Stanley Druckenmiller made a big name for himself when he managed money for hedge fund legend George Soros from 1988-2000.
Druckenmiller is now head of Duquesne Family Office, which manages his personal wealth. Forbes estimates his net worth at $6.8 billion. Given Druckenmiller’s successful track record, investors carefully watch his moves.
And he made some interesting investment decisions in the second quarter, as revealed by a regulatory filing.
Duquesne dumped its entire position of 60,997 Amazon (AMZN) shares in the quarter. That was valued at $9.9 million at the beginning of the second quarter and $6.5 million at the end of the quarter. The holding would have been valued at $8.7 million Aug. 17.
Druckenmiller sold 279,520 shares of Microsoft (MSFT). That was valued at $86.2 million at the beginning of the second quarter and $71.8 million at the end of the quarter. Those shares would have been valued at $81.9 million Aug. 17.
Microsoft still represented Duquesne’s second biggest holding as of June 30: 740,785 shares, valued at $217.1 million Aug. 17. The sale reduced Duquesne’s Microsoft share count by 27%.
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Coupang, Chevron, Lilly
Duquesne’s largest holding as of June 30 was Coupang (CPNG), a South Korean e-commerce company. Druckenmiller owned 19,434,307 shares as of June 30, valued at $348.3 million Aug. 17.
During the second quarter, Duquesne unloaded 134,445 shares, or 14%, of its Chevron (CVX) holding. Those shares were valued at $21.9 million at the beginning of the second quarter and $19.5 million at the end of the quarter.
The sold shares would have been valued at $21.2 million Aug. 17. Chevron was Druckenmiller’s third biggest holding as of June 30, with 830,435 shares, valued at $131.1 million Aug. 17.
Duquesne established a new position in Eli Lilly (LLY) during the second quarter, purchasing 297,150 shares. That made it Druckenmiller’s third largest position in dollar terms.
It was valued at $85.1 million at the beginning of the second quarter, $96.3 million at the end of the quarter, and $94.6 million Aug. 17.
Morningstar’s Take on Amazon
“Amazon reported good second-quarter top-line and bottom-line results, … and provided an encouraging revenue outlook for the third quarter,” Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff wrote in a commentary.
While Amazon’s cloud business performed well, “the more important takeaway this quarter is that retail-related businesses, especially third-party seller services, are coming back,” he said.
Morningstar’s Take on Microsoft
In its latest earnings report, Microsoft posted revenue and earnings-per-share results just below the low end of guidance, Romanoff wrote in a commentary.
“However, we believe that Microsoft's fundamentals remain sound, as the company's performance was hurt mainly by things beyond its control, such as a stronger U.S. dollar, persistent supply chain issues, further scaling back in Russia, and general macroeconomic pressures.”
