Paul Tudor Jones is one of Wall Street's most revered investors. As the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation, Jones built his reputation in the 1980s after accurately predicting -- and profiting handsomely from -- the 1987 Black Monday crash. Today, his firm oversees billions in assets spanning equities, alternative investments, and venture capital. Because of this broad exposure, Jones' portfolio adjustments are closely tracked by both institutional and retail investors alike.
According to Tudor Investment's latest 13F filing, the firm fully exited its position in Palantir Technologies (PLTR -0.98%) during the second quarter, selling 175,212 shares. At the same time, Jones initiated a new position in Rigetti Computing (RGTI -14.94%), an emerging quantum computing company, purchasing 905,700 shares.
When a legendary trader like Jones swaps one of the AI era's most celebrated stocks in exchange for a speculative quantum AI play, investors pay attention. Let's unpack what may have motivated these moves and assess whether it's worth following his lead.
Palantir's meteoric rise and why Jones likely cashed out
Palantir has been one of the defining stories in software over the past three years. Once viewed largely as a government contractor with erratic revenue streams, the company successfully reinvented itself as a platform powering artificial intelligence (AI) operations across defense, healthcare, logistics, financial services, aviation, and beyond.
Its flagship Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) -- built on the backbone of Foundry, Gotham, and Apollo -- has driven a surge in enterprise adoption and marked Palantir's transformation into a consistently profitable business with expanding free cash flow and net income. This momentum fueled intense investor enthusiasm, propelling the stock to eye-popping gains over the last year.
However, success has also invited sky-high expectations. Palantir now trades at price-to-sales (P/S) and price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples that are detached from both the fundamentals and valuation norms of its software-as-a-service (SaaS) peers.
PLTR PS Ratio data by YCharts.
For a macro-driven investor like Jones -- known for identifying turning points rather than chasing momentum -- trimming or exiting such a premium valued position makes sense. The easy money in Palantir's AI rerating may already be off the table, and Jones' move likely reflects a tactical rotation away from a crowded trade toward more asymmetric opportunities.
Why Jones may be eyeing Rigetti Computing
Rigetti Computing is a speculative pure play in quantum computing -- a field seeking to upend classical computing models by using qubits instead of traditional binary bits. Some analysts estimate that quantum AI could evolve into a $10 trillion market over the long run, igniting excitement among investors searching for the next major frontier in computing.
However, peel back the layers, and the story looks far less certain.
Rigetti generates minimal revenue, continues to burn cash like there's no tomorrow, and has yet to demonstrate a clear path toward scaled commercial operations. On the surface, this appears to be the opposite of what a disciplined macro trader would buy.
That said, Tudor Investment is not a market maker. Rather, it is a hedge fund that specializes in identifying and exploiting market inflection points. Jones may not view Rigetti as a long-term compounder but rather as a high-risk, high-reward trade positioned ahead of a potential catalyst.
That catalyst could come in the form of progress updates on Rigetti's Ankaa-3 and Cepheus-1 systems. Any signal that the company is closing the gap -- or even overtaking peers like IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, or Quantinuum -- could trigger a speculative surge in the stock.
Jones, a master in anticipating macro narratives, may simply be front-running a potential inflow of institutional capital into the quantum sector before others catch on.
A calculated move but not a recommendation
Selling Palantir and dabbling in Rigetti are not contradictory moves -- they are two sides of the same strategy: capital rotation. Jones is locking in profits from a mature AI winner whose valuation may have peaked, at least for now, and redirecting a small slice of capital toward a potential breakthrough in an emerging frontier.
Importantly, Tudor Investment's broader Rigetti position also includes both call and put options, indicating that the trade is hedged and not a blind bet on the stock's direction. It's a nuanced position that aligns with Jones' reputation for sophisticated, risk-adjusted investing.
For everyday investors, however, the calculus is different. Palantir remains a profitable, fast-growing software company with deep government and private sector ties. Rigetti, by contrast, is still years away from proving commercial viability or achieving meaningful scale.
The key takeaway is simple: Even billionaires reposition portfolios to optimize for risk and reward. For most investors, trimming overvalued winners like Palantir can be wise, but chasing moonshot plays such as Rigetti is best left to those who can stomach extreme volatility and long odds.
