Bill Ackman's net worth totals roughly $9.3 billion. Unlike some billionaires, he didn't inherit his fortune. Instead, Ackman made his money by being one of the most successful investors around. His Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund has over $19 billion in assets under management.
As of June 30, 2025, Pershing Square's portfolio owned only 11 stocks. Ackman had $1.3 billion invested in one artificial intelligence (AI) stock that Wall Street thinks investors should buy hand over fist.
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Ackman's AI addition
Pershing Square already owned three AI stocks before the second quarter of 2025. Uber Technologies (UBER -2.58%) remains the biggest holding, making up a little over 20% of the portfolio. The hedge fund also owns both share classes of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG -1.99%) (GOOGL -2.07%).
Ackman added another AI stock to the list in Q2. He initiated a new stake in Amazon (AMZN -4.97%), buying around 5.82 million shares. This position was valued at roughly $1.3 billion at the end of the quarter.
Why did Ackman load up on Amazon? It's a company his team has "long studied and admired," according to Pershing Square's latest interim report. Amazon's AI opportunities played a significant role in the billionaire's decision to buy the stock after a lengthy period of watching from the sidelines.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is well-positioned to benefit from the shift in IT spending to the cloud. AI is a major driver of this trend. Pershing Square's interim report stated, "Over time, we expect AI to spur greater cloud adoption." Ackman and his team believe that AI could "potentially even accelerate" revenue growth for AWS.
A Wall Street favorite
Wall Street really likes Amazon, too. S&P Global (SPGI -0.25%) surveyed 68 analysts in October who covered the stock. Fourteen of those analysts (20.5%) rated Amazon as a "strong buy." A whopping 51 analysts (75%) rated it as a "buy." That leaves only three outliers, all of whom recommended holding the stock.
This overwhelming analyst support for Amazon shows up in another way. The consensus 12-month price target for the stock reflects an upside potential of 17%. The most bullish analyst thinks that Amazon's shares could soar roughly 35% over the next year.
Analysts see the same things that Ackman does. They recognize the huge AI tailwind that exists for hyperscalers. They know that AWS holds the largest market share in cloud services.
But AWS isn't the only way that Amazon is benefiting from AI. For example, the company recently deployed its one millionth robot. It also launched a new generative AI foundation model called DeepFleet that coordinates robots across its fulfillment network. This new AI platform should improve the travel time of Amazon's robots by 10% and help the company deliver packages to customers more quickly and cost-effectively.
Are Ackman and analysts right about Amazon?
Ackman loves Amazon. Analysts love Amazon. Are they right about the stock? I think so.
AWS does have a tremendous growth opportunity, thanks in large part to surging AI adoption. I believe we have yet to see the most impressive advances in AI. The use of AI agents remains in its early innings but could take off in a major way over the next couple of years. Breakthroughs in artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be a real possibility this decade.
Amazon's e-commerce business should also continue to deliver exceptional growth. As Pershing Square's interim report noted, e-commerce sales penetration in the U.S. has roughly doubled over the last 10 years. However, it still makes up less than 20% of total retail sales. Amazon's brand, fast delivery, low prices, and operational scale should enable the company to be the biggest beneficiary as e-commerce wins a larger percentage of the total retail market.
When a super-successful billionaire hedge fund manager and over 95% of Wall Street analysts are bullish about a stock, one would think that stock would be a good pick. In Amazon's case, I'd agree.
