Nvidia, Alibaba, American Airlines: how billionaire David Tepper's portfolio has changed

Investor and billionaire David Tepper has liquidated positions in U.S. regional banks, a sector he has been buying back during periods of market turbulence, Appaloosa Management's fourth-quarter 2025 report showed. The investor also began taking money out of chip makers. Tepper used the freed-up capital to buy shares of Alphabet, Meta and troubled American Airlines. How his portfolio has changed - in this material.

In the fourth quarter, Appaloosa Management focused on additional purchases of shares in major technology companies. The share in Meta Platforms increased by 62%: the fund bought 230 thousand shares, bringing the stake to $396 million. The position in Alphabet increased by 29% (to 1.8 million shares) - at the end of the year this stake was valued at $561 million. Tepper also increased investments in Microsoft by 8%, adding 37.5 thousand securities to the portfolio. In the semiconductor segment, the investor tripled his position in Micron, buying 1 million shares, which brought the value of the asset to $428 million. Also grew stakes in Taiwan Semiconductor (up to 1.1 million shares) and Lam Research, where the fund bought 55 thousand securities.

Two new names were added to the asset list. The key acquisition was the iShares MSCI South Korea (EWY) exchange-traded fund: Tepper opened a $182 million position by buying 1.9 million units. The Korean index has a high concentration in the technology sector and semiconductor industry. Appaloosa also bought 1.2 million shares of U.S. packaging maker Ball Corp for $63.6 million.

Tepper increased his stake in financially troubled American Airlines by 53%. He bought 4.9 million shares, and now his stake in 14.2 million securities is valued at $217 million. In addition to American Airlines, the fund also strengthened its positions in Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, cementing its bet on the airline sector.

Appaloosa also multiples its position in the construction sector, with its stake in Owens Corning up 488% (to 950,000 shares) and its stake in flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries up 318% (to 675,000 shares).

The major structural change to the portfolio in the fourth quarter was Appaloosa's complete exit from the U.S. banking sector. Tepper liquidated all positions in regional banks KeyCorp, Truist Financial and Citizens Financial, Comerica, Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance. In addition to the classic banks, Tepper completely sold shares in fintech company Block Inc and payments giant Fiserv and also exited casino operator Caesars Entertainment.

Profit taking in the technology sector primarily affected chip makers. Tepper reduced investments in Nvidia by 10.5%, selling 200 thousand shares; the remaining stake is valued at $317 million. The position in AMD decreased by 65.8%: the fund got rid of 625 thousand securities. Positions in Qualcomm and ASML decreased by 8% and 2.3%, respectively. In the retail segment, Tepper reduced its stake in Amazon by 12.8%, selling 321,000 shares for about $74 million.

Investments in China were also cut. Tepper sold 1.3 million shares in Alibaba, reducing its position by 20%. Even more noticeably decreased shares in the "Chinese Google" Baidu (sold 470 thousand shares - 45% of the package) and retailer JD.com (sold a third of the stake, or 2.1 million securities). At the same time, the investor reduced its investments in the Kraneshares CSI China Internet (KWEB) exchange-traded fund, which invests in Chinese Internet companies, by 35%.

In the consumer and energy sectors, the most noticeable was the reduction of the stake in Whirlpool (1.6 million shares sold) and Goodyear Tire & Rubber, where the investor sold more than half of the stake. Significant sales affected the mobility sector, with positions in Uber and Lyft down 23% and 32%, respectively. In the energy sector, Tepper cut his stake in Energy Transfer by 56%, selling 2.8 million securities, and reduced his investments in Vistra Corp (-24.1%) and NRG Energy (-12.3%).

At the end of 2025, Appaloosa Management had 39 positions in its portfolio with a total value of $6.9 billion. The number of assets decreased 13% and the value decreased 6.1% from the previous quarter.

The portfolio managed by Tepper is focused on the leaders of the technology sector. Chinese giant Alibaba remains the fund's largest asset, despite its shrinking position - it holds almost 11% of the portfolio. The top 5 also include Alphabet (8.2% of the portfolio), Amazon (7.3%), Micron Technology (6.2%) and Meta Platforms (5.8%). The combined value of these five positions exceeds $2.6 billion, representing more than a third of the fund's total public assets.

The data reported on Form 13F reflects the portfolio's condition as of December 31 and does not take into account any rotation of securities that the fund may have made in early 2026.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor