Billionaire Philippe Laffont Sells Amazon Stock and Buys an Nvidia-Backed AI Stock Up 230% This Year

Billionaire Philippe Laffont is one of the most successful investors on Wall Street. He is the portfolio manager at Coatue Management, a hedge fund that beat the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) by 122 percentage points during the three-year period that ended in June.

Laffont made some notable trades in the second quarter. He sold 596,100 shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), trimming his stake 5%. He also bought 3.3 million shares of CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV), an AI stock backed by Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which now ranks as his largest holding at 8% of his portfolio. CoreWeave stock is up 230% since going public earlier this year.

Here's what investor should know.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon: The stock Philippe Laffont sold in the second quarter

Amazon has a strong presence in three big industries. The company accounts for more than 40% of U.S. e-commerce sales and 15% of digital ad spending, and it's gaining share in both markets. Also, Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounts for 30% of cloud infrastructure and platform services spending, nearly as much market share as Microsoft and Alphabet hold combined.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of the growth strategy. In retail, AI tools help allocate inventory, forecast demand, and streamline last-mile delivery. In advertising, generative AI tools help brands create images, videos, and audio for campaigns. In cloud computing, AWS regularly introduces features to support AI workflows, such as recently added tools for building and managing AI agents.

Amazon reported second-quarter financial results that beat estimates on the top and bottom lines. Revenue rose 13% to $167 billion on particularly strong growth in advertising and cloud services. Meanwhile, operating margin expanded 1.5 percentage points as AI innovations continued to drive efficiency, and GAAP net income increased 33% to $1.68 per diluted share.

Wall Street estimates Amazon's earnings will increase at 18% annually over the next three years. That makes the current valuation of 34 times earnings seem fair. My guess is Philippe Laffont trimmed his position to rebalance his portfolio after Amazon stock popped in the second quarter. Whatever the reason, I am confident the decision to sell does not reflect a lack of conviction. Amazon is still his third largest position at 6% of his portfolio.

CoreWeave: The Nvidia-backed AI stock Philippe Laffont bought in the second quarter

CoreWeave is the leader among an emerging class of cloud computing platforms known as GPU clouds or AI clouds. Whereas traditional clouds like AWS and Microsoft Azure were built for a broad range of workloads, CoreWeave designed its data centers specifically for artificial intelligence and it was recently ranked as the most capable AI cloud services provider by SemiAnalysis, a research company that specializes in the semiconductor industry.

"CoreWeave's product offerings sets a new standard across the GPU cloud industry," wrote Chief Analyst Dylan Patel. "As demand for high-performance compute continues to grow, CoreWeave's investments in software and hardware infrastructure makes them a clear leader in GPU cloud reliability." The report highlighted its close partnership with Nvidia as a key strength because it affords the company early access to the latest GPUs.

CoreWeave reported explosive second-quarter financial results. Revenue surged 207% to $1.2 billion and non-GAAP operating income increased 135% to $200 million. Meanwhile, revenue backlog jumped 86% due to expanded contracts with OpenAI and an unnamed hyperscale customer (likely Microsoft or Alphabet). And there has been more good news since the quarter ended. CoreWeave last month announced a $14 billion deal with Meta Platforms.

As a caveat, CoreWeave has a substantial amount of debt due to its furious buildout of AI data centers, so much so that interest expense erased more than 20% of revenue in the second quarter. However, while investors should monitor the metric, borrowing money to capitalize on demand for AI infrastructure is not unreasonable, and CEO Michael Intrator says the company only takes on debt when a signed contract covers the costs.

Wall Street expects CoreWeave's revenue to increase at 90% annually through 2027. That makes the current valuation of 15 times sales look reasonable. Additionally, Nvidia evidently has a great deal of confidence in CoreWeave because 91% of its portfolio is invested in the company. The stock has been volatile since its March IPO, but patient investors comfortable with price swings should consider buying a small position today.

Trevor Jennewine has positions in Amazon and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. 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.