Billionaire Bill Ackman Has 30% of His Portfolio Invested in 2 Brilliant AI Stocks
Billionaire Bill Ackman runs Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund that handily beat the S&P 500 over the last five years.
Amazon's investments in artificial intelligence should boost profitability in its retail business and drive revenue growth in its cloud business.
Uber runs the largest ride-sharing platform in the United States, and that scale makes the company a valuable partner for autonomous driving companies.
10 stocks we like better than Amazon ›
Bill Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, outperformed the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) by 7 percentage points in the last year and 19 percentage points in the last five years. That makes Ackman a good source of inspiration.
Presently, he has 30% of his portfolio invested in two brilliant artificial intelligence (AI) stocks: 9% is allocated to Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and 21% is allocated to Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER). Here's why the stocks are compelling investment ideas.
Amazon: 9% of Bill Ackman's portfolio
Amazon has a strong competitive presence in three markets. It operates the largest online marketplace in North America and Western Europe as measured by gross merchandise sales. It is the third-largest adtech company as measured by revenue. And Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest public cloud as measured by infrastructure and platform services spending.
Amazon is leaning on artificial intelligence across its retail business to improve customer service, product listings, supply chain management, and developer productivity. Brian Nowak at Morgan Stanley says Amazon's retail business could be the most underappreciated generative AI beneficiary in the technology space, and he estimates cost savings initiatives could raise its operating margin by several percentage points.
Meanwhile, AWS is ideally positioned to monetize AI simply because it is the largest public cloud. It accounted for 30% of infrastructure and platform services spending in the recent quarter, while the next closest cloud platform was Microsoft Azure with 20% market share. AWS has also designed custom chips for AI training and inference, and added tools that let developers build generative AI applications and agents.
Importantly, Amazon is positioning itself to monetize AI beyond its core e-commerce and cloud businesses. Its subsidiary Zoox builds robotaxis, and the company will launch its first autonomous ride-hailing service in Las Vegas in 2025, followed by other cities in subsequent years. Morgan Stanley estimates Zoox could have commercial robotaxi services in seven U.S. cities by 2028.
Looking ahead, Wall Street expects Amazon's earnings to grow at 18% annually over the next three years. That makes the current valuation of 35 times earnings look reasonable, especially when the company beat the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 22% in the last six quarters. Patient investors should take a cue from Bill Ackman and buy a few shares of this stock today.
Uber Technologies: 21% of Bill Ackman's portfolio
Uber leads the U.S. ride-sharing market with 76% share, according to Bloomberg. It also ranks second in the restaurant food delivery market with 24% share. That scale affords the company a competitive advantage in that it creates a significant amount of data that lets Uber predict demand, route drivers, and set prices more efficiently over time.
Uber has another important advantage in its ability to offer ride-sharing and food delivery services through a single mobile app. That makes customer acquisition very cost-efficient because the company can cross-sell users on both sides of its platform. For instance, 31% of first delivery trips come from mobility users, and 22% of first mobility trips come from delivery users.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently told analysts that autonomous vehicle (AV) technology will be a $1 trillion opportunity for ride-sharing platforms. Uber is uniquely positioned to benefit given its unparalleled scale. "Uber can deliver the lowest operational costs for our AV partners because we are leaps and bounds ahead on every aspect of go-to-market capabilities," Khosrowshahi said.
Indeed, Uber may not be a traditional AI stock, but it could be a major winner as robotaxis become more prevalent due to the many partnerships it has formed with AV companies, according to Mark Mahaney at Evercore. Most notably, Uber connects riders with Waymo robotaxis in Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta. And it connects riders with WeRide robotaxis in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with 15 additional cities to follow in the next five years.
Wall Street estimates Uber's earnings will increase at 26% annually over the next three years, a reasonable estimate given the ride-sharing market is forecast to expand at 21% annually through 2033, according to Straits Research. That makes the current valuation of 16 times earnings look relatively cheap. Long-term investors should feel confident buying a small position in this stock today.
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Trevor Jennewine has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Microsoft, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Billionaire Bill Ackman Has 30% of His Portfolio Invested in 2 Brilliant AI Stocks was originally published by The Motley Fool
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Factors to consider There's a multitude of laptops on the market that would be a fit for students, and almost all of those models are available in multiple configurations to match your performance needs and budget restraints. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of options, we're here to help with advice on what to consider when shopping for a school laptop. Price The search for a new laptop for most people starts with price, particularly for cash-strapped college students. To end up with a laptop that will last you at least through four years of school, I would advise against choosing a bargain-basement, entry-level model. Additionally, you could get away with spending less upfront in past years with an eye toward upgrading memory and storage in the future. Laptop makers are increasingly moving away from making components easily upgradeable, so it's best to get as many laptop capabilities as you can afford from the start. Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better the laptop. That could mean better components for faster performance, a nicer display, sturdier build quality, a smaller or lighter design from higher-end materials or even a more comfortable keyboard. Right now, the sweet spot for a reliable laptop that can handle average school tasks is between $700 and $800. For art and STEM students who need to run demanding graphics or STEM apps (or those looking for a bit of gaming, after your homework is done, of course), you'll need to spend about $1,000 or a bit more. The key is to look for discounts on models in all price ranges so you can get more laptop capability for less. Size If you plan on taking your laptop to class each day, then you'll want a lighter and thinner laptop. I recommend a model with a 13- or 14-inch display for most students. Larger 15- and 16-inch models provide more screen real estate for getting work done and juggling multiple windows, but you'll probably get tired of dragging it across campus. Specs If you are targeting a 14-inch laptop for school, then the basic display resolution of 1,920x1,200 should suffice for creating crisp text and images. The sharpness of the picture will improve as you go up in resolution, but you don't need a 4K display for such a small screen. If your budget allows, look for an OLED display with a 2240x1400, 2560x1600 or 2880x1800. Not only will the increased pixel count improve the picture, but the superior contrast ratio and color performance of an OLED will be evident compared with that of an IPS LED display. For internals, Intel and AMD are the main CPU makers for Windows laptops, with Qualcomm as a new third option with its Arm-based Snapdragon X processors. Both Intel and AMD offer a staggering selection of mobile processors. Making things trickier, both manufacturers have chips designed for different laptop styles, like power-saving chips for ultraportables or faster processors for gaming laptops. Their naming conventions will let you know what type is used. You can head to Intel's or AMD's sites for explanations so you get the performance you want. Generally speaking, the faster the processor speed and the more cores it has, the better the performance will be. Apple makes its own chips for MacBooks, which makes things slightly more straightforward. The entry-level MacBook Air uses an M1 chip, and the latest Air models feature M3 chips. Battery life is paramount for a student laptop, and it has less to do with the number of CPU cores and more to do with CPU architecture, Arm versus x86. Apple's Arm-based MacBooks and the first Arm-based Copilot Plus PCs we've tested offer better battery life than laptops based on x86 processors from Intel and AMD. If you plan to study art and your course of study will involve using graphics-intensive creative apps, then you will need a Windows laptop with a dedicated Nvidia GPU or a more powerful MacBook Pro. The same can be said for STEM students who will be using powerful scientific apps as well as any student who might want to play PC games on their laptop. Costs increase quickly, however, when you jump from integrated graphics to an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU or from a MacBook Air to a MacBook Pro. For memory, I highly recommend 16GB of RAM, with 8GB being the absolute bare minimum. RAM is where the operating system stores all the data for currently running applications, and it can fill up fast. After that, it starts swapping between RAM and SSD, which is slower. I suggest at least 16GB of RAM for a Windows laptop, but most students should be fine with the standard 8GB that Apple offers on its baseline MacBook Air. Plus, Apple charges a hefty sum for 16GB. For storage, get at least a 256GB SSD and 512GB SSD if you can. If you need to go with a smaller drive, you can always add an external drive down the road or use cloud storage to bolster a small internal drive. The one exception is gaming laptops: I don't recommend going with less than a 512GB SSD unless you really like uninstalling games every time you want to play a new one. Operating system Choosing an operating system is part personal preference and part budget. For the most part, Microsoft Windows and Apple's MacOS do the same things (except for gaming, where Windows is the winner), but they do them differently. Unless there's an OS-specific application you need, go with the one you feel most comfortable using. If you're not sure which that is, head to an Apple store or a local electronics store and test them out. Or ask friends or family to let you test theirs for a bit. If you have an iPhone or iPad and like it, chances are you'll like MacOS too. When it comes to price and variety (and PC gaming), Windows laptops win. If you want MacOS, you're getting a MacBook. Apple's MacBooks regularly top our best lists, they are costly although the original M1 MacBook Air is still available for just $649. Windows laptops can be found for as little as a couple of hundred dollars and come in all manner of sizes and designs. Granted, we'd be hard-pressed to find a $200 laptop we'd give a full-throated recommendation to, especially if you need it to last you through four years of school. If you are on a tight budget, consider a Chromebook. ChromeOS is a different experience than Windows; more streamlined and easier to use. It's limited, in that basically everything runs through the Chrome browser. Just make sure that your school or coursework doesn't require you to use apps that run only on a Windows or Mac machine. How to get the best laptop for high school students There is plenty of overlap between what makes a good laptop for college and a good laptop for high school. Without college-level coursework and with other PCs perhaps in the house, high school students may be able to use a Chromebook for all of their school needs and requirements. High schoolers may be able to look at a laptop purchase as a shorter-term investment: buy an inexpensive, lower-end model to get you to graduation, at which point summer job earnings or a grad gift from a grandparent could lead you to your next laptop for college and beyond. How we test laptops for students The review process for laptops consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features with respect to price. A final review verdict is a combination of both objective and subjective judgments. We test all laptops with a core set of benchmarks, including Primate Labs Geekbench 5 and 6, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10, a variety of 3DMark benchmarks (whichever can run on the laptop), UL Procyon Photo and Video (where supported) and our own battery life test. If a laptop is intended for gaming, we also run benchmarks from Guardians of the Galaxy, The Rift Breaker (CPU and GPU) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. For the hands-on test, the reviewer uses it for their work during the review period, evaluating how well the design, features (such as the screen, camera and speakers) and manufacturer-supplied software operate as a cohesive whole. We also place importance on how well they work given their cost and where the manufacturer has potentially made upgrades or tradeoffs for its price. We also weigh the laptop to see how its heft compares to other similarly sized laptops, which is especially important for students who will be toting their laptop to and from school each day. 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Acer Swift Go 16 (2025): Built around a beautiful 16-inch OLED screen, the latest Swift Go 16 improves on its predecessors without significant price inflation. Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1: This big-screen, mini-LED convertible laptop certainly has some positives, but there are a few too many negatives to give this Plus a full-throated recommendation. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition: It's a great business laptop, but it can get pricey fast with upgrades. Acer Swift 14 AI: This midrange Copilot Plus PC offers incredible battery life but is missing one key feature. Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen 10: It's ultrastylish and ultracompact, but maybe don't hide the camera behind the display next time? Acer Chromebook Plus 516: The 16-inch display provides plenty of room to work but Acer has a similar model that offers more for less. HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14: Similarly priced systems offer better performance and longer battery life, but HP's flagship convertible laptop boasts an unrivaled design and awesome OLED panel. HP Pavilion Plus 14 (2025): Parts of the HP Pavilion Plus 14 are great, but there's one poor-quality feature that totally ruins the experience. M4 MacBook Air (15-Inch, 2025): The smaller Air is the perfect student laptop, but once you're out of school you should graduate to the larger, but still highly portable, 15-inch model. Acer Swift 16 AI: It's thin. It's light. It's long-running. And it boasts a big, bright 16-inch OLED display. So, what's holding this Copilot Plus PC back from being more than just a big-screen productivity machine? HP Pavilion Aero 13: When it comes to runtime, Snapdragon X laptops and the MacBook Air run laps around it. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i: It's thin and light for its size, but a short runtime and a few design miscues make this a low-cost laptop to skip. Acer Swift Go 14 AI: This Snapdragon X-powered laptop can run all day, but its overall look might put you to sleep. Acer Swift 14 AI: It's a long-lasting if basic Copilot Plus PC, but do we really need an AI indicator light on the touchpad? Asus Zenbook S 14: Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 processors show improvement from the first generation, but Apple's and Qualcomm's ARM-based chips still lead the way. HP OmniBook X 14: The latest Copilot Plus PC runs for more hours than there are in a day. Laptop FAQs How to get the best deal on laptops as a student? The good news for college students on tight budgets is you can get a nice-looking, lightweight laptop with excellent battery life that will last you through four years of college for less than $1,000. In the $700 to $800 range, you'll even find models with premium design touches like thin-display bezels and aluminum or magnesium bodies. Above $1,000 is where you'll find premium laptops and two-in-one convertible models that act as both laptops and tablets. If you're looking for the fastest performance, the best battery life, the slimmest, lightest designs and top-notch display quality with an adequate screen size, expect to spend at least $1,000. Dell, HP, Lenovo and other manufacturers are constantly rotating discounts across their laptop lines, so it pays to monitor pricing -- we do it for you with our constantly updated best laptop deals -- and wait for a deal to land on the model you want. Apple rarely if ever offers discounts itself, but you can find good discounts on MacBook at Amazon, Best Buy and elsewhere -- keep an eye on our best MacBook deals for the best prices. Is Mac or Windows better for college students? Deciding between MacOS and Windows laptops for many people will come down to personal preference and budget. Apple's base model laptop, the M1 MacBook Air, starts at $999 but is regularly discounted to $750. For a newer M2 MacBook, be prepared to spend $1,000 or more. For the money, you're getting great hardware top to bottom, inside and out. Apple has moved to using its own processors, which resulted in across-the-board performance improvements compared to older Intel-based models. That great hardware comes at a price. Also, you're limited to just Apple laptops. With Windows and Chromebooks (more on these below), you get an amazing variety of devices at a wide range of prices. Software between the two is plentiful, so unless you need to run something that's only available on one platform or the other, you should be fine to go with either. Gaming is definitely an advantage for a Windows laptop. MacOS is considered to be easier and safer to use than Windows, especially for people who want their computers to get out of the way so they can get their schoolwork done. Over the years, Microsoft has done its best to follow suit and try to remove any barriers with Windows 11. Also, while Macs might have a reputation for being safer, with the popularity of the iPhone and iPad helping to drive Mac sales, they've become bigger targets for malware. Are Chromebooks worth it for students? Yes, they are, but they're not for everyone. Google's ChromeOS has come a long way in the 10-plus years since it arrived, and Chromebooks -- laptops that run on ChromeOS -- are great for students who do most of their work in a web browser or using mobile apps. They are secure, simple and, more often than not, a bargain. What they can't do is natively run Windows or Mac software. With their low cost and ease of use, Chromebooks are a natural fit for students, but be sure your school or particular course of study doesn't have certain software requirements that make a laptop with either Windows or MacOS a requisite. Is Dell or HP better for college students? One isn't necessarily better than the other, and each has at least one laptop that's a good fit for students. We like HP's Pavilion 14 Plus is great for providing a solid, all-metal design and OLED display for less than $1,000. Dell's Inspiron 14 Plus 7441 is another good $1,000 laptop with a sturdy, all-aluminum enclosure that also provides incredible, all-day battery life thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor. What is the best laptop for school work and gaming? You can play games on any laptop. What games you play and what content you create -- and the speed at which you do them -- varies greatly depending on the components inside the laptop. For casual browser-based games or using streaming game services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, you don't need a powerful gaming laptop. Similarly, if you're trimming video clips, cropping photos or live-streaming video from your webcam, you can get by with a modestly priced laptop or Chromebook with integrated graphics. For anything more demanding, you'll need to invest more money in discrete graphics like Nvidia's RTX 30- or 40-series GPUs. Increased system memory of 16GB or more, having a speedy SSD of at least 512GB for storage and a faster processor such as an Intel Core Ultra 7 or AMD Ryzen 7 will all help you get things moving faster too. The other piece you'll want to consider is the display. For gaming, look for screens with a high refresh rate of 120Hz or faster so games look smoother while playing. For art students and content creators, look for displays that cover at least 100% sRGB color space or, better yet, 100% DCI-P3.
