David Tepper’s Appaloosa is betting big on Chinese tech stocks

Billionaire investor David Tepper’s hedge fund increased its bets on Chinese tech stocks during the first three months of 2024, while dialing back exposure to some key domestic names. Appaloosa Management’s quarterly report on Wednesday showed that Alibaba is now its top holding after buying several hundred million dollars worth of shares. Similarly, the fund significantly increased its stakes in PDD Holdings and Baidu , pushing both into its top ten holdings list, according to securities filings and VerityData. New additions to the fund also have Chinese tilt. Stocks that Appaloosa added in Q1 but not enough to make its top holdings include Adobe , the iShares FTSE China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) , JD.com and the Kraneshares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) . Appaloosa still has sizable positions in American tech names, but trimmed many of them during the quarter, including Alphabet and Meta Platforms . The fund also revealed that it holds put options against Microsoft , which could indicate more selling in the second quarter. Outside of technology, Appaloosa exited a small position in hospital stock HCA Holdings and added a small position in Boeing . Quarterly hedge fund filings do not say when or at what price a trade was made, or if the positions have changed since the end of March. Chinese tech stocks have been trending higher, however, with the KWEB up 19% in the second quarter. Tepper founded Appaloosa more than 30 years ago, and indicated in 2019 that he planned to convert the fund into a family office. He also owns the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.