The long game: 10 long-term holdings of David Tepper's hedge fund

David Tepper is one of Wall Street’s most influential investors and the founder of Appaloosa Management. He follows a contrarian approach: acting against prevailing market sentiment by buying assets during periods of fear and waiting for their intrinsic value to reassert itself. “The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets,” Tepper has said, articulating a principle he has followed for more than three decades.

Founded in 1993, Appaloosa oversees $17.7 billion in assets and is regarded as one of the most profitable hedge funds in the industry. The fund’s average annual return exceeds 25% (including 23% in 2025), and total gains delivered to investors are estimated at more than $32 billion. At the same time, the portfolio remains highly focused: Appaloosa currently holds 38 stocks. About a dozen of them have been in the portfolio for years – position sizes change, but Tepper does not fully exit these holdings. They are described below.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 0.46%
Value of stake (as of September 30): $29.80 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 13

MPLX operates a network of oil and gas pipelines and terminals in the U.S. The company works across two segments: crude oil and refined-products logistics, and the transportation and processing of natural gas and liquefied hydrocarbons. Its operating model reduces exposure to commodity-price volatility.

MPLX is among Appaloosa’s long-term energy holdings. Tepper is effectively betting on durable infrastructure assets with predictable cash flows and attractive dividends. The fund first acquired MPLX shares in late 2020 and has increased the stake several times since. In the second quarter of 2025, the company reported results slightly below expectations, posting earnings of $1.03 per share versus $1.08, on revenue of $3.0 billion. In September, MPLX announced the sale of its Rocky Mountain-region assets in North America, shifting focus toward higher-margin operations. The market reaction was muted: Wells Fargo maintained its “buy” rating while lowering its target price to $59 per share from $60.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 1.39%
Value of stake: $89.87 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 36

Energy Transfer operates one of the largest oil, gas, and refined-products logistics systems in the U.S. Tepper initiated the position in 2016, when energy prices were under significant pressure. At the time, Appaloosa purchased about 5 million shares for $173 million, positioning for a sector recovery. The stake has been adjusted multiple times since then, but it remains one of the fund’s long-term infrastructure investments.

According to Wells Fargo, Energy Transfer’s outlook remains constructive. Analysts see potential growth drivers in new infrastructure projects, including the Desert Southwest pipeline expansion and the development of the Lake Charles complex.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 1.58%
Value of stake: $101.68 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 94

Micron Technology is one of the world’s largest producers of memory chips and storage solutions for computing systems, mobile devices, and data centers that underpin AI infrastructure.

Tepper has been invested in Micron since 2006, adjusting the size of the position multiple times over the years. In the second quarter of 2025, he added 425,000 shares, lifting the position’s value to about $101 million. The move followed strong operating performance: in fiscal 2025, Micron’s revenue rose nearly 50% year over year, reaching a record $37.4 billion. Citi estimates Micron’s upside at roughly 16%, citing sustained demand for memory products used in data centers.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 3.86%
Value of stake: $248.70 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 294

Appaloosa has held Microsoft shares since 2020, entering the position during the expansion of the company’s cloud business. The holding peaked in terms of relative size at the end of 2023, when Microsoft accounted for more than 11% of the portfolio.

In the spring of 2025, Appaloosa began trimming the position, selling nearly 470,000 shares, or almost half of its stake. The move likely reflected profit-taking: since the beginning of the year, Microsoft shares had gained close to 25%.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 3.98%
Value of stake: $256.57 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 152

Appaloosa increased its stake in Uber Technologies by 113% in the first quarter of 2025, lifting the holding to 3.2 million shares. In the second quarter, following year-over-year revenue growth of 18% to $12.65 billion, the fund partially took profit and reduced the position by 14%.

Analysts are broadly positive on Uber’s outlook. Mizuho Securities expects Uber’s revenue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2025 and 2028. Bernstein maintains a “buy” rating, pointing to technology investments and geographic expansion as key growth drivers.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 4.13%
Value of stake: $266.08 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 219

Alphabet reported 2025-second-quarter revenue of $96.4 billion, up 14% year over year, driven mainly by its cloud and advertising businesses. Tepper has held Alphabet shares for more than a decade, during which the investment has generated returns of more than 200% for Appaloosa.

In the second quarter of 2025, the fund cut its Alphabet position by 25%, selling 510,000 shares and realizing about $84 million in gains. The sale was part of a broader rebalancing of the portfolio toward health care and semiconductors.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 4.58%
Value of stake: $295.24 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 260

Meta is one of Appaloosa’s longest-held positions. The fund has been invested in the company since 2014, during which time the value of the stake nearly tripled, from $99 million to $392 million. In 2025, Tepper adjusted the size of the position, adding shares in the first quarter and selling 150,000 shares in the second quarter.

Citi expects Meta’s growth to increasingly hinge on AI and hardware initiatives. The bank points to products such as smart glasses as potential long-term drivers.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 9.19%
Value of stake: $592.35 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 335

Tepper has held Amazon since 2019. Over six years, the position has delivered returns of about 120%, with an initial $264 million investment growing to roughly $581 million. In 2025, Appaloosa has made tactical adjustments, trimming the stake by 3.5% in the first quarter and increasing it by 7.6% in the second quarter, adding about 190,000 shares.

Analysts expect Amazon’s revenue growth to accelerate as data center capacity expands and AI technologies are further integrated, including through cooperation with Anthropic. Wells Fargo forecasts that revenue at Amazon Web Services will grow 22% in 2026.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 11.85%
Value of stake: $764.33 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 159

UnitedHealth Group experienced a sharp selloff in the second quarter of 2025 amid valuation missteps, operational pressure, and an abrupt leadership change. Appaloosa responded by increasing its position by 1,300%, purchasing 2.28 million shares at an average price of about $330 per share. The move reflects Tepper’s hallmark strategy of buying high-quality businesses when sentiment turns sharply negative.

Tepper was not alone. Investors including Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, funds associated with George Soros, and BlueCrest Capital Management also added exposure. After Buffett disclosed purchases of about $1.6 billion, UnitedHealth shares rose nearly 10%.

Bernstein expects UnitedHealth’s earnings to recover alongside the broader industry, while UBS reiterates a positive outlook, noting that the company has reaffirmed its 2025 guidance and is taking steps to bolster margins ahead of Medicare Advantage changes scheduled for 2026.

Percentage of Appaloosa portfolio: 12.43%
Value of stake: $801.50 million
Number of hedge fund shareholders: 101

Appaloosa has invested in Alibaba since 2020. After several years of gains, the fund began cautiously trimming the position amid shifts in China’s tech sector. In the second quarter of 2025, Appaloosa sold 2.14 million shares, cutting its stake by 23.4% and freeing up about $240 million in capital.

Alibaba is expanding in Europe and Latin America, attracting merchants from Amazon to AliExpress with lower commissions and shipping costs. E-commerce remains the company’s primary revenue driver, while cloud services are growing rapidly. Revenue in the cloud segment rose 26% year over year to $4.67 billion, well above the expected 18.4% increase. After Alibaba outlined plans to step up AI investment, deepen cooperation with Nvidia, and expand its data center network, analysts raised their target prices for the stock.