Billionaire Bets on Amazon: Value vs Market Hype Unpacked

(SeaPRwire) –   By: Christian Pierce

Billionaire fund managers like Bill Ackman and David Tepper are making a statement with their wallets. They’re quietly piling into Amazon, a move that’s raising eyebrows in the investment world. Recent quarters show heavy hitters like Appaloosa Management’s Tepper and Baupost Group’s Klarman boosting their stakes. Pershing Square’s Ackman started amassing Amazon a year ago, now it’s his second-largest position at $2.4B. Sanders Capital doubled its stake to $6.2B, making Amazon its third-largest holding.

Why the rush? Value. While other AI-related stocks skyrocketed—Nvidia up 35%, Intel 496%, Micron 719%—Amazon’s stock has lagged. YTD, it’s up 3.4%, 10.1% over 12 months. But Amazon’s cloud division, AWS, just had fastest growth in 15 quarters. Charles Lemonides, hedge fund founder, says Amazon’s businesses are worth more than the share price. He argues AWS alone is half of Amazon’s $2.5T market value, with retail and other units adding value.

Amazon is spending big—$200B on capex in 2026, mostly for AWS. Bank of America rates it buy, target $310. Morgan Stanley notes Amazon trades at a discount vs peers when factoring growth. Institutional investors bought 253M more Amazon shares recently. But not everyone is on board. Berkshire trimmed its stake, Druckenmiller cut common stock but doubled call options. James Kardatzke says sells aren’t always bearish; rebalancing matters.

Lemonides is bullish. He’s trimming winners like Micron and Intel to fund Amazon. “Excitement could come to Amazon tomorrow,” he says. The gap between Amazon’s business momentum and stock price is a chance. But market momentum favors other stocks now. Still, Amazon’s position in AI compute is rock-solid. Author bio: Christian Pierce, chief financial columnist with decades covering markets and corporate finance.