Buffett, Soros, Gates, let's see what the big shots have bought

Every quarter's 13F report serves as a window for investors to observe the movements of top funds. In the first quarter, what adjustments did Wall Street giants make before the tariff storm arrived?

From Buffett's "holding cash and not buying" strategy, to Soros's "selling small caps and buying large caps," and Bridgewater's gold allocation, it all shows that top investors are enhancing the defensiveness of their portfolios, while the keen-eyed Ackman even cleared out his Nike holdings before the tariffs.

Divergence in attitudes towards tech stocks: Buffett remains steadfast with Apple, Soros increased his position in Nvidia while clearing out of AMD, and Bridgewater reduced its holdings in Google, Nvidia, and Meta.

Regarding Chinese concept stocks, the hedge fund mogul David Tepper, who once boldly declared to "buy all Chinese assets," is cautiously optimistic. Although he reduced his holdings in Alibaba, it still maintains its position as his largest holding. Bridgewater decisively increased its stake, initiating a position in JD.com in the first quarter and adding to its holdings in Alibaba and Baidu.

Buffett: Sticking with Apple, Clearing Citigroup, Holding Cash

The "Oracle of Omaha" continues to maintain his signature steady style.

The biggest change this season is the complete liquidation of Citigroup, along with a reduction in some financial stocks, which may reflect Buffett's cautious outlook on the traditional financial industry's prospects.

According to regulatory filings, Berkshire sold all 14.64 million shares of Citigroup and reduced its holdings in Bank of America by 48.66 million shares (a reduction of over 7%), as well as reducing its stake in First Capital Financial by 300,000 shares (about 4%).

However, Buffett's core holdings remain rock solid: Apple continues to hold the top position with 300 million shares, accounting for about 25% of the portfolio, with a market value of up to $66.6 billion; American Express follows closely, and Coca-Cola remains in third place, along with Bank of America and Chevron.

It is worth mentioning that Berkshire has submitted a confidentiality request to the SEC, asking to withhold disclosure of one or more stock investments. Media analysis suggests that if this confidential holding is only one stock, its investment scale may range from $1 billion to $2 billion, likely belonging to "commercial and industrial" stocks.

In an environment of increasing market volatility, Buffett's "not buying, still not buying" strategy seems to convey a message—cash may be a better choice in the current uncertain market environment.

Soros: Shifting to a Defensive Stance

Soros Fund made defensive adjustments in the first quarter, increasing its position in the S&P 500 index while reducing its holdings in the Russell 2000 small-cap index.

According to the latest submitted 13F filings, Soros Fund Management completely liquidated all 752,000 shares of the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) in the first quarter, which had a -3.41% impact on its portfolio.

At the same time, it significantly increased its holdings in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), adding 196,000 shares, bringing the total to 314,000 shares, an increase of 165.93%, with an impact of 2.17% on the current portfolio, valued at approximately $176 millionIn the context of slowing economic growth and high interest rates, small businesses often face greater operational pressure than large enterprises. Soros's strategy of "buying large caps and selling small caps" may indicate that he believes large companies will have stronger risk resistance in future market fluctuations.

Bridgewater: Buys $300 million in gold, bullish on emerging markets, reduces holdings in Google and Nvidia

Founded by Ray Dalio and currently managing approximately $92 billion in assets, Bridgewater Associates made significant adjustments to its investment portfolio in the first quarter. Most notably, Bridgewater established a large position in the SPDR Gold ETF, purchasing $300 million in the gold ETF (GLD), making it its sixth largest holding in U.S. stocks.

At the same time, although Bridgewater reduced its largest long position in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF by more than half, it slightly increased its holdings in the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF. This indicates that while Bridgewater has lowered its overall exposure to the U.S. market, it remains optimistic about the overall market trend and is increasingly focused on opportunities in emerging markets.

Bridgewater also increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by over 5.4 million shares, bringing its total holdings to approximately 5.66 million shares, and more than doubled its positions in online travel agency Booking Holdings and cloud computing giant Salesforce.

In contrast, it reduced its holdings in Google and Nvidia by approximately 15% and over 18%, respectively, showing a cautious attitude towards tech giants.

Ackman: Exits Nike, anticipates tariff risks

Bill Ackman's first major move in the first quarter was to heavily invest in Uber. His firm, Pershing Square Capital, increased its holdings in Uber by 30.3 million shares, with a total market value of $2.21 billion, making it his largest holding (18.5% of the portfolio).

More notably, he completely exited his previous holdings of 18.769 million shares of Nike before the U.S. announced "reciprocal tariffs," anticipating that highly globalized companies like Nike would be the first to be affected by the new round of trade policies, demonstrating strong policy sensitivity.

Tepper: Reduces Alibaba holdings, but Chinese tech stocks still dominate

Hedge fund mogul David Tepper, who once boldly stated "buy everything Chinese," reduced his holdings in Alibaba by 2.61 million shares in the first quarter, a decrease of 22.06%.

However, Alibaba and Pinduoduo still occupy the top two positions in his investment portfolio, accounting for 14.56% and 6.17%, respectively, while JD.com in fifth place also reached 3.95%. This means that Chinese concept stocks occupy three of his top five holdings, reflecting Tepper's cautiously optimistic sentiment towards Chinese assets

In addition to reducing his stake in Alibaba, Tepper also reduced his holdings in Microsoft by 460,000 shares, a decrease of 47.42%, and completely liquidated his 1.2 million shares in AMD and 350,000 shares in FedEx.

Tepper stated last September that stocks in the Chinese market are much cheaper than those in the U.S. market, and that China's implementation of easing policies exceeded expectations. This strategy of "adjusting but still dominant" demonstrates his continued long-term confidence in China's digital economy.

Renaissance: Significantly increased holdings in Robinhood, optimistic about cryptocurrency prospects

Founded by the late Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies has had a strong start this year, with its Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund up 12.73% as of April, and the Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha Fund up 16.75%.

Although Renaissance did not change its top holdings, it made some adjustments. The company reduced its largest U.S. stock long position, Palantir Technologies, by more than 28%. Palantir accounted for about 2% of its U.S. common stock assets at the end of the quarter.

Renaissance's most significant long bet in the first three months was increasing its stake in Robinhood Markets by over 37%, making it the company's fourth-largest U.S. common stock long position.

Robinhood continues to deepen its involvement in the cryptocurrency market, especially after announcing on Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Canada's WonderFi Technologies. This increase in holdings may indicate that Renaissance is optimistic about the development prospects of cryptocurrency trading platforms.

Gates: Reduced holdings in Berkshire before Buffett's retirement

Although Bill Gates is not a professional investor, the investment portfolio of this veteran billionaire is also worth noting.

Gates' top three holdings are Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, and a waste management company—this combination includes high technology, value investing, and essential services, reflecting his emphasis on investment diversification.

Notably, Gates slightly reduced his holdings in Berkshire Hathaway in the first quarter. Does this indicate that he has concerns about the company's development prospects after Buffett's retirement?