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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaires Buy a Brilliant Vanguard Index Fund That Could Turn $500 Per Month Into $442,400 With Help From the "Magnificent Seven" Stocks
Key Points A few wealthy hedge fund managers added shares of the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF in the second quarter. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF has nearly 60% of its assets invested in "Magnificent Seven" stocks. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF has returned 669% since its inception, compounding at 12.2% annually. 10 stocks we like better than Vanguard World Fund - Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF › Recently filed Forms 13F indicate these billionaire-led hedge funds bought shares in the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: MGK) during the second quarter: Cliff Asness' AQR Capital Management added 6,205 shares, doubling its stake. Ken Griffin's Citadel Advisors added 10,498 shares, starting a small position. David Shaw's D.E. Shaw added 8,190 shares, starting a small position. While none of these hedge funds have particularly large positions in the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF, it's still a worthwhile holding as part of a diversified portfolio. The index fund provides heavy exposure to the "Magnificent Seven" stocks, and history says it can turn $500 per month into $442,400 in the next 20 years. Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is heavily invested in the "Magnificent Seven" stocks The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF tracks 69 large U.S. companies that account for 70% of U.S. equities by market value. In particular, the index fund is focused on growth-oriented stocks in the technology sector, but a large percentage of its assets are also invested in the consumer discretionary sector. Here are the top 10 holdings in the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF, listed by weight: Nvidia: 14.4% Microsoft: 13.9% Apple: 10.8% Amazon: 7.7% Broadcom: 4.9% Meta Platforms: 4.6% Alphabet: 4.5% Tesla: 3.1% Eli Lilly: 2.3% Visa: 2.2% The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF has nearly 60% of its assets in the "Magnificent Seven" stocks, some of the most competitively advantaged and fundamentally sound companies in the world. Compared to the other 493 members of the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), the "Magnificent Seven" have consistently reported faster earnings growth, as detailed below: The "Magnificent Seven" reported earnings growth of 31% in 2023, while the remaining 493 companies in the S&P 500 reported an earnings decline of 4%. The "Magnificent Seven" reported earnings growth of 40% in 2024, while the remaining 493 companies in the S&P 500 reported an earnings decline of 4%. More importantly, Wall Street analysts expect the "Magnificent Seven" to keep outperforming the other S&P 500 companies through at least 2026 as the artificial intelligence (AI) market expands. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF could turn $500 per month into $442,400 in 20 Years The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF has returned 669% since its inception in December 2007, which is equivalent to 12.2% annually over the last 18 years. That period covers such a broad range of economic and market conditions -- two recessions, three bear markets, and eight market corrections -- that investors can reasonably expect similar returns in the future. Assuming the index fund continues to gain 12.2% annually, $500 invested monthly would be worth $106,300 in one decade and $442,400 in two decades. But some investors may prefer to save more or less. The chart details how different monthly contribution amounts would grow over time, assuming the index fund returns 12.2% annually. Holdings Period $200 Per Month $400 Per Month $600 Per Month Five years $15,300 $30,600 $45,900 10 years $42,500 $85,000 $127,500 20 years $176,900 $353,900 $530,900 Returns determined with the compound interest calculator. Table by author. The last item of consequence is the expense ratio. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF has a reasonable expense ratio of 0.07%, meaning shareholders will pay $7 per year on every $10,000 invested in the fund. In summary, I would characterize this index fund as a cheap, easy way to get exposure to the largest U.S. stocks, including the Magnificent Seven. Should you invest $1,000 in Vanguard World Fund - Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF right now? Before you buy stock in Vanguard World Fund - Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Vanguard World Fund - Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF 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 $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,070% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% 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 18, 2025 Trevor Jennewine has positions in Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla, and Visa. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and 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. Billionaires Buy a Brilliant Vanguard Index Fund That Could Turn $500 Per Month Into $442,400 With Help From the "Magnificent Seven" Stocks 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
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaires Buy a Brilliant Growth Stock That Has Partnered With Amazon
Key Points Most Wall Street analysts view Roku as undervalued; the median target price of $105 per share implies 28% upside from its current share price of $82. Roku is the leading streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and The Roku Channel is the fifth-most popular streaming service in the U.S. Roku recently formed an exclusive partnership with Amazon, giving media buyers that use Amazon's ad buying platform more precise targeting capabilities. 10 stocks we like better than Roku › A handful of billionaire hedge fund managers purchased shares of Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) in the first quarter. Here's a look: Cliff Asness at AQR Capital Management added 467,005 shares of Roku, increasing his stake sixfold though it remains a small position. Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office bought 493,600 shares of Roku, starting a modest position that ranks among his 30 largest holdings. Chris Rokos at Rokos Capital Management bought 54,690 shares of Roku, starting a new and relatively small position. Steven Schonfeld at Schonfeld Strategic Advisors bought 68,886 shares of Roku, starting a new and relatively small position. Wall Street analysts generally agree Roku is undervalued. The median target price is $105 per share, which implies 28% upside from its current share price of $82. Here's what investors should know. Roku is the most popular streaming platform in North America Roku is the leading streaming platform in North America as measured by hours streamed, and Roku OS is the best-selling TV operating system in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In addition, The Roku Channel is the fifth most popular streaming service in the U.S., behind only Alphabet's YouTube, Netflix, Walt Disney, and Amazon Prime Video. Put simply, Roku is ideally positioned to benefit as advertisers spend more on connected TV (CTV). Some readers may be surprised to learn traditional TV advertising is still a larger market than CTV advertising, and it's expected to be the larger market until 2028. But CTV ad spending is forecast to grow at 12% annually through 2029, according to eMarketer. Jeremy Deal, portfolio manager at JDP Capital Management, writes, "The Roku operating system and The Roku Channel are valuable assets that are highly under-monetized today." Deal says The Roku Channel alone is probably worth more than the entire company's current market value, implying Roku is materially undervalued today. Roku's recent partnership with Amazon could be a meaningful growth driver Roku in June announced an exclusive partnership with Amazon. While Amazon's demand-side platform (DSP) is not the only media buying platform with access to Roku inventory, it is the only one that can use a custom identity solution to recognize logged-in viewers across the Roku platform in the United States. A press release from Roku explains, "This exclusive capability enables advertisers to reach the same viewer deterministically across different streaming channels and devices." The upshot for investors is brands on Amazon DSP can now target and measure ad campaigns with greater accuracy. In other words, Roku is now a more compelling place for marketers using Amazon DSP to spend their advertising dollars. Roku highlighted the benefits following an early test of the integration, "Advertisers using this new solution reached 40% more unique viewers with the same budget and reduced how often the same person saw an ad by nearly 30%, enabling advertisers to benefit from three times more value from their ad spend." Roku stock trades at a reasonable valuation Roku currently trades at 2.7 times sales, a discount to the two-year average of 2.8 times sales. That valuation looks quite reasonable for a company whose revenue is forecast to increase at 12% annually through 2027, especially when that consensus estimate leaves room for upside. As mentioned, CTV ad spending is forecast to grow at 12% annually through 2029, and Roku is well positioned to benefit given its status as the most popular streaming platform in North America. To that end, its revenue could certainly grow faster than 12% annually with help from its Amazon partnership. Long-term investors should feel comfortable buying a small position in this growth stock today. Should you invest $1,000 in Roku right now? Before you buy stock in Roku, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Roku 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 Trevor Jennewine has positions in Amazon and Roku. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, Roku, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Billionaires Buy a Brilliant Growth Stock That Has Partnered With Amazon 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
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Billionaires Buy a Brilliant Growth Stock That Has Partnered With Amazon
Key Points Most Wall Street analysts view Roku as undervalued; the median target price of $105 per share implies 28% upside from its current share price of $82. Roku is the leading streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and The Roku Channel is the fifth-most popular streaming service in the U.S. Roku recently formed an exclusive partnership with Amazon, giving media buyers that use Amazon's ad buying platform more precise targeting capabilities. 10 stocks we like better than Roku › A handful of billionaire hedge fund managers purchased shares of Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) in the first quarter. Here's a look: Cliff Asness at AQR Capital Management added 467,005 shares of Roku, increasing his stake sixfold though it remains a small position. Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office bought 493,600 shares of Roku, starting a modest position that ranks among his 30 largest holdings. Chris Rokos at Rokos Capital Management bought 54,690 shares of Roku, starting a new and relatively small position. Steven Schonfeld at Schonfeld Strategic Advisors bought 68,886 shares of Roku, starting a new and relatively small position. Wall Street analysts generally agree Roku is undervalued. The median target price is $105 per share, which implies 28% upside from its current share price of $82. Here's what investors should know. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Roku is the most popular streaming platform in North America Roku is the leading streaming platform in North America as measured by hours streamed, and Roku OS is the best-selling TV operating system in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In addition, The Roku Channel is the fifth most popular streaming service in the U.S., behind only Alphabet 's YouTube, Netflix, Walt Disney, and Amazon Prime Video. Put simply, Roku is ideally positioned to benefit as advertisers spend more on connected TV (CTV). Some readers may be surprised to learn traditional TV advertising is still a larger market than CTV advertising, and it's expected to be the larger market until 2028. But CTV ad spending is forecast to grow at 12% annually through 2029, according to eMarketer. Jeremy Deal, portfolio manager at JDP Capital Management, writes, "The Roku operating system and The Roku Channel are valuable assets that are highly under-monetized today." Deal says The Roku Channel alone is probably worth more than the entire company's current market value, implying Roku is materially undervalued today. Roku's recent partnership with Amazon could be a meaningful growth driver Roku in June announced an exclusive partnership with Amazon. While Amazon's demand-side platform (DSP) is not the only media buying platform with access to Roku inventory, it is the only one that can use a custom identity solution to recognize logged-in viewers across the Roku platform in the United States. A press release from Roku explains, "This exclusive capability enables advertisers to reach the same viewer deterministically across different streaming channels and devices." The upshot for investors is brands on Amazon DSP can now target and measure ad campaigns with greater accuracy. In other words, Roku is now a more compelling place for marketers using Amazon DSP to spend their advertising dollars. Roku highlighted the benefits following an early test of the integration, "Advertisers using this new solution reached 40% more unique viewers with the same budget and reduced how often the same person saw an ad by nearly 30%, enabling advertisers to benefit from three times more value from their ad spend." Roku stock trades at a reasonable valuation Roku currently trades at 2.7 times sales, a discount to the two-year average of 2.8 times sales. That valuation looks quite reasonable for a company whose revenue is forecast to increase at 12% annually through 2027, especially when that consensus estimate leaves room for upside. As mentioned, CTV ad spending is forecast to grow at 12% annually through 2029, and Roku is well positioned to benefit given its status as the most popular streaming platform in North America. To that end, its revenue could certainly grow faster than 12% annually with help from its Amazon partnership. Long-term investors should feel comfortable buying a small position in this growth stock today. Should you invest $1,000 in Roku right now? Before you buy stock in Roku, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Roku 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
The Star
07-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Quant funds reap gains amid volatile market
NEW YORK: From Treasury market reversals to trade threats, the first half of 2025 was dominated by policy upheaval and Wall Street angst. The dollar famously fell, while commodities and risky assets were whipsawed. But inside the markets where the world's biggest quants operate, a funny thing happened: time-honoured trading patterns prevailed. Markets rewarded the strong over the weak, widening the gap between winners and losers amid a return to what AQR Capital Management's Cliff Asness has called 'basic rational investing'. That wide dispersion, as the industry calls it, proved fertile territory for systematic hedge funds, which scored some of the strongest returns so far in 2025. Strong performers included Marshall Wace's TOPS, Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund and AQR Delphi Long-Short Equity, which all climbed about 11%, beating broader hedge-fund performance. Additionally, Voleon Composition, a machine-learning hedge fund, gained 12.8%, while Two Sigma Spectrum was up 7.6%. 'Some companies are doing better than others again,' said Richard Mathieson, managing director at BlackRock, whose equity market neutral fund is up 8% this year. 'So for that process where you're taking a fresh, up-to-date view of every security in the market and building it into a portfolio, the opportunity set is just a lot more compelling.' Systematic stock strategies managed to thrive against a backdrop of rapid-fire market shocks from January through June, a stretch that saw the S&P 500 stage its biggest reversal since 2009 and commodity volatility surge to the highest in three years at one point. Treasuries lurched from their longest winning streak since 2016 in February, before succumbing to the worst weekly drop in 24 years just a little more than a month later. These quants made money not by avoiding the upheavals but by riding a market where stocks started moving more independently. The question now is whether that investing edge will hold as calmer markets and resilient economic data – with last Thursday's jobs report landing stronger than expected – push the S&P 500 to fresh all-time highs. All told, 2025 is extending a renaissance for computer-driven stock traders, following the so-called quant winter – the years leading up to the pandemic when few strategies paid off beyond buy-and-hold bets on Big Tech. While their trades can vary, quants typically spread their bets more widely and slice and dice stocks based on some quantifiable characteristics and historical patterns. That means they're more likely to win in a year like this, with less concentration in mega-caps and different shares dancing to their own beat. For another lens into that, a strategy that bets on US single stocks being more volatile than the overall index has gained 3.5% this year, according to a Premialab index aggregating bank swap products. In terms of commonly used factors – or quant characteristics often used to sort portfolios – momentum, which simply bets on recent winners, was up for a seventh straight quarter, according to a Bloomberg index. That's a sign that for all the market drama, the internal patterns within stocks have been far less fickle. There are some signs that this might be starting to crack, with momentum dropping the most since March this week as investors rotated into laggards. Fading fears of an escalating trade war have revived investor appetite for risk in the past month, fuelling a rotation out of so-called quality and low-risk stocks. 'There are fundamental shocks that are affecting individual securities in different ways,' said Andrea Frazzini, head of global stock selection at AQR. 'Combined with the higher volatility and dispersion we've seen, it really means that we can take more risk, we can get closer to our model, and we have an easier time to implement our views.' In stark contrast were quant trend followers that need sustained momentum to profit. The cohort, which trades futures across assets, saw their worst half-year performance since 2000, dropping 10.1% so far in 2025, a Societe Generale index shows. The Systematica Bluetrend Fund slid 17% and Man AHL Alpha fell about 7.6%, while Transtrend lost 17.5%. (The fund was impacted by positions in less mainstream markets, such as within commodities and currencies, executive director Andre Honig wrote in an email). The rotation out of US stocks – which saw shares outside the nation return about three times the S&P 500 – was also reflected in quant performance. Unlike in previous years, AQR's equity models have been scoring stronger returns outside the United States, Frazzini added. The firm's Adaptive Equity strategy rose 15.5% in the first half, while its Delphi trade, which favours lower-risk companies, benefited from the flight to quality earlier. At Man Numeric, Man Group's quant equity unit, Jayendran Rajamony says other than strength in factors like momentum, it can be hard to generalise performance thanks to the growing use of idiosyncratic signals at each fund. The Man Numeric Quantitative Alpha fund was up 18.7% in the first half. Even with their computer-driven precision, quant programmes may still need occasional human intervention, especially when policy shocks, like tariffs, fall outside the bounds of historic patterns. 'One can argue that some very bold new policy thinking simply cannot be captured,' Rajamony said. 'Intervention as a form of managing risk, I think, is needed to make sure these portfolios navigate an environment like this.' Representatives for Marshall Wace, Renaissance Technologies, Voleon, Two Sigma and Systematica declined to comment. — Bloomberg
Bloomberg
03-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Quant Hedge Funds Ride Whiplash Markets to First-Half Riches
From Treasury market reversals to trade threats, the first half of 2025 was dominated by policy upheaval and Wall Street angst. The dollar famously fell, while commodities and risky assets were whipsawed. But inside the markets where the world's biggest quants operate, a funny thing happened: Time-honored trading patterns prevailed. Markets rewarded the strong over the weak, widening the gap between winners and losers amid a return to what AQR Capital Management's Cliff Asness has called 'basic rational investing. ' That wide dispersion, as the industry calls it, proved fertile territory for systematic hedge funds, which scored some of the strongest returns so far in 2025.
