Billionaire Philippe Laffont Doubled Down on Lucid (LCID) Stock

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  • Coatue Management recently purchased 4.46 million shares of Lucid (LCID) stock.
  • After the purchase, the hedge fund now owns a total of 7.43 million shares.
  • Shares of LCID stock are down over 50% year-to-date (YTD).
Exterior of Lucid Motors building
Source: gg5795 / Shutterstock.com

Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) stock is in focus today after Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management disclosed increasing its position by 150% during the second quarter. The acclaimed hedge fund manages over $73 billion in assets under management, $8.2 billion of which is invested into 13F securities. Laffont is also a member of the famed Tiger Cubs, or students of Julian Robertson. According to Forbes, he currently has a net worth of $6.5 billion and ranks 147th on The Forbes 400 billionaire list.

Coatue first purchased shares of this electric vehicle (EV) company in Q1 2021. Furthermore, the fund has an average holding period of 6.53 quarters for the stocks in its portfolio.

Lucid has not had a pleasant year. As part of Q2 earnings, the company disclosed that it had slashed full-year production guidance from between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles to between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles. At the midpoint, that represents a significant reduction of 50%. The company attributed this decrease to supply-chain inefficiencies such as a shortage of semiconductors. Meanwhile, Lucid is nowhere near profitability. The EV company reported a net loss of $555.3 million during Q2.

That said, Laffont’s LCID stock purchase still echoes his conviction in this young EV startup. Let’s get into the details.

Philippe Laffont Doubles Down on LCID Stock

During Q2, Laffont purchased 4.46 million shares of LCID stock, increasing Coatue’s existing position by 150%. After the purchase, the company is now the fund’s 16th largest holding out of 81 total. It has a 1.54% portfolio allocation.

Competitor Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) is Coatue’s third-largest position, with a 5.88% portfolio allocation. However, Laffont sold off 11.96 million shares of RIVN during the quarter, reducing the fund’s position by 38%. After the sale, Coatue still owns 18.87 million shares. Meanwhile, EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the largest position in the fund, with Coatue owning 1.4 million shares, equivalent to a 11.48% portfolio allocation. The hedge fund sold 118,963 shares of the company during the quarter, reducing its TSLA stake by 7%.

Laffont is best-known for his bets on high-growth technology companies, much like other members of the Tiger Cubs. These bets have certainly paid off; Coatue has been around since 1999 and remains highly successful. Although 2022 has been a challenging year for Lucid, the fund’s recent investment is still a stamp of confidence that its future potential remains intact.

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/08/billionaire-philippe-laffont-doubled-down-on-lucid-lcid-stock/.

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