Dan Loeb’s Third Point largely bought into the big technology space during the first quarter, offering a sign of confidence in further gains after a big rally. But there was one key exception to this trend. The New York-based hedge fund opened a stake valued at more than $450 million in Alphabet while building out positions in Amazon and Meta Platforms during the first three months of 2024, according to regulatory fillings. That can indicate expectations of more room to run within megacap tech and “the Magnificent Seven.” One caveat: he took some profit on Microsoft . Loeb’s new position of about 3 million shares in Google parent Alphabet made it his seventh-largest holding as of the end of the first quarter, per InsiderScore data. The stock climbed slightly more than 8% in that quarter and has jumped more than 15% since April began. He raised his Amazon stake by more than 20%, making the e-commerce stock his second-largest holding at about $920 million. The big tech name, which joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average earlier this year, gained close to 19% in the first quarter. It’s risen nearly 3% in the second quarter. The Columbia and UC-Berkeley alum upped his position in Facebook parent Meta by less than 7%. The fund’s fifth-largest holding, it amounted to about $600 million at the end of the quarter. Shares of Meta soared more than 37% in the first quarter, but they have pulled back by 2% since the new quarter commenced. Strong performance from these tech names can bode well for Loeb. He has been closely followed in the wake of a report in The Wall Street Journal last year, citing sources familiar, that found Third Point was grappling with an exodus of assets because of its underperformance. He created Third Point in 1995 after working at firms such as Warburg Pincus, Jefferies and Citigroup. It can also be taken as a positive sign that big investors see more upside in tech, even after strong performance in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. To be sure, Loeb wasn’t buying in across all of megacap tech. He cut more than 12% off his Microsoft stake, bringing it to about $740 million. Still, it was his third-largest holding as of the end of the quarter. The stock is near flat for the second quarter after popping nearly 12% in the first three months of 2024. Many of these technology holdings were disclosed in Third Point’s investor letter for the third quarter. Outside of tech, he opened stakes in names including Goldman Sachs and Cinemark during the quarter. On the other hand, Loeb zeroed out positions in United States Steel , DuPont de Nemours and McKesson .
