Q1/2025 Superinvestor Portfolio Update

Let's dive into those lovely 13F Filings and learn what the Superinvestors bought and sold

Intro

The SEC requires funds with at least $100m assets under management to publish their holdings 45 days after the end of the quarter. This is a great source for us to see what the truly great investors are holding. Keep in mind, that all movements that you will see happened in the previous quarter.

The important thing is to check the portfolios of investors who are as like-minded as you are. For me, these investors and funds include (among others) Dev Kantesaria, AltaRock Partners, Terry Smith, Li Lu, Valley Forge, Polen Capital, and David Tepper. All of these investors tend to hold great companies for a long time and if they add to a completely new position then it is always worth taking a deeper look.

Some investors like Michael Burry have such a large turnover in their portfolios, that it may well be, that the investments you see in their most recent 13F filings are no longer part of their portfolio. Therefore the value of this information is very short-lived and may be outdated.

You will find a snapshot of the current portfolio of those fund managers who I follow closely below with my comments on the changes in their holdings. At the end of the article, you will find a summary of the changes and patterns which emerged.

Enjoy!

AltaRock Partners

The largest change to the portfolio was a strong increase in Microsoft, followed by an addition to Hilton and tiny sales in TransDigm and Amazon. Microsoft is an interesting choice since it was and is not particularly cheap.

This portfolio is made up entirely of outstanding companies

Terry Smith - Fundsmith

Terry Smith has a broadly diversified portfolio and is not as concentrated as Alta Rock Partners or Valleyforge. Due to this fact, there are a lot of small changes. Terry Smith was busier than usual and sold his entire PepsiCo position, which previously made up 3.7% of the total portfolio. Other noteworthy changes include reductions in Meta and Microsoft and a strong addition to the Zoetis position.

Zoetis is a very interesting company and has been on my watchlist for years.

Valley Forge Capital Management

Valley Forge is as concentrated as they come and the fund I am most looking forward to every 13F season. Fund manager Dev Kantesaria had a quiet Q1 and only reduced his Fair Isaac and Intuit positions.

The fund manager Dev Kantesaria is one of the managers that I follow most closely and if he and the team decide to add a new company to the fund, it is a must for me to learn more about these two companies.

Given the insane run of Fair Isaac, I fully understand his rationale behind trimming the position a bit.

This interview is a fantastic starting ground if you want to learn more about Dev Kantesaria and his philosophy. I highly encourage you to watch it:

Polen Capital Management

Quite a large portfolio and here are the top positions. Compared to the fellow above, Polen Capital is on fire and always trims and adds to its positions. The largest changes in Q1 were a strong increase in the Aon position and large reductions in Netflix, Apple, Alphabet, and ServiceNow. Starbucks entered the portfolio as a brand new position.

Starbucks has been discussed broadly on X and Substack. I understand why people find it cheap, given the strength of the brand. I would not invest in Starbucks, since I don’t see much room for further stores (the US is already full) and the continuous price increases are reaching sky-high levels.

I believe there are much more attractive companies out there, for example, Arista. Learn more here

Bill Ackman - Pershing Square Capital Management

General Ackman has been very busy in Q1 and made his newest position Uber directly his largest portfolio holding. On the opposite was Nike, a position BIll sold completely. Nike is facing a tough time and any additional tariffs certainly do not help. He sold almost half of his Hilton position and increased his second-largest position, Brookfield.

Uber was very cheap in Q1. If he is still holding his shares, he has already generated a nice return.

David Tepper - Appaloosa Management

David Tepper is one of the top fund managers with the largest China exposure. Three of his top four positions are Chinese tech companies. Pinduoduo is the holding company of the infamous Temu. Even though he trimmed Alibaba by 1/5, it is still by far his largest position. Similar to Bill Ackman, David Tepper added to Uber.

He sold AMD completely, which I do not understand, given the great position of AMD. Learn more about AMD and the investment thesis here:

Chris Hohn - TCI Fund Management

If you want to read the full article and learn who bought ASML for the first time and also learn about the portfolio of Chris Hohn, ValueAct, Pat Dorsey, AKO Capital, Francois Rochon, and Chuck Akre as well as a conclusion please subscribe and support my work. To all existing subscribers: Thank you for your support and enjoy the rest of the article!