Fahad Saleem
10 min read
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller has been bullish on AI since before ChatGPT launched. He is one of the most closely followed macro investors on Wall Street. He averaged about 30% a year at Duquesne Capital with no losing year, and his 1992 bet against the British pound made more than $1 billion.
Druckenmiller’s AI Stock Picks Take a Beating
The AI trade has taken a turn for the worse since the end of the second quarter. Nine of Stanley Druckenmiller’s 10 AI stock picks on this list have declined since June 30, with the stocks losing an average of 27.8% on an equal-weight basis through November 9, compared with a gain of about 0.8% for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). We have included each stock’s performance since June 30 in the list below.But did Druckenmiller get out before the crash? We could find out in just a few days, when his family office is expected to disclose its third-quarter holdings. The filing will reveal whether he sold or reduced positions before the latest AI selloff, or held on to stocks that subsequently suffered steep losses.
To find out what Druckenmiller bought and sold, follow Stanley Druckenmiller’s page on our website and sign up for email notifications.
Why He Bought Nvidia Before the AI Boom
Druckenmiller told CNBC in May 2024 that his young partner urged him in 2022 to buy Nvidia. He bought it, and a month later ChatGPT launched, so he raised the position substantially. He cut the stake in late March 2024 after a huge run, and he said he is not Warren Buffett and does not hold stocks for 20 years. He called AI a little over-hyped in the short term and under-hyped in the long term.
Speaking of Buffett, we ranked the Berkshire Hathaway holdings with the most room to rise in our list of the 10 best Warren Buffett stocks with upside potential.
Is AI a Bubble? What Druckenmiller Has Said
Druckenmiller has called AI real from the start. In a June 2023 Bloomberg interview, he said AI is real, unlike crypto. He said real secular shifts do not move in 10 months, and that the internet bubble lasted about two and a half years. He wanted to own Nvidia for at least two to three years.
By May 2024, his tone had changed. He told CNBC that AI could be a little over-hyped now and under-hyped in the long term. He compared it to the internet in 1999, when someone who bought the Nasdaq watched it fall 80% before the internet’s payoff arrived. He said history could rhyme, and the big payoff from all the AI spending might be four to five years away.
What He Says About AI, Jobs and Inflation
