
Amazon's other high-growth ancillary segments, which includes subscription services (e.g., Prime) and advertising services, are playing key roles in its growth, too. Winning exclusive sports streaming deals with the NFL and NBA should afford Prime plenty of subscription pricing power. Meanwhile, attracting billions of visitors on a monthly basis is great news for the company's advertising operations.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing: 5.8% of invested assets
The third largest holding in billionaire Philippe Laffont's fund for a second consecutive quarter is world-leading chip fabrication company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM 1.10%), which is commonly referred to as "TSMC." Even though Coatue's 13F shows that roughly 2 million shares of TSMC were sold during the first quarter, it still accounts for close to 6% of invested assets.
Taiwan Semi can be best thought of as a critical part of the AI-data center supply chain. Its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology is necessary for the packaging of high-bandwidth memory needed in AI-accelerated data centers. TSMC is in the process of increasing its CoWoS capacity from around 35,000 units per month in 2024 to 135,000 wafers per month by 2026. This should go a long way to resolving the AI-graphics processing unit (GPU) scarcity that's allowed Nvidia to charge a veritable arm and leg for its Hopper and Blackwell GPUs.
Laffont's sizable wager on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing might also have to do with it building advanced-chip production facilities in the U.S. President Trump's threat of imposing tariffs on imports, including the possibility of semiconductor tariffs, is more of a moot point with TSMC investing in America.
Something else worth noting is that TSMC is more than just AI chips. While advanced computing does comprise a majority of Taiwan Semi's net sales, it remains a key player in chip production for smartphones, Internet of Things devices, and next-generation vehicles. This revenue diversification might provide some buffer to Taiwan Semiconductor stock if an AI bubble forms and bursts.
Microsoft: 5.4% of invested assets
The fourth AI stock that, collectively with Meta Platforms, Amazon, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, accounts for about 30% of Coatue Management's $22.7 billion in invested assets is Microsoft (MSFT 0.56%). Microsoft was Laffont's fifth-largest holding at the end of March, and it's been a top-five position in each of the last eight quarters.
Similar to Meta and Amazon, Microsoft's artificial intelligence ties have to do with applying this game-changing technology to existing solutions. For instance, Azure is the world's No. 2 cloud infrastructure service platform by total spending, behind only AWS. Microsoft is aggressively deploying generative AI and LLM tools in Azure for its clients. In turn, it's seeing sales growth for Azure remain firmly in the double-digits (35% year-over-year growth on a constant currency basis for the March-ended quarter).
Microsoft's legacy operations aren't slouches, either. Even though the growth heyday for Windows and Office is long gone, Microsoft's software still dominates on desktops and laptops. These sustainable, high-margin operating segments generate plenty of cash flow that the company can redirect toward cloud and AI initiatives, or perhaps Microsoft's bountiful capital-return program.
Additionally, Microsoft is swimming in cash, which allows for an aggressive level of innovation and acquisitions that most companies can't match. It ended March with $79.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, while generating $37 billion in net cash from operations in just three months.
