Laffont’s Moves & My Portfolio Anxiety

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So, Philippe Laffont, the guy who runs Coatue Management, is apparently good at this whole stock-picking thing. Like, beat-the-S&P-by-112-percentage-points good. It makes my own attempts at portfolio management feel…quaint. I once bought stock in a company that made ergonomic staplers. Ergonomic. Staplers. Don’t ask.

Anyway, Laffont was shuffling things around in the fourth quarter. He sold a chunk of Nvidia, which, let’s be honest, feels a little like selling the winning lottery ticket just before the numbers are drawn. Though, I suppose when you’re dealing with that kind of money, a “chunk” is probably still enough to buy a small island. He then bought a rather substantial amount of Netflix. Netflix! It’s the thing my aunt uses to watch those true-crime documentaries, and then calls me to explain the gruesome details. It’s… a lot.

Which got me thinking. What does a guy like that see? What am I missing? Probably everything.

Nvidia: The One That Got Away (From Laffont, Not Me)

Nvidia, of course, is the chip company everyone’s buzzing about. Apparently, they’re the reason my computer can play those ridiculously detailed video games, and also the reason AI is poised to either save or destroy us all. They have, I’m told, 90% of the market share in AI accelerators. Ninety percent! That’s like being the only decent coffee shop in a town full of gas station brews. They’re also building networking solutions. I don’t even understand what that means, but it sounds expensive. And apparently, Google, Meta, and Oracle are all lining up to throw money at them. I’m still trying to figure out how to connect my printer to the Wi-Fi.

The analysts at Bernstein say Nvidia captures 30% of the profit from AI data centers. Not revenue, profit. That’s… unsettling. It feels like they’ve discovered a loophole in the laws of economics. They’re projecting 38% annual earnings growth. Which, honestly, sounds a little reckless. But who am I to judge? I’m the ergonomic stapler guy.

So why did Laffont sell? Diversification, probably. Or maybe he just needed the cash for a new yacht. I wouldn’t blame him. It still ranks as his ninth largest holding, which, if you ask me, is a pretty strong signal. I’m starting to feel a pang of regret about that stapler stock.

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Netflix: The Streaming Service My Aunt Knows Better Than I Do

Netflix did that stock split thing. Ten-for-one. It’s supposed to make the shares more accessible to smaller investors, but really, it just feels like a magic trick. Like they’re trying to convince us that a dollar is now worth ten pennies. But hey, it works. Bank of America says stocks tend to go up after a split. Apparently, the market likes a little bit of illusion. I’m more of a “what you see is what you get” kind of guy. Which explains a lot about my investment strategy.

They’re projecting a 25% increase in price. Which, if true, would be nice. I’m currently down on most of my holdings. My wife keeps suggesting I take up knitting. Netflix is the most popular streaming service, apparently. My aunt certainly thinks so. She can tell you everything about every character on every show. I once tried to impress her with a trivia question about The Crown. She corrected my pronunciation of Prince Philip’s name. It was humiliating.

They’ve got all the popular shows: Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday. I’ve never seen any of them. I’m more of a public television kind of guy. They’re bidding on Warner Bros. Discovery. It sounds… ambitious. Morgan Stanley says the risks have been discounted. Which is reassuring. Sort of. They’re projecting 22% annual earnings growth. And the current valuation of 31 times earnings looks… reasonable. I’m tempted. Maybe I should just sell the staplers.

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2026-02-20 12:44