Philippe Laffont’s Coatue bet big on China and GLP-1 drugmakers in Q3

Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management took several new stakes in major Chinese e-commerce companies and a couple of anti-obesity focused drugmakers in the third quarter, according to the latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Laffont, one of the “Tiger Cub” fund managers who worked under the late Julian Robertson at Tiger Management, added more than 2.4 million shares, or 896%, to his stake in Alibaba in the three months that ended Sept. 30. He also increased his stake in JD.com by 8.2 million shares, or 33,490%, and PDD Holdings by roughly 2.28 million shares, or 741%. Laffont also created new positions in iShares China Large-Cap ETF and KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF . Alibaba is scheduled to post its quarterly financial results on Friday, which could provide closely watched details on the health of the Chinese consumer. The Chinese stock market has seen recent volatility partly due to concerns over President-elect Donald Trump’s stance toward China and his tariff threats . In September, shares in China rallied sharply after authorities there ramped up stimulus measures and President Xi Jinping called for strengthening fiscal and monetary economic support and stopping the real estate slump. Laffont also made a couple of significant increases to the fund’s holdings in Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk . Eli Lilly shares are up nearly 35% year to date, while Novo Nordisk’s ADRs have gained about 2% after soaring 54% in 2023. Laffont added to existing positions in Alphabet , Amazon , Broadcom and Microsoft during the quarter, but made sizable reductions in holdings of Meta Platforms and Nvidia . He also lowered his stake in chipmakers Qualcomm , Advanced Micro Devices and Taiwan Semiconductor . Facebook parent Meta still remains the fund’s largest holding, while Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia remain in the fund’s top 10. The filing also showed increased bets on Eaton Corporation, a name closely tied to the artificial intelligence-related energy infrastructure boom, as well as Constellation Energy and NextEra Energy .