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Trading stocks successfully is a skill that many of the world’s best fund managers have honed for decades. That’s why tracking the public records of stock trades by large investment firms and successful traders can give you some great ideas about how to build your portfolio. After all, nothing succeeds like success, right? Keep reading to discover three stocks that some of the world’s biggest billionaire fund managers are backing to have a big 2025.
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The Amazon online retail and e-commerce platform is one of the world’s largest. Still, CEO Jeff Bezos has done an equally effective job expanding his company’s footprint into other business sectors. Public filings show that Amazon’s bread and butter business (e-commerce) accounts for nearly 40% of its revenue. Still, the advertising sector has analysts excited about Amazon’s future.
According to Amazon’s Q3 2024 earnings report, the company generated $158.9 billion in revenue. That was an 11% increase over the previous year, but the advertising revenue was particularly strong. Amazon brought in $14.3 billion in advertising revenue, which bested the Q3 2023 figures by nearly 20%. That helped Amazon increase its free cash flow by 128% to $46.1 billion.
More importantly, there is every expectation that Amazon will continue growing revenue from non-retail services (with higher profit margins) such as advertising and cloud computing. Amazon stock is trading at $226.09, but the consensus among Benzinga analysts sees Amazon hitting $239.08 by early 2025. This may help explain why heavyweights like Ken Griffin and Ray Dalio have been loading up on Amazon.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has been ubiquitous on the internet for most of the century. Like Amazon, Meta’s Q3 2024 earnings show the company successfully leveraged its global customer base to create significant advertising revenue. The Meta Family of Apps (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram) generated $39 billion in revenue, which beat 2023’s numbers by 19%.
Meta also reported harnessing the power of AI to increase customer engagement by 8% on Facebook and 6% on Instagram. As Meta fine-tunes AI and other aspects of its operation, it is highly probable that it will continue growing ad revenue through 2025 and beyond. No wonder Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital boosted its stake in Meta by 36% this year, as reported by Kiplinger’s.
Philip Morris produces some of the world’s most instantly recognizable tobacco brands, including Marlboro, Chesterfield and Virginia Slims. The company’s global customer base has become one of those rare stocks offering growth and passive income potential. Philip Morris opened 2024 trading in the $95 range and climbed steadily to $128.71 (Refer stock ticker link above).
Stockholders also earned an estimated 4.17% dividend of $5.36 per share on the tobacco giant. It’s also important to note that Philip Morris isn’t relying solely on its traditional tobacco business. The company’s Zyn nicotine pouches have shown tremendous revenue potential and could capture a new generation of tobacco enthusiasts. No wonder this stock is another Ken Griffin favorite.