Asset management giant Third Point continues to favor utilities and semiconductors, establishing a new position in NVIDIA and liquidating Tesla in Q1

According to the disclosure by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Third Point, a top global asset management firm founded and led by billionaire Daniel Loeb, known as the "Wall Street shark," has submitted its first-quarter (Q1) U.S. stock holdings report (13F) for the period ending March 31, 2025.

Statistics show that Third Point's total market value of holdings in the first quarter was $6.55 billion, down 12% from $7.44 billion in the previous quarter. In the first quarter, the asset management firm added 11 new stocks to its portfolio, increased its holdings in 9 stocks, while completely liquidating 9 stocks and reducing its holdings in 7 stocks. The top ten holdings accounted for 49.74% of the total market value, indicating a more concentrated portfolio compared to Wall Street peers like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

In the top ten holdings of Third Point for the first quarter, the industry allocation appears to be diversified, covering sectors such as semiconductors, utilities, consumer staples, telecommunications, real estate, and materials. Notably, the position in Amazon was significantly reduced, while Live Nation Entertainment, Telephone and Data Systems, and Flutter Entertainment saw substantial increases in their holdings. In terms of overall portfolio allocation, Third Point continues to favor utilities, consumer staples, and technology sectors, with the technology holdings still dominated by the semiconductor industry.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PCG.US) became Third Point's largest holding, with 51.1 million shares valued at approximately $878 million, accounting for 13.40% of the portfolio, an increase of 5.36% from the previous quarter.

U.S. e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (AMZN.US) ranked second, with 2.35 million shares valued at approximately $447 million, accounting for 6.82% of the portfolio, a significant decrease of 31.88% in the number of shares held compared to the previous quarter.

Global chip manufacturing leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM.US) ranked third, with 1.78 million shares valued at approximately $295 million, accounting for 4.51% of the portfolio, with no change in the number of shares held from the previous quarter.

Entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment (LYV.US), focused on concerts and ticketing, ranked fourth, with 2.1 million shares valued at approximately $274 million, accounting for 4.19% of the portfolio, an increase of 22.09% in the number of shares held compared to the previous quarter Diversified telecommunications operator Telephone and Data Systems (TDS.US) ranks fifth, holding 6.76 million shares, with a market value of approximately $262 million, accounting for 4% of the portfolio, an increase of 12.67% from the previous quarter.

As of the first quarter, the sixth to tenth largest holdings of Third Point are: CRH Cement (CRH.US), Brookfield Corporation (BN.US), Flutter Entertainment PLC (FLUT.US), Kenvue Inc (KVUE.US), and Corpay Inc (CPAY.US). Kenvue Inc, spun off from healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, is a new holding, while the position in Brookfield was reduced by 15%, and the holding in Flutter Entertainment increased by 11.49%.

In terms of changes in holding proportions, as of the first quarter, the top five purchases by Third Point are: Kenvue, S&P 500 Index ETF put options, NVIDIA (NVDA.US), CoStar Group Inc (CSGP.US), and United States Steel (X.US).

As of the first quarter, the top five sales by Third Point are: Danaher (DHR.US), Facebook's parent company Meta (META.US), Amazon, Ferguson Enterprises Inc (FERG.US), and Tesla (TSLA.US).

It is noteworthy that utility leader United States Steel and "AI chip giant" NVIDIA are new positions for Third Point, highlighting Third Point's long-term preference for utilities and semiconductors, particularly recognizing the AI investment logic and optimistic about the demand for AI computing power. The "king of chip foundries," TSMC, which holds the key to AI chip production capacity, has been among Third Point's top ten holdings for multiple quarters.

The demand for AI chips, the strongest investment theme, is still fully dominated by "AI chip giant" NVIDIA, which occupies 80%-90% of the AI chip market share. Additionally, from TSMC's latest performance, it can be seen that this chip manufacturing giant is highly confident that the strong demand for AI chips will continue until early 2026 and emphasizes that no changes in customer behavior have been observed due to U.S. tariffs TSMC plans to double its CoWoS advanced packaging capacity, primarily for NVIDIA AI GPU capacity, and still expects a compound annual growth rate target of about 20% for revenue over the next five years (2024-2029), with AI-related revenue expected to grow by approximately 45%.

Taking advantage of the global AI investment boom, two popular companies with soaring stock prices—Microsoft and Vistra Corp—were reduced by the institution, while Facebook's parent company Meta and Tesla were completely sold off by Third Point. In the first quarter, Third Point significantly sold off shares of American tech giant Microsoft (MSFT.US), reducing its position by as much as 47.5%. The American power giant Vistra Corp (VST.US), which has greatly benefited from the AI boom, also saw its position reduced by Third Point, with a 15% decrease in holdings compared to the previous quarter. Meta and Tesla, which also benefited from the AI boom, were completely sold off by Third Point in the first quarter.