logo
Billionaire fund manager makes bold bets on Meta, Nvidia stock

Billionaire fund manager makes bold bets on Meta, Nvidia stock

Yahoo19-04-2025
It's been a rough go for tech stocks so far in 2025. The Magnificent 7's stellar returns over the past two years fueled big gains in the broader S&P 500 index, but mounting worries that a global slowdown could crimp corporate budgets have been a headwind this year.
The S&P 500 has fallen 10% year-to-date in 2025, mainly because tech stocks, representing over 30% of the index, have tumbled. The pain has been widespread across tech-land, with large technology leaders like Nvidia and Meta Platforms being particularly hard hit, dropping 24% and 14%, respectively.The sell-off in technology stocks has caught the attention of global investors, including Stephen Yiu, who manages money for billionaire Peter Hargreaves, founder of U.K. financial services giant Hargreaves Lansdown.
Yiu's Blue Whale hedge fund is particularly dialed into technology, given that about 40% of the fund's roughly $1.5 billion in assets are invested in the sector.
The hedge fund's size and tech-stock focus make Yiu's moves, including his latest bets on what will happen to Nvidia and Meta Platforms stock next, worth watching.
The technology industry has been a big beneficiary of a flood of investment into artificial intelligence.
After OpenAI's ChatGPT became the fastest app to reach one million users when it was launched in 2022, companies poured massive sums into developing their own large language model AI chatbots and agentic AI programs.The flurry of AI interest has correspondingly encouraged a staggering overhaul of enterprise and cloud network data centers.
Capital expenditures by hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft () , and Google have skyrocketed, reaching $192 billion in 2024. Meta Platforms () alone spent $39 billion last year, up from 27 billion in 2023.
The buildout has been a boon for Nvidia, given that its graphics processing units (GPUs) are far better suited to handling the massive compute power required for training and running AI programs than the central processing units (CPUs) most commonly found in network servers.
Nvidia's () revenue has surged since 2022 because of demand for its H100, H200, and Blackwell chips. It reached $130 billion in fiscal 2025, up an eye-watering 114% in 2024 alone.
Hyperscalers' spending on Nvidia chips has largely been financed by cloud customers' rising spending on AI research and strength in other business segments.
For instance, Meta Platforms' advertising revenue led to its Family of Apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.) revenue growing 21% year-over-year in the fourth quarter to $47.3 billion, as businesses capitalized on strong consumer spending.
The tailwinds supporting spending, however, are fading.
Unemployment has risen, and sticky inflation continues to weigh on consumer spending decisions. Consumer sentiment has plummeted recently amid a mounting trade war that could cause GDP to decline even as inflation increases, putting the U.S. at risk of stagflation or recession.
The potential fallout from slowing GDP growth could mean technology companies rethink their CapEx plans, shelving previously planned projects while they wait for greater clarity.
The risk that the tech sector faces a major reset in 2025 isn't lost on Yiu, given his recent moves include selling Meta Platforms and Microsoft shares.Yiu unloaded Meta Platforms and Microsoft stock earlier this month after President Trump announced reciprocal tariff plans on April 2, reports the Financial Times.
Those tariffs are designed to encourage a return of manufacturing to the U.S.; however, proposed import taxes were higher than economists and Wall Street expected, causing investors to lower growth expectations and triggering the stock market's sell-off.
His decision to sell Meta Platforms, a holding since 2023 representing about 3% of his fund's assets, is rooted in the risk that ad revenue could fall sharply.
"When you have a global business in digital advertising and a global slowdown and economic uncertainty, then it does impact the top line,' said Yiu regarding the risk to Meta Platform's ad sales.
More Tech Stocks:
Top analyst revisits Tesla stock price target as Q1 earnings loom
Google's Waymo is planning a move that's downright creepy
Analyst reboots Apple stock price target after tariff meltdown
Yiu also hit the sell button on Microsoft, another big holding, after determining that its AI spending could exceed cash flow.
Perhaps surprisingly, while Yiu has soured on Meta and Microsoft, he's bullish on Nvidia.
He told the Financial Times he's been buying as Nvidia's stock price has been falling, increasing his position in the semiconductor Goliath to 10% of assets from 7% previously.
Although Nvidia will take a $5.5 billion charge following new restrictions on selling its popular H20 AI chip in China, Yiu thinks Nvidia is positioned to continue to do well over time amid the ongoing race for AI dominance.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

This Legacy Stock Is Back, Poised for a Major Rebound
This Legacy Stock Is Back, Poised for a Major Rebound

Yahoo

time7 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

This Legacy Stock Is Back, Poised for a Major Rebound

Key Points The company is embracing its "Tar-zhay" positioning to focus on superior shopping experiences over rock-bottom prices. Target maintains industry-leading profit margins despite recent revenue challenges. The stock's 4.4% dividend yield is near historic highs and far above other retailer stocks. 10 stocks we like better than Target › Retail stocks have been through a few tough years. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEMKT: XRT) posted a total return of 12% over the last year, far behind the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index's 19%. Stretching the view to a four-year span is even worse. The S&P 500 saw a 44% total return in this period, as of Aug. 11, while the leading exchange-traded fund (ETF) of retailer stocks saw a negative-10% return. Big-box retail veteran and dividend king Target (NYSE: TGT) has lagged behind the broader market and the retail sector in these periods. It's not a close race, and the four-year overview is kind of scary: But I think Target is poised for a robust rebound, starting from this low point. The company is getting back to the brand experience people used to love, under the mock-French "Tar-zhay" banner. Target shouldn't try to out-bargain the low-cost kings Target's management has figured out that the company can't compete with archrivals Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Costco (NASDAQ: COST) on price alone. That strategy has been tried and abandoned, as the penny-pinching marketing message fell flat. As a result, Target's sales have been swooning since 2022 while Costco and Walmart experienced revenue growth of more than 16%. It's not a complete disaster for Target, though. Balancing out the slower sales, Target's profit margins are among the best in the business. Walmart's and Costco's focus on affordable goods leaves them with slim margins across the board. Target's customers are prepared to pay a little more for a better shopping experience. Target's strong margins are not new, but I'd like to point out that they have stayed in the lead despite the recent revenue challenges. The fancy French twist has deep roots The playful Tar-zhay moniker is also a pretty old idea. I mean that both as a cultural phenomenon and a business strategy. Target embraced the glitzy twist on its name in 2017, along with a new set of store-brand names for different product types. The commitment didn't really stick, as Target never really built its marketing around the Frenchified name itself, but the idea has been explored before. And long before that, I found a lot of people in the upper-crust parts of Miami and Jacksonville using the French-flavored Target name unironically. This was in the late 1990s. So Tar-zhay is a well-known little twist on the Target brand, reflecting a common view of its stores as a nicer place to shop. You don't go to Tar-zhay when you want the lowest price on bananas, jeans, and cat food. That's what Costco and Walmart are for. Here, you're supposed to enjoy the shopping experience in wider aisles with better lighting and maintenance. Human assistance should be easy to find. And the store brands exude a certain je ne sais quoi that even Costco's Kirkland can't always match. Premium Tar-zhay shares at a discount -- where do I sign up? In that sense, the renewed Tar-zhay strategy takes Target back to a proven success story. I mean, it's not a top-shelf luxury store like RH (NYSE: RH) or the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) store. But it's also a significant step above Walmart's extreme bargain hunt or Costco's overcrowded warehouses. Target's leadership has rediscovered this longtime business advantage, and is busy rebuilding that modestly high-end reputation in 2025. Meanwhile, Target's stock is on fire sale. After years of underperforming the stock market and retail sector, Target shares carry the bargain-bin valuation of 11.4 times earnings and 0.45 times sales. The stock could double or even triple in price and still look affordable next to Walmart or Costco. And if you buy Target shares right now, you're locking in a generous 4.4% dividend yield -- miles ahead of Walmart's 0.9% and Costco's 0.5%, and near the highest yields in Target's dividend-paying history. Turnaround stories don't always have happy endings, but this one is off to a good start. I like the smart-yet-whimsical Tar-zhay focus and this company already runs a profitable business. All Target has to do is inspire people to revisit its stores. I think that's a very achievable goal, making Tar-zhay stock a promising investment these days. Should you buy stock in Target right now? Before you buy stock in Target, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Target wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 11, 2025 Anders Bylund has positions in Walmart. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Costco Wholesale, Target, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends RH. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This Legacy Stock Is Back, Poised for a Major Rebound was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Sam Altman responds to GPT-5 backlash with speed modes, expanded limits and model picker updates — here's what's new
Sam Altman responds to GPT-5 backlash with speed modes, expanded limits and model picker updates — here's what's new

Tom's Guide

time8 minutes ago

  • Tom's Guide

Sam Altman responds to GPT-5 backlash with speed modes, expanded limits and model picker updates — here's what's new

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT users more control over how they interact with GPT-5, introducing new speed modes, increasing message limits and restoring GPT-4o to the model picker for paid subscribers. CEO Sam Altman shared the changes in a X post yesterday evening, saying they aim to improve flexibility while keeping performance high. You can now choose between Auto, Fast, and Thinking when using GPT-5. Auto will likely be the go-to option for most users, automatically balancing speed and depth, while Fast prioritizes quicker responses and Thinking spends more time on reasoning-intensive tasks. OpenAI is also increasing the weekly cap for GPT-5 Thinking to 3,000 messages, with extra capacity available via GPT-5 Thinking mini after hitting that threshold. The Thinking model's context limit is now a hefty 196,000 tokens, meaning it can remember and process much longer conversations or documents in one go. Altman noted these limits may be adjusted over time depending on usage. Following user backlash over GPT-4o's removal, it's now back in the model picker for all paid accounts by default. A new 'Show additional models' toggle in ChatGPT web settings lets subscribers access other options like o3, 4.1, and GPT-5 Thinking mini. GPT-4.5 remains exclusive to Pro users due to its high GPU costs. Altman also revealed that GPT-5's personality will soon get an update to feel 'warmer' without becoming as polarizing as GPT-4o's tone. Longer term, OpenAI plans to offer more per-user customization so people can tailor the AI's style to their own preferences. These updates give ChatGPT users more choice over speed, depth and personality, marking a quick response to recent user feedback. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. With model variety returning and customization on the horizon, OpenAI seems intent on keeping its power users happy while broadening appeal. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

I tested GPT-5 and now I get why the Internet hates it. Is it time to ditch ChatGPT?
I tested GPT-5 and now I get why the Internet hates it. Is it time to ditch ChatGPT?

Android Authority

time8 minutes ago

  • Android Authority

I tested GPT-5 and now I get why the Internet hates it. Is it time to ditch ChatGPT?

Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority After years of rumors and speculation, OpenAI's next-gen GPT-5 language model is finally here. But while many of those early rumors claimed that the next major ChatGPT model would achieve artificial general intelligence or AGI, that's not the case. GPT-5 does not surpass human-level intelligence, although it's smarter and more capable than any of its predecessors. Despite the improvements, however, it has garnered significant and widespread backlash across the internet. So what does GPT-5 bring to the table and why have so many loyal users already turned their back on it? I tested it to find out. Why GPT-5 is so controversial Until a few days ago, the ChatGPT experience felt bloated if you weren't an AI model expert — the app offered nearly half a dozen different models to choose from. Each model had a unique advantage. For example, the o3 series promised detailed problem-solving skills while GPT-4.1 excelled at coding tasks. And if a task required analysis, you could manually engage a 'deep research' mode. However, the default GPT-4o model worked for most tasks. All of that is now history. If you open ChatGPT today, you'll find that you can only chat with the newest GPT-5 model. OpenAI says this is because it has created a routing system that can automatically decide which model your request needs to go to. Indeed, I've noticed that some prompts will inspire the chatbot to ponder and research, while it will immediately respond to simpler questions. With GPT-5, you no longer have to select a specific model for your task. GPT-5 does have multiple models under its belt, though, even if you can't manually select the one you want. For example, when I asked how many times the letter 'R' appears in the word strawberry, ChatGPT thought for a few seconds and returned with the correct answer: three. Hovering over the 'Retry' button revealed that it had used the 'GPT-5 Thinking Mini' model for my prompt. Even on a free account, I've noticed that ChatGPT will default to GPT-5 for most responses and think for longer if necessary. That said, shorter responses tend to rely on the GPT-5 Mini model. And as we've seen for the past couple of years, free users only get a limited number of responses from the large model before the chatbot forces you over to a scaled down version. Paying $20 monthly for a ChatGPT Plus subscription overcomes this limitation, though, and you can manually select the larger GPT-5 model with thinking for all responses. GPT-5 is less eager to hold conversations with users, and can come across as a bit curt. However, not everyone has welcomed the upgrade; some users have demanded OpenAI offer a way to use the older GPT-4o model indefinitely. They argue that GPT-5's responses feel robotic, in a push to improve safety and accuracy metrics, and that it lacks the distinct personality that the last-gen GPT-4o model offered. In response to these criticisms, OpenAI has brought back the GPT-4o model for ChatGPT Plus users but it's unclear how long this will last. In my time using GPT-5, I've noticed that the new model does seem less eager to hold a conversation. It also lacks the creative writing capabilities of GPT-4o — a big problem if you use ChatGPT for advice, roleplay, or help with drafting letters and emails. It may seem like a minor gripe, but the thousands of complaints online speak for themselves. GPT-5 vs GPT-4o: Is the upgrade really a downgrade? Depending on how you use ChatGPT, you may struggle to notice a big improvement going from GPT-4o to GPT-5. That's because many of the changes are really quite subtle. OpenAI says GPT-5 is more accurate, hallucinates significantly less often, and follows instructions more closely. Impressively, its responses are 45% less likely to include a factual error. On the flip side, however, we're seeing claims that GPT-5's responses are more sterile and direct. And from my testing, that does seem to be the case. Here's a side-by-side comparison showing just how much character GPT-5 lacks compared to GPT-4o: GPT-5 GPT-4o GPT-5's response is perfectly functional, but lacking any depth – it's machine-generated. Here's another example, where I asked both models if I could use lime instead of lemon in a recipe: GPT-5 GPT-4o GPT-4o ended its response with a 'Let me know what you're making—happy to give a more specific answer' while GPT-5 is borderline curt: 'What's the recipe? The stakes change a lot between, say, roast chicken and lemon meringue pie.' So is GPT-5 straight up better at anything? OpenAI said it's vastly better at coding so let's play to its strengths and ask it to write the code for a web app. As the images below showcase, GPT-5 does deliver a much more polished result with the exact same prompt. In fact, its output looks like a real website while GPT-4o's seems like only a suggested starting point. GPT-5 output web app GPT-4o output web app ChatGPT now also lets you pick from multiple response styles — in addition to the default, you have cynic, robot, listener, and nerd. I think power users will benefit from the robot and nerd personalities the most as it cuts out most of the AI's politeness. But if you prefer a friendlier version, the listener and default styles are your best bet. Still, the feature doesn't seem to help the many users who wish OpenAI would just give them the choice to use GPT-4o. GPT-5 is a work in progress Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority Shortly after OpenAI introduced GPT-4, the tech industry was rife with speculation that a future model with more advanced capabilities would threaten humanity. That's because the jump in capability from GPT-3.5, ChatGPT's original model, to GPT-4 was massive. Besides making fewer factual mistakes, the latter model could perceive images, browse the internet, and even mimic human speech. In its early days, GPT-4 would even get into tense emotional exchanges with users. However, GPT-5 doesn't represent the same quantum leap from its predecessor. While it's a significant upgrade on paper, it's not nearly as impactful in day-to-day use and can even feel like a regression. I definitely think it's a net positive to have a model that makes fewer mistakes, but it's missing the glamor and spectacle that many expected from such a big version update. GPT-5 takes a dramatically smaller leap than GPT-4 did at launch. In fact, I'd say that GPT-5 is not as exciting as some of OpenAI's other recent releases. Agent Mode, for instance, allows the chatbot to control a web browser using a simulated mouse. In my testing, I found that the agent can actually perform real-world tasks like logging into websites and can even handle curveballs like shopping for groceries. It remains to be seen if OpenAI will tweak GPT-5 to meet the needs of its most vocal users. This may very well be the company's vision for ChatGPT's future: a helpful assistant that doesn't get too close to its users. However, I think the new model takes one step too far in the name of correctness, and risks sacrificing the very traits that made ChatGPT so popular. It is now up to OpenAI to prove that a smarter AI doesn't have to mean one that's devoid of personality. Follow

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store