Back in 2013, Bloomberg ran a profile of Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital that described the up-and-coming hedge fund manager as an adventurer — an amateur pilot and heli-skier who hangs out with big-time CEOs at Burning Man. The article said Gerstner wanted to build a Venture Capital Empire.
Fast forward seven years, and Gerstner has pretty much achieved his goal. Altimeter has seen successes like Priceline (BKNG), Expedia (EXPD), Uber (UBER), Twilio (TWLO) and Hubspot (HUBS). Then there’s Snowflake (SNOW). Altimeter was the lead investor for the software company’s $79 million Series C funding round in June 2015, according to Crunchbase. With SNOW currently trading at $242, that stake is now worth $8.8 billion.
Capitalizing on the fund’s VC success, Gerstner raised $450M for Altimeter Growth Corp (AGCUU), a blank check company IPO targeting the tech sector. AGCUU went public at $10 on Oct. 1, and closed Tuesday at $11.80.
But while Gerstner has built a VC juggernaut, Altimeter Capital’s public investments have been none-to-shabby. Gerstner has proven himself to be a world-class stock picker. Since 2011, holding an equal-weight portfolio of the fund’s top 20 13F positions, and rebalancing quarterly, would have generated average annual returns of 29.52%. That’s nearly 2.2x the annual return of the S&P 500 over that period.
WhaleWisdom gives Altimeter Capital a WhaleScore of 99 — meaning Gerstner’s fund ranks near the pinnacle of 13F performance among all hedge fund’s long portfolio performance.
Gerstner has maintained exceptional performance despite Altimeter’s 13F assets growing from $427M to $4.7 billion over the last eight years.
Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital. 13F holdings as of Q2 2010.
| Stock | Sector | Shares Held | Market Value | % of Portfolio | Rank | % Change shares | Qtr 1st | Estimated Price | Source | Source Date |
| SNOW | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 36,706,307 | $8,809,513,680 | 64.9 | 1 | New | – | 13G | 9/18/20 | |
| UBER | CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY | 28,911,000 | $898,554,000 | 6.62 | 2 | -7% | Q2 2019 | 30.80 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| FB | COMMUNICATIONS | 3,753,400 | $852,285,000 | 6.28 | 3 | 0% | Q1 2018 | 141.61 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| PDD | CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY | 8,690,000 | $745,950,000 | 5.5 | 4 | 0% | Q3 2018 | 25.71 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| CRM | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 3,153,823 | $590,806,000 | 4.35 | 5 | 0% | Q4 2016 | 145.89 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| EXPE | CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY | 5,319,216 | $437,240,000 | 3.22 | 6 | 35% | Q4 2013 | 97.29 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| MSFT | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 1,097,135 | $223,278,000 | 1.64 | 7 | 108% | Q1 2018 | 155.48 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| BKNG | CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY | 136,402 | $217,198,000 | 1.6 | 8 | 0% | Q4 2011 | 1483.12 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| UAL | TRANSPORTS | 4,803,279 | $166,241,000 | 1.22 | 9 | -55% | Q4 2011 | 54.50 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| MDB | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 452,000 | $102,306,000 | 0.75 | 10 | 50% | Q4 2017 | 133.81 | 13F | 6/30/20 |
Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital. New holdings for Q2 2020.
| Stock | Sector | Shares Held | Market Value of portfolio | % of portfolio | Rank | Change in shares | % Change | % Ownership | Source | Source Date |
| SNOW | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 36,706,307 | $8,809,513,680 | 64.9 | 1 | 36,706,307 | New | 13.27% | 13G | 9/18/20 |
| VRM | CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY | 799,281 | $41,675,000 | 0.31 | 16 | 799,281 | New | 0.67% | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| DGNR.U | FINANCE | 3,500,000 | $37,663,500 | 0.28 | 17 | 3,500,000 | New | N/A | 13G | 8/18/20 |
| SE | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 223,000 | $23,915,000 | 0.18 | 20 | 223,000 | New | 0.05% | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| ZM | INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 80,000 | $20,283,000 | 0.15 | 21 | 80,000 | New | 0.03% | 13F | 6/30/20 |
| SFIX | CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY | 250,000 | $6,235,000 | 0.05 | 25 | 250,000 | New | 0.24% | 13F | 6/30/20 |
Here’s how Altimeter Capital describes its Analysis Methods in the fund’s ADV part II filed with the SEC.
In managing the Hedge Fund, Altimeter’s objective is to maximize compounded annual long-term net returns for the Hedge Fund investors. Altimeter takes a deep fundamental approach to security analysis. Each investment position stands on its own based on Altimeter’s assessment of whether a significant discrepancy exists between a company’s current market value and intrinsic business value. Altimeter intends to invest Hedge Fund assets in sectors and companies in which Altimeter believes it has differentiated expertise and understanding.
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