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Billionaire Philippe Laffont Has Sold Shares of Nvidia in 12 of the Last 13 Quarters -- What Does He Know That Wall Street Doesn't?
Key Points
Form 13F filings allow investors to track which stocks Wall Street's savviest money managers are buying and selling.
Billionaire Philippe Laffont has been a persistent seller of Nvidia stock for more than three years -- and profit-taking likely explains only part of the story.
Coatue Management's chief investor may also be selling because of historical headwinds and growing competition.
August is home to two of the most important data releases of the quarter: Nvidia's (NASDAQ: NVDA) operating results (scheduled for Aug. 26) and Form 13F filings by institutional investors with at least $100 million in assets under management. A 13F offers a snapshot of the stocks that Wall Street's leading money managers purchased and sold in the latest quarter.
Friday, Aug. 14, marked the deadline for fund managers to file Form 13Fs detailing their second-quarter trading activity. It also gives investors a firsthand look at the trends captivating the attention of billionaire investors, such as Coatue Management's Philippe Laffont.
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The second quarter was a busy one for Laffont, with nine new holdings, eight existing stakes added to, five positions exited, and 22 holdings reduced. But among these more than three dozen chess moves, one consistency stands out: Laffont was, yet again, a seller of Nvidia stock.
Image source: Getty Images.
Coatue Management's billionaire boss has been a persistent seller of Nvidia stock
Despite Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) absolutely dominating in artificial intelligence (AI)-accelerated data centers, Laffont has been reducing his exposure to the face of the AI revolution in all but one of the last 13 quarters (share counts adjusted for Nvidia's 10-for-1 forward split in June 2024):
- Q1 2023: 49,802,020 shares held
- Q2 2023: 46,449,700 shares (-3,352,320)
- Q3 2023: 45,410,400 shares (-1,039,300)
- Q4 2023: 43,222,010 shares (-2,188,390)
- Q1 2024: 13,851,410 shares (-29,370,600)
- Q2 2024: 13,754,447 shares (-96,963)
- Q3 2024: 10,138,161 shares (-3,616,286)
- Q4 2024: 10,006,488 shares (-131,673)
- Q1 2025: 8,545,835 shares (-1,460,653)
- Q2 2025: 11,488,529 shares (+2,942,694)
- Q3 2025: 9,870,743 shares (-1.617,786)
- Q4 2025: 9,203,337 shares (-667,405)
- Q1 2026: 6,331,620 shares (-2,871,718)
- Q2 2026: 6,055,197 shares (-276,423)
Collectively, Coatue Management's billionaire boss has slashed his fund's stake in Nvidia by roughly 88% since March 31, 2023. It begs the question: What does Philippe Laffont know that Wall Street doesn't?
Image source: Nvidia.
There's likely more than just profit-taking behind this selling
One of the more obvious reasons for this ongoing selling activity is profit-taking. Since Laffont's Nvidia stake peaked in the first quarter of 2023, shares of the company have jumped tenfold. But there's likely more to this selling than just ringing the register.
For example, competition is expected to ramp up. Although Nvidia's GPUs are superior on a compute basis, the company's biggest threat may come from within.
Several of Nvidia's top customers by net sales are developing AI chips for their own data centers. While these in-house AI chips aren't an external threat to Nvidia, they're notably cheaper and more readily accessible than Nvidia's hardware. In other words, they can take up valuable data center real estate and minimize the GPU shortage that's helped fuel Nvidia's pricing power.
Stock market bubbles throughout history...
-- Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) May 8, 2026
AI stocks now ~40% of the market. pic.twitter.com/RxSAh09k6F
Furthermore, history shows that every game-changing technology dating back more than 30 years has navigated an early stage bubble-bursting event. Investors consistently overestimate the pace of adoption and optimization of hyped technologies, and nothing suggests that AI will be the exception to this unwritten rule.
Things need to go perfectly for Nvidia to maintain its $5.45 trillion valuation. However, the ramp-up of every game-changing technology has been filled with proverbial speed bumps and potholes.
Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.