Coatue Management’s Philippe Laffont doubled down on many of his favorite technology stocks — including Netflix — in the first quarter before their big sell-off, possibly inflicting big pain for his hedge fund. According to regulatory filings, the so-called Tiger Cub added more than 50% to his Netflix stake to $529 million by March 31st. The streaming giant is the worst-performing stock in the S & P 500 this year, down nearly 70%. After reporting a surprising loss of subscribers, the stock fell 50% during the second quarter. Snowflake, which has a 55% drop in its stock price for 2022, is another major laggard. He doubled his stake in the cloud company as a hedge fund manager, which may increase his losses for the year. The stake Coatue had in Snowflake was valued at $603 million as of the close to the quarter’s end. Laffont may join Brad Gerstner or Chase Coleman, who didn’t see the tech crisis coming. In the wake of increasing rates, the tech sector has been particularly hard hit, including unprofitable businesses and high-value software companies. These sharp falls in technology have caused the Nasdaq Composite to fall more than 25% over the past year and nearly 28% off its peak. Coatue, which also holds Moderna significantly, made it the third largest position. However, the pharmaceutical company — a pandemic winner for its development of a Covid vaccine — has pulled back 47% in 2022. It’s one of the 10 biggest losers in the S & P 500 for the year. Rivian Automobile, an electric vehicle startup, was Coatue’s 2nd-largest holding after some trimming in the quarter. This year, the stock has fallen more than 76%. The hedge fund manager was seen to have been experimenting with meme stocks GameStop (and AMC) in the quarter. A GameStop stake valued at $9 million was revealed in the filing. A $12.8m AMC stake was also disclosed. They were, however, among the smallest stakes he held at the close of March.
