In this piece, we will take a look at the ten best Ray Dalio stocks other billionaires are also buying. If you want to skip our introduction to Mr. Dalio, his latest moves, and recent stock market news, then you should check out 5 Best Ray Dalio Stocks Other Billionaires Are Also Piling Into.
Ray Dalio is a guru in the finance industry and one of the richest people in the world. His latest net worth is estimated to sit at $15.4 billion, which makes him one of the richest investment managers around. Additionally, Mr. Dalio's financial firm, Bridgewater Associates operates an investment portfolio that is worth billions of dollars. Insider Monkey's research, which looked at the total value of the fund's investment holdings filed with the SEC, discovered that Bridgewater's third quarter of 2023 investment portfolio was worth $16.5 billion - almost equal to the net worth of Mr. Dalio himself!
The billionaire investor is also one of the oldest in the world - not because of his age but because of the time that has elapsed since he started to invest. Ray Dalio's first stock purchase came when he was just 12 years old. He started investing after working at a golf club where he regularly interacted with Wall Street Professionals. Dalio would continue to invest throughout his school days, after which he would first get a bachelor's degree in finance and then secure his MBA from the illustrious Harvard Business School.
His first professional stint in the finance industry would see Mr. Dalio turn his focus towards commodities instead of stocks and two years after graduating from Harvard, he set up Bridgewater Associates. Bridgewater is one of the biggest financial firms in the world, and its assets under management (AUM) stood at $126 billion as of June 202 end. When compared to other hedge funds that primarily employ strategies such as long/short, Bridgewater focuses on broader economic trends and their impacts on the stock market. In today's environment, which has seen interest rates sit at record high levels and markets suffer the consequences, this strategy is quite relevant.
Bridgewater's size and scale place it right at the top of the world's financial experts and the firm regularly shares its insights with outsiders through research newsletters. In 2023, the hottest technology was artificial intelligence which caught the public imagination and took analysts and investors by storm. A.I., simply put, is a collection of math formulas that sift through data to form conclusions. This makes it suitable for a wide variety of applications such as drug discovery, fraud detection, and supply chain management. The potential for A.I. to be ubiquitous is a major reason why A.I. related stocks have soared this year with NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s shares soaring by 231% year to date.
Bridgewater's co-chief investment officer Greg Jensen shared the progress that his firm's Artificial Intelligence Associate (AIA) labs have made when it comes to analyzing A.I.'s disruptive potential. His conclusions boil down to what several folks already understand about A.I. The research shows that A.I. has overcome the ability to perform on difficult aptitude tests such as the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). However, Bridgewater shares that while A.I. can perform well on the tests, it is still limited when it comes to making the decisions that the professionals working in the field would make. However, the financial firm is also bullish on A.I. as it notes that these limitations will be overcome over the next couple of years, and by then A.I. might very well perform better than humans can on several "cognitive applications".
The firm goes on to see what impact A.I. can have on white collar applications and it adds:
If AI can perform economically valuable cognitive tasks at very little marginal cost, it could similarly open up new horizons for spending and economic activity. The selling prices of many products will likely fall as AI brings their marginal costs down to zero, even where firms have strong pricing power (as these firms will often maximize profits by increasing sales volumes at lower prices).
Switching gears, the tail end of 2023 has seen investors grow increasingly optimistic about the Fed finally reducing interest rates. Hedge funds have also been busy readjusting their portfolios in this turmoil, and we took a look at Ray Dalio’s Latest 13F Portfolio: Top 15 Stocks to pick out his firm's latest stocks during Q3 2023. The top three holdings back then were The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), and Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST).
Today, we'll look at which Ray Dalio stocks billionaires are also buying. The top three picks in this list are Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
Our Methodology
To make our list of the best Ray Dalio stocks that billionaires are also buying, we ranked Bridgewater Associates' top 40 third quarter stock picks by the number of billionaires that had bought the shares in Q3. Out of these, the stocks that Ray Dalio and billionaires have bought are as follows.
Best Ray Dalio Stocks Other Billionaires Are Also Piling Into
Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is the world's largest brick and mortar retailer. Its heft and size make it important when Walmart switches to A.I., since other industry players are also likely to follow. On this front, the firm's A.I. assistant for employees is already making waves, and allowing workers to conduct their daily tasks effectively.
By the end of this year's third quarter, 80 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey had bought and owned Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)'s shares. Out of these, the biggest shareholder was Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management due to its $1.4 billion investment.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) joins Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in our list of the best Ray Dalio stocks that billionaires are buying.
PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) is one of the world's biggest food and beverages company. The firm made quite an important announcement in November 2023 when it shared details about its plans to back agricultural projects in nine countries to focus on soil sustainability and climate change.
Insider Monkey scoured through 910 Q3 2023 hedge fund portfolios to find that 65 were the firm's investors. PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP)'s largest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management as it owns 7.9 million shares that are worth $1.3 billion.
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is a global household and personal products behemoth whose items are used in dozens of countries. It is in the news these days due to a multi billion cost and impairment hits expected to the income statement over the next couple of years.
As of September 2023, 75 out of the 910 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had held a stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG). Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management was the biggest stakeholder as it owned $1.4 billion worth of shares.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a technology company known for selling its networking products. The firm has beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters and the shares are rated Buy on average. Analysts have set an average share price target of $54.40 for Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO).
For their shareholdings during 2023's third quarter, 64 out of the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had held a stake in the company. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)'s largest investor in our database is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke, and John Campbell's Arrowstreet Capital due to its $1.2 billion investment.
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a global travel services provider that enables people to plan their trips. Its chief financial officer David Goulden is confident that A.I. beast Google will not release an A.I. travel assistant since it does not have sufficient expertise in the industry.
81 out of the 910 hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey's Q3 2023 research had invested in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG). Out of these, the biggest shareholder is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke, and John Campbell's Arrowstreet Capital through its $1.5 billion stake.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) are some top Ray Dalio stocks that billionaires are piling into.