Appaloosa Management’s David Tepper upped his stake in a handful of big technology names in the latest quarter — with one notable exception, regulatory fillings show. The hedge fund manager lifted his holdings in stocks including Alphabet , Amazon , Meta , Microsoft and Nvidia in the third quarter, according to the fund’s 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission . But he also sold an entire 480,000-share stake in Apple that had previously been valued at almost $100 million. Despite Apple tumbling nearly 12% in the third quarter, the iPhone maker is still up more than 44% on the year, underscoring the strength of its early 2023 rally as well as a 10% run in November alone. Broadcom , Cadence Design and Marvell Technology were among other stocks that Appaloosa zeroed out in the quarter. Elsewhere, Tepper, the owner of the Carolina Panthers football team, reduced his exposure to a handful of stocks connected to China, including Alibaba , Baidu and JD.com . But he simultaneously built a stake in Beijing-based KE Holdings , a housing services provider. KE was Appaloosa’s only new holding in the latest quarter, but amounted to just a $37 million position. The stock rose 4.5% in the third quarter, helping push its sponsored American Depository Receipts higher by more than 7% so far in 2023. The Pittsburgh native’s latest moves don’t necessarily signify a bearish take on technology, a part of the market that has surged in 2023 following a dismal 2022. In fact, Tepper’s top five holdings are all mega-cap tech names, according to InsiderScore. For example, Tepper increased his Alphabet and Amazon positions by around 19% each in the quarter. The Pitt and Carnegie Mellon grad raised his Meta and Microsoft holdings even more, each one almost a third larger by quarter’s end. The two are the fund’s largest holdings.
