Renaissance Hedge Fund's Biggest Q1 Buys Revealed

During the week beginning on May 12, big-time money managers released their 13F filings, giving retail investors a look into their Q1 2025 buys and sells. Renaissance Technologies is one of the firms that released its 13F for the last quarter. Many see the company as the most successful hedge fund ever. The company’s flagship Medallion Fund generated astoundingly good returns from 1988 to 2021.

Even after fees, the fund's 39% return over this period was more than three times higher than the S&P 500's return. The fund also achieved a return of 76% in 2020, when the S&P 500 returned a bit more than 16%.

The details of the company’s 13F are intriguing, as the company prioritized spending on some of the biggest stocks in the world. Below are the details of Renaissance's biggest purchases in Q1 2025.

Looking at these companies' trading prices in Q1 can provide insight into the valuation levels where Renaissance may consider these stocks undervalued. This can help inform the decisions of retail investors when evaluating whether these stocks are overvalued or undervalued.

All relative return and price change data use closing prices as of May 20.

Renaissance Ups GOOGL Stake by Over Half a Billion Dollars

Coming in third place for Renaissance’s biggest buys in Q1 2025 is Google's parent company, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL). Renaissance bought nearly 2.3 million shares of Alphabet’s Class A shares and over 1.3 million Class C shares.

Overall, the reported value of the company’s investment in Alphabet increased from less than $600,000 to around $558 million. Notably, Alphabet’s Class A shares are trading nearly 10% below their average closing price of around $183 in Q1. Additionally, they are trading less than 6% above the low they reached in Q1. 

This moderate amount of upside capture suggests that Renaissance still believes Alphabet is trading at a solid value.

Did DeepSeek Developments Change Renaissance’s Tune on Meta Platforms?

Renaissance’s second-biggest buy in Q1 was the Magnificent Seven stock, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). The firm upped its stake in Meta considerably by nearly 550,000 shares.

This increased the value of the company’s position in Meta by over $300 million to $345 million. An interesting detail about Meta is that the stock’s lowest price this quarter was only about 1.5% lower than its price at the start of the quarter.

So, why did Renaissance buy so much Meta stock in Q1 despite its value barely dropping overall? Perhaps Renaissance’s perspective on Meta’s business changed positively in Q1. 

Could they agree with Mark Zuckerberg’s take that DeepSeek is a positive for Meta, validating the company’s open-source approach to AI models? Overall, Meta is up just 11% from its lowest price in Q1 and is trading slightly below its average closing price in Q1 of $643.

This suggests that Renaissance likely still sees upside in this name, given that the company would not have been able to capture much upside so far.

Broadcom Was Renaissance’s Biggest Buy, But Is the Recovery Overdone?

Last up is Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), the stock Renaissance spent the most on in Q1. The company added over 2.4 million shares to its Broadcom position in Q1. This was a massive change, as the company held only around 2,500 shares at the end of Q4 2024.

At the end of Q1, this position was worth approximately $406 million. This is by far the most significant number of Broadcom shares that Renaissance reported having been on a 13F since at least 2019.

Like many tech stocks, Broadcom's shares tumbled in Q1. DeepSeek news had shares down over 17% in one day in January. The stock’s lowest price in Q1 was just over $167. Since that quarterly low, shares are up over 38% as of the May 20 close.

Given this significant rise, it is certainly possible that the market has already squeezed out the juice Renaissance saw in this stock. However, no one knows at what price Renaissance purchased the shares. 

Broadcom’s average closing price of around $211 in Q1 paints a potentially more favorable picture. Shares are up only around 10% from that level.

Looking into Renaissance’s most significant buys in Q1 provides a fascinating look at where the company saw value in the market. Understanding the trading ranges of these stocks in the quarter helps hone in on what Renaissance thinks these all-important stocks are worth.

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