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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. The so-called Tiger Cub increased his Netflix position by more than 50% to a stake worth $529 million at the end of March, according to a regulatory filing. The streaming giant is the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year, down nearly 70%. The stock’s declines have been exacerbated during the second quarter, falling about 50%, after the company reported a surprise loss in subscribers. Snowflake is another big laggard in 2022 with a 55% decline. The hedge fund manager doubled down on the cloud company during the first quarter, which could add to his losses this year if he held onto the position. Coatue’s Snowflake stake was worth $603 million at the end of the first quarter. Laffont could join other high-profile investors such as Brad Gerstner and Chase Coleman who failed to foresee the tech fallout. The technology sector, especially unprofitable firms and richly valued software names, have been hit the hardest lately in the face of rising rates. Those sharp declines in tech have pushed the Nasdaq Composite down more than 25% year to date and off nearly 28% from its all-time high. Coatue also added to its Moderna holding significantly, making it its third-biggest 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. Electric-vehicle start-up Rivian Automotive was still Coatue’s second-biggest holding even after a bit of trimming in the first quarter. The stock is down more than 76% this year. Meanwhile, the hedge fund manager appeared to nibble at popular meme stocks GameStop and AMC in the first quarter. The filing revealed a bet in GameStop worth of $9 million and an AMC stake worth of $12.8 million. To be sure, these two were among his smallest stakes at the end of March.
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Credit: www.cnbc.com /
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