Encounter the Phenomenal Stock Tycoons Chase Coleman, Philippe Laffont, and Stephen Mandel, whose Investment Choices Prove Incomparable
Over the past couple of years, Wall Street's bulls have been in control, with major indices like the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all recording impressive gains. The reasons behind this prolonged rally are diverse, with artificial intelligence, stock-split euphoria, better-than-expected earnings, inflation decline, and even Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office all playing their parts.
But perhaps the most significant factor in this bull run has been the success of what I like to call "The Fantastic Six."
The Fantastic Six take center stage
The Fantastic Six are Wall Street's six largest, most influential companies, listed in descending order of market cap. They are:
- Nvidia (NVDA)
- Apple (AAPL)
- Microsoft (MSFT)
- Amazon (AMZN)
- Alphabet (GOOGL and GOOG)
- Meta Platforms (META)
These companies have consistently outperformed the S&P 500, with even the worst-performing Fantastic Six member, Alphabet's Class A shares, up by 639% over the past decade!
What makes these companies stand out is their enduring competitive advantages:
- Nvidia's GPUs dominate AI-accelerated data centers, giving the company a monopoly-like presence.
- Apple's iPhone remains the top-selling smartphone in the U.S., while its capital-return program is the largest among any public company.
- Microsoft's Windows operating system is still king on desktops, and its Azure cloud service has risen to become the world's second-largest cloud infrastructure provider.
- Amazon's e-commerce marketplace tops the market shares, with its AWS cloud service leading as the number one cloud infrastructure provider.
- Alphabet's Google holds an almost 90% share of worldwide internet search, while its Google Cloud ranks behind AWS and Azure in global cloud infrastructure services.
- Meta Platforms boasts the largest daily active user base among social media platforms, with its family of social sites and apps collectively attracting over 3 billion users daily.
- Tesla leads North America's electric vehicle market and remains one of the few profitable EV manufacturers on a recurring basis.
The steady performance of the Fantastic Six and their competitive advantages haven't gone unnoticed by Wall Street's top money managers. Many of these stocks are staples in the portfolios of billionaire investors.
But the Fantastic Six have a new reigning king: Meta Platforms.
Welcome the fantastically fantastic king
Just look at how highly the Fantastic Six's leading money managers value Meta Platforms (META):
- Tiger Global Management: At 7,465,139 shares and a 17.41% portfolio share, Meta is Tiger's largest holding.
- Coatue Management: With a 3,694,259 share holding and a 7.86% portfolio share, Meta is Coatue's second-largest holding.
- Lone Pine Capital: Lone Pine has 1,891,337 shares and an 8.08% portfolio share of Meta, making it their largest holding.
Even Terry Smith, known as "Britain's Warren Buffett," has Meta as one of his top holdings. Given Meta's meteoric rise since September 30, Meta is now likely Smith's number one holding as well.
So, what's so compelling about Meta Platforms that it's attracted the attention of Wall Street's most successful money managers?
For starters, Meta’s moat in the social media space seems virtually unbreachable. Its family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, collectively draws in over 4 billion daily active users. No other social media platform offers advertisers access to such a large audience, proving an irresistible draw for marketers.
Meta's ability to develop new assets and monetize them at the right time is also remarkable. For instance, it launched Threads in July 2024, quickly amassing 100 million monthly active users. But instead of immediately monetizing it with ads, Meta waited until the app had over 300 million monthly active users before introducing advertising.
Billionaires like Coleman, Laffont, and Mandel might also be drawn to Meta's higher-growth initiatives, such as AI and the metaverse. Meta announced in January 2025 that it would be purchasing 350,000 Hopper GPUs from Nvidia, worth around $10.5 billion, to fuel its AI data center aspirations. Meta is also introducing AI-driven solutions to advertisers.
In a historically expensive stock market, it's reassuring to know that Meta has a financial buffer. The company closed out the September quarter with a staggering $70.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. This gives Meta the freedom to take risks few other companies can while still providing a dividend and buying back stock.
Finally, Meta's valuation remains attractive for billionaire investors. Though its forward P/E ratio is at its highest in years, its PEG ratio of 1.08 is consistent with its average PEG ratio of 1.09 over the past five years. In simple terms, when you consider Meta's accelerated earnings growth, the company's P/E ratio is still quite reasonable.
With everything considered, the future looks bright for the fantastically fantastic king of the Fantastic Six: Meta Platforms.
In light of their impressive defensive strategies and high growth potential, these successful money managers have significantly invested in Meta Platforms. For instance, Tiger Global Management holds 7,465,139 shares of Meta, making it their largest holding with a 17.41% portfolio share. Similarly, Coatue Management and Lone Pine Capital also hold substantial shares of Meta, with Coatue having a 3,694,259 share holding and Lone Pine having 1,891,337 shares, both being their second-largest holdings.
Furthermore, Meta's monopoly-like presence in the social media space, with apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads drawing in over 4 billion daily active users, makes it an irresistible draw for advertisers. This, coupled with Meta's ability to develop new assets and monetize them at the right time, such as its AI and metaverse initiatives, has solidified its position as the reigning king of the Fantastic Six.