TOP STORY
💰 Big Moves from the ‘Superinvestors’, Buffett, Ackman, and more

🤩 The market is back in full force, posting its best week of the year and more than recovering from the mini-crash last week:

• The S&P 500 rose 3.8%

• The Nasdaq rose 2.6%

• The TSX rose 3.2%

😅 The rally was driven in part by a mild inflation report and a strong earnings report from Walmart (up 7.5% this week), calming fears of a recession.

📝 This week also marked the Q2 13F filings - aka the detailed buys and sells for any funds and investors managing over $100M.

👀 This means we got to peek into the buys and sells of the world’s most famous investors - with some making significant moves. So for this week’s edition of the Buzz, let’s dive in and see what the big-wigs are up to…

💄 Buffett Invests in Aerospace and Beauty, Causing Ulta Beauty to Jump 17.5%

Warren Buffett - aka the Oracle of Omaha - is well known as one of, if not the, greatest investor of all time. With his fund Berkshire Hathaway ($BRK), Buffet has substantially outperformed the S&P 500 over the past ~60 years since 1965.

📊 Buffet’s Top 5 Holdings (73% of total portfolio)

• 🍎 Apple (AAPL) - 30.1% of portfolio

• 🏦 Bank of America (BAC) - 14.7% of portfolio

• 💳 American Express (AXP) - 12.5% of portfolio

• 🥤 Coca-Cola (KO) - 9.1% of portfolio

• 🛢️ Chevron (CVX) - 6.6% of portfolio

🍎 Big Apple Sell-off

• Buffett’s biggest move by a long shot this quarter was his big sell-off of Apple shares - selling 390M shares and reducing his stake by 50%. Despite the sale, Apple still represents Buffett’s biggest holding.

• This is Buffett’s second sale of Apple after trimming the position by 13% in the first quarter.

• Many see the dump as a move to greater diversification, as Apple had grown to nearly 50% of Buffett’s portfolio before the sale.

💄 New Position in Ulta Beauty ($ULTA)

• Ulta Beauty is a $18B make-up, skin-care, and fragrance brand that carries over 25,000 products from 600+ brands.

• Buffett purchased 690,106 shares, currently worth ~$260M, Buffett now owns 1.4% of the company.

• Before Buffett’s buy, Ulta had fallen over 40% from its high in March 2024 after the CEO Dave Kimbell warned investors of "a slowdown across price points and segments."

• Many see Buffett’s buy as a signal that he believes the stock drop is overblown.

• Still, some believe that the company may be past its growth phase and the drop was warranted as it enters into ‘maturity’ and faces increased competition as Amazon pushes rapidly into the beauty space.

• Others hope that a partnership with Target and expansion plans to Mexico will help renew the company’s growth.

• Morningstar estimates the company’s fair value at $405, 7% higher than it’s current price

👀 Other Bigs Moves

• 🛫 Buffett took a small new position in the aerospace company Heico ($HEI)

• ❄️ Buffet completely sold his stakes in Snowflake ($SNOW) and Paramount ($PARA)

• 🗼 Buffett more than tripled his position in Sirius XM ($SIRI), bringing it to almost 1% of his total portfolio

💰 Biggest Cash Pile in 24 Years

• After the significant Apple sell-off, Buffett’s cash pile has risen to $277B, his highest in 24 years, representing ~25% of Buffett’s total portfolio.

• While some like to point to this cash pile as a sign of an impending crash, Buffett has a very fundamental approach to the market - seeking to buy undervalued companies and holding them for the long term. With the high bond yields and high uncertainty in the market, it’s more likely Buffett is keeping cash in the arsenal to be well-positioned for when the next opportunity arises.

😎 Before we dive into the moves of Michael Burry, Ray Dalio, and Bil Gates, let’s take a quick break to hear from this week’s sponsor Webull Canada.

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TOP STORY CONTINUED
💰 Superinvestors continued: Moves from Bill Ackman, Michael Burry, Ray Dalio

💸 While Buffett is perhaps the most known super-investor, there are many other major players who made big moves.

💡 In case you’re not familiar, here’s what these investing legends are known for:

• 👴🏻 Ray Dalio: Dalio is the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, with $236B assets under management, and is a popular investing commentator and author.

• 👴🏻 Bill Ackman: Bill Ackman is an activist investor and founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, with over $18B assets under management. Ackman is also a popular online investing commentator with more than 1 million followers on X.

• 👴🏻 Michael Burry: Despite having the smallest portfolio by a LONG shot (Warren Buffet’s portfolio is over 4000x bigger), Michael Burry is often included in the ‘super investors’ due to his prediction of the 2008 stock market crash popularized by the movie ‘The Big Short’.

👀 With that in mind, let’s see what they're up to…

🤖 Ray Dalio Brings Nvidia to 4th Largest Position

📊 Dalio’s Top 5 Holdings (23% of total portfolio)

• 🏦 iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) - 6% of portfolio

• 🏦 iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) - 5.2% of portfolio

• 🔍 Alphabet (GOOGL) - 4.3% of portfolio

• 🤖 Nvidia (NVDA) - 4.2% of portfolio

• 🧼 Proctor & Gamble (PG) - 3.1% of portfolio

💸 Dalio’s Notable Moves

• In the last 12 months, Dalio has been building a significant position in Nvidia ($NVDA), bringing it to over 4% of his total portfolio and more than doubling the position so far this year

• Many view this as a bold bet on AI, and so far for Dalio, that bet has paid off - netting an over 100% gain so far

• Dalio also followed suit with Buffett, selling 75% of his stake in Apple, increasing stakes in Amazon and Microsoft

👟 Bill Ackman Opens New Positions in Brookfield and Nike, Sending Nike Stock Up 11%

📊 Ackman’s Top 5 Holdings (77% of total portfolio)

• 🛌 Hilton Worldwide (HLT) - 18.8% of portfolio

• 🌯 Chipotle (CMG) - 17.3% of portfolio

• 🍔 Restaurant Brands (QSR) - 15.6% of portfolio

• 🔍 Alphabet (GOOGL) - 13.3% of portfolio

• 🏢 Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH) - 11.7% of portfolio

💸 Ackman’s Notable Moves

• Ackman recently opened a new position in Nike, helping fuel a bull run for the stock this week (+11.4%), a much-needed relief for the beaten-down company. Even with the jump, the stock is still down 22% year-to date

• Ackman also opened up a position in the Canadian investment management giant Brookfield (BN), bringing it to 2.7% of his portfolio

• Ackman's biggest sale was, ironically, Chipotle, reducing his position by 23% before the company got beaten down (-5%) after Starbucks stole its CEO this week.

🇨🇳 The Big Short’s Michael Burry Continues to Double Down on China

📊 Burry’s Top 5 Holdings (74% of total portfolio)

• 🇨🇳 Alibaba (BABA) - 21.3% of portfolio

• 💵 Shift4 Payments (FOUR) - 14% of portfolio

• 🏥 Molina Healthcare (MOH) - 13.9% of portfolio

• 🇨🇳 Alibaba (BIDU) - 12.4% of portfolio

• 🇨🇳 JD.com (JD) - 12.3% of portfolio

💸 Burry’s Notable Moves

• Burry continues to bet big on China, increasing his stake in BABA by 24% and in Baidu by 87% while reducing his JD stake by 31%.

• This brings Burry’s China exposure to over 45% of his total portfolio

• Overall, Burry cut his total portfolio in half, offloading positions in HCA Healthcare, Cigna, Citigroup - a possible red flag from the Big Short investor

👀 If you want to see the full portfolio of these super investors, here’s the source I used!

💬 Make sure to join the discussion about these recent moves on Blossom and share if you’re following suit with any of these investing legends.

FROM THE BLOSSOM COMMUNITY
🎙️ Top Discussions this Week

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